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African Endentured Servants Brought to Jamestown, VA
A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia -
The Stono Rebellion
One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina, near Charleston. A score of whites and more than twice as many blacks slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida. For more information, visit Africans in America, Pt. 1, The Terrible Transformation. -
Boston Massacre
Crispus Attacks, 1st American and African Amrican killed in Revolutionary War, The Crisis, Jan.-Feb. 1999, cover. -
Battle of Trenton
African American soldier Prince Whipple, a black man, crossed the Delaware with General Washington on December 25, 1779, on the eve of the Revolutionary War's famous Battle of Trenton. Whipple (pictured in the left rear pulling an oar) was a bodyguard for General Whipple of New Hampshire, an aide to the future President. -
Massachusetts Grants African-Americans Right to Vote
On February 9, 1780, Capt. Paul Cuffe and six other African-American residents of Massachusetts petitioned the state legislature for the right to vote. Claiming "no taxation without representation," the residents had earlier refused to pay taxes. The courts agreed and awarded Cuffe and the six other defendants full civil rights. -
Slave Revolt in Louisiana
More than a century before the first modern-day civil rights march, Charles Deslondes and his make-do army of more than 200 enslaved men battled with hoes, axes and cane knives for that most basic human right: freedom. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to slavery. The bills provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of new states, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia, settled a Texas boundary dispute, and established a stricter fugitive slave act. This featured document is Henry Clay's handwritten draft. -
Slave Freed in Missouri, But Lincoln Backtracks,
On Aug. 30, 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont's emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln). -
The Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emanicipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War, announcing on September 22, 1862, that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free. -
13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." -
5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks sat in the white only section of the bus and refused to move to the back of the bus and went to jail for it and people admired her and her courage to stand up to the white people. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. -
Obama Election,
Barack Obama becomes the first black president.
