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Earliest known ancestors of humans were the Ardipithecines. The Ardipithecines emerged around 4.5 million years ago. Although they walked upright, they stuck to their primitive ways. -
Middle Passage was the voyage from Africa to the Americas. It was known as this because it was the middle leg of the three voyages, first being England to Africa, then Africa to the Americas, and finally Americas back to England. This passage was how they got millions of Africans to the Americas for slave trading.
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Portuguese ships arrived at New Guinea wanting to trade for gold, ivory, and pepper. They eventually wanted slaves and started to capture Africans to work as servants in Spain and Portugal. White Europeans started purchasing slaves formally soon after. -
The Enlightenment was the breakthrough for humans to discover and learn how human beings and the universe worked. Since this was so available to the people through newspapers, pamphlets, etc. this allowed black intellectuals to become very successful. -
Demand for tobacco increased while white availability decreased. So Africans started to be forced into serving on the plantations. Since demand was high, tobacco plantations started to spread throughout the east coast. -
Two antislavery movements started in America in the 1730's. These two movements were separated but they helped and influenced each other.
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During the American Revolution, black people fought for both sides of the war. Most of the black people that fought were fighting for their freedom. -
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones established the Free African Society in Philadelphia. This group would help black families with medical expenses, and burial expenses for widows and children. It also helped create the first black church. -
The invention of the cotton gin sped up the process of getting seeds out of cotton. Since this took less time, they wanted to expand the cotton westward in the United States. -
England abolished the Atlantic Slave Trade when the it didn't make sense economically anymore and when their morals caught up to them. -
At first, black people were not allowed to join for the American side. When the British conquered Chesapeake, they offered freedom for any black person to help them, so they joined in burning of Washington D.C. -
In 1850, after Harriet Tubman had already escaped slavery, she returned to the south to help free other slaves. She ended up making 13 trips back to the south to keep showing slaves the route to freedom. -
The Civil War was about slavery. The south wanted to be independent so they could keep slavery, and the north was fighting to keep the union. At the beginning of the war, black people were not allowed to enlist. -
Reconstruction was the 12 years following the Civil War. During this time the Confederate states joined the Union again, and black people gained rights.
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The 13th Amendment happened soon after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. This amendment officially made owning slaves prohibited. -
During a Supreme Court ruling during Plessy v. Ferguson separated whites and blacks. All public schools, railways, buses, parks, theatres, etc. were separated and usually of lower quality for black people. -
The Great Migration was black people fleeing the south and flooding into the north. There were a couple reasons they were fleeing to the north, some of them being to avoid the brutal south, and to search for jobs. -
The Great Depression hit all Americans hard but it hit the black people harder. More black people were unemployed than white people while receiving less aid than the white people were. -
Even in the midst of the second world war, America was still showing discrimination against black people. Although the demand for jobs was high, the companies were still only hiring white people, no matter what the skill level was of the black person. -
The Civil Rights Movement achieved a revolution starting in 1954. Throughout the next 11 years, African Americans fought hard to become equal. Although racism still was existent after 1965, the black population wanted America to recognize their rights and full citizenship. -
The Cameroon native has finally won the Most Valuable Player award in the NBA. After 6 All Star appearances, 4 time member of All-NBA team, 3 time member of All-Defense team, and 2 Scoring Titles, Joel Embiid has finally won his first long overdue MVP award.