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Period: Jan 1, 1450 to
Injustice and Inequality
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Period: Jan 1, 1450 to
European Explorers bring slaves to the Americas
From 1450 to 1750 the European explorers brought slaves to North America. They traveled to Africa where they began the trans-Atlantic slave trade bringing millions of African slaves to the Americas. Below decks the slaves were held, all from different societies and cultures. Lots of slaves died on the voyages to the Americas, mostly because of diseases that were spread all around the ships. -
cotton gin is invented in US
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. It’s a simple machine that pulled out seeds from cotton bolls and allowed the South to produce cotton, and the south became the cotton producing part of the United States. The procedure was very simple: you started by putting the bolls into the very top of the machine, then you turned the handle that put the cotton through the wire teeth, combing out the seeds. Lastly, you just pulled the wire teeth out of the cotton gin. For this reason, farmers wer -
Amistad Trial
The Amistad trial was a court case in the United States that took place because of the rebellion in 1839 of Africans that were on board of the Spanish ship called “La Amistad”. The Africans were illegally sold into slavery in Cuba. They reached New York and the Africans were imprisoned but many people form the North defended them because they believed in abolishing slavery. The court case freed the slaves and 35 of them were sent back to their home, the rest of them died. -
Slavery ends in Great Britain
In 1833 slavery ended in Great Britain, except of “the territories in the Possession of the East India Company“, the “Island of Ceylon” and “the Island of Saint Helena” but in 1843, slavery was also abolished in all of them. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise of 1850 is made of five laws. Henry Clay came up with resolutions to compromise and stop the fighting between North and South. The Fugitive Slave Act was changed a little as part of the compromise and the slave trade in Washington DC was put an end to. Another important part was that California joined the union and the disagreement between Texas and New Mexico was settled. -
Fugitive slave act
The Fugitive Slave Act, also known as the Fugitive Slave Law was a part of the compromise of 1850. This law declared that all slaves that had run away had to return to their masters. They used dogs to help track down the slaves. This law, however, was an issue to the people that believed in anti-slavery. -
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The Civil War
The American Civil War lasted from 1861-1865. The war started when President Abraham Lincoln, who was against slavery, was elected as president in 1860, where 7 states from the south suddenly wanted to withdraw membership of the union. After four years of fighting, 620,000 soldiers were dead and many, many people were hurt or injured. -
Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in the US
President Abraham Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States after three year into the civil war. It’s a statement for the states that had left the union: "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t end slavery in the country but it made a statement and changed the viewpoint for many people. The Proclamation also announced that black men were allowed to enter the Union military -
Slavery ends in the United States
The 13th amendment abolishes slavery in the United States in 1865. February 1st 1865, President Lincoln approved the amendment that said "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -
US ratifies 13th amendment to the constitution
The 13th amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31 1865 and ratified by states on December 6 1865, stating that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -
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Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws were enacted from 1876 and 1965. These were both state and local laws. They gave permission to racial segregation in public in the Southern states starting “separate but equal” for African Americans. Some examples for this separation is public schools, public facilities and public transportation. Even the USA military was segregated. -
Slavery ends in Cuba
On October 7 1886 slavery was abolished in Cuba. Even though it was the end of legal slavery, people in Cuba were still not very fond of the idea of mixed races. Afro-Cubans were excluded from things such as seats in theatres and rooms in hotels. Many school also refused to take black children. Directorio Central de las Sociedades de la Raza de Color was found in 1887 to help accept and unite the different races throughout the country. -
Brown vs. Board of education - US Supreme Court Case
On May 17th 1954, Earl Warren gave a ruling in civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Separation of children in public schools was unauthorized and dividing the schools up into races became illegal. Prevailing the idea of “separate but equal”. -
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Civil Right movement for African Americans in the U.S.
The African American civil rights movement is the outlawing of racist discrimination that allowed blacks in the United States to vote. It represents the freedom that they blacks got from the white and gave them racial dignity. -
Murder of Emmett Till
On August 28 1955, at the age of 14, the African American boy, Emmett Till was kidnapped and murdered because of flirting with a white woman. The white woman’s mother and brother made Emmett Till walk with a 75-ound cotton-gin fan to the bank of a river, made him take his clothes of, pick out his eye and shot him in the head. Afterwards they threw him into the river with barbed wire. This went to trial but they failed to prove the identification of the body they found. This was a major event i -
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Freedom Riders Movement
The first Freedom Ride was on May 4 1961 in Washington DC. 7 blacks and 6 whites traveled on two buses but no attention was drawn to them until ten days after they left. One of the buses travelling around Alabama had its slashed and the bus was destroyed. The second bus was also attacked and taken over by angry people who made the Freedom Riders sit in the back of the bus. The Freedom Rides continued, however. There was a lot of violence against the Freedom Riders but Martin Luther King Jr. deci -
Martin Luther King Jr Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4 1968 at the age of 39 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was shot standing on the balcony outside his motel room at 6:01PM and after being hurried to the hospital, he was pronounced dead. Martin Luther King believed in non-violence and leaders rushed that everyone kept calm in respect of him and what he believed in but when he died, violent riots broke out in over 100 cities. -
Last Country in the World to Ban Slavery
The last country in the world to ban slavery was Mauritania in 1981. Slavery in Mauritania became a crime in 2007 and only one conviction has been made against a slave owner. The population of Mauritania is 3.4 million people and 10 to 20 percents are living as slaves.
