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Female Anti-Slavery Society
The Female Anti-Slavery Society, the first African American women's abolitionist society, is founded in Salem, Massachusetts. -
Columbia Abolishes Slavery
On April 16, Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia. -
African American Soldiers
Congress permits the enlistment of African American soldiers in the U.S. Army on July 17. -
Ida B Wells is Born
Ida is born as a slave in Memphis Mississippi -
Commissioned Captain
Robert Smalls of Charleston, South Carolina, is the first and only African American to be commissioned a captain in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. -
The NYC Riots
The New York City draft riots erupt on July 13 and continue for four days, during which at least 100 of the city's residents are killed. This remains the highest death toll in any urban conflict in the 19th or 20th Centuries. -
African American Troops in the Union Army.
On June 15, Congress passed a bill authorizing equal pay, equipment, arms, and health care for African American troops in the Union Army. -
Slavery Banished
On February 1, 1865, Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery throughout the United States. -
The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan is formed on December 24th in Pulaski, Tennessee by six educated, middle class former Confederate veterans. The Klan soon adopts terror tactics to thwart the aspirations of the formerly enslaved and their supporters. -
John S. Rock
John S. Rock is the first African American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. -
The Memphis Massacre.
On May 1-3, white civilians and police in Memphis, Tennessee kill forty-six African Americans and injure many more, burning ninety houses, twelve schools, and four churches in what will be known as the Memphis Massacre. -
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified,
On July 21, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, granting citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the United States. -
African Americans Males Right To Vote
On February 26, Congress sends the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution to the states for approval. The amendment guarantees African American males the right to vote. -
The Civil Rights Act
In February Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1871 popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. -
Coushatta Massacre
On Easter Sunday more than 100 African Americans were killed in northwest Louisiana while defending Republicans in local office against the white militia. The incident became known as the Colfax Massacre. Later that year in what would be known as the Coushatta Massacre 30 people including white and black Republican officeholders and their supporters were killed by white militia. -
Jim Crow Laws
On February 23rd Jim Crow laws are enacted in Tennessee. Similar statutes had existed in the North before the Civil War. -
Exodus.
Approximately six thousand African Americans leave Louisiana and Mississippi counties along the Mississippi River for Kansas in what will be known as the Exodus. Henry Adams and Benjamin "Pap" Singleton were two of the major leaders of the Exodus. Ida was part of this migration -
Lynching
A record 230 people are lynched in the United States this year, 161 are black and 69 white.In that 69 year period, 4,730 people were lynched including 3,437 blacks and 1,293 whites. Ninety-two women were victims of lynching, 76 were black and 16 were white. Although southern states accounted for 90 percent of the lynchings, every state in the continental U.S., with the exception of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont, reported lynching deaths sometime during the 69 year period -
Anti-Lynching Campaign
In October activist Ida B. Wells begins her anti-lynching campaign with the publication of Southern Horrors: Lynch Law and in All Its Phases and a speech in New York City's Lyric Hall -
National day of Protesting
The Afro-American Council designates June 4 as a national day of fasting to protest lynching and massacres. -
NAACO
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed on February 12 in New York City, partly in response to the Springfield Riot -
First Publication of the NAACP
The first issue of Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP, appears on November 1. W.E.B. Du Bois is the first editor. -
First Major Civil Rights Demonstration
Nearly 10,000 African Americans and their supporters march down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on July 28 as part of a silent parade, an NAACP-organized protest against lynchings, race riots, and the denial of rights. This is the first major civil rights demonstration in the 20th Century. -
Walter White, Executive Secretary
Walter White is named NAACP executive secretary. Soon afterward the NAACP mounts a new strategy primarily using lawsuits to end racial discrimination. -
Ida B Wells Dies
Ida dies from a kidney failure called Uremia -
W.E.B. Du Bois resigns from the NAACP
W.E.B. Du Bois resigns from the NAACP in a dispute over the strategy of the organization in its campaign against racial discrimination. Roy Wilkins becomes the new editor of Crisis magazine.