Injustice and Inequality Timeline

Atlantic slave trade

Period: Aug 1, 1528 to Aug 1, 1807

Wikipeda The Atlantic slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean. The majority of slaves transported to the New World were Africans from the central and western parts of the Continent. They were sold to European slave traders who transported them to North and South America.

Eli Whitney Cotton Gin

Apr 1, 1793

Eli Whitney created the Cotton Gin which revolutionalized the cotton industry in the United States. It Made cotton farming easier and helpful. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states.

Scotland Abolishes Slavery

Mar 25, 1807

The Act of Union in 1707 gave Scottish merchants access to the slave trade. Scots travelled out to the colonies and generated great wealth for Scotland based on slave labour. The Scottish owned many slaves until 1807 when it was finally abolished.

Slavery ends in Great Britain

Aug 1, 1834

The Slavery Abolition Act was an act of the Parliment of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834.

The Amistad and Mutiny Trial

Aug 1, 1840

Was a United States Supreme Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the Spanish Schooner La Amistad. The trial found that the transport of the Africans across the Atlantic had been illegal because international slave trade had been abolished. The U.S Supreme court supporters arranged for the Africans to go back to Africa.

Compromise of 1850

Sep 1, 1850

The compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills passed in the United States which diffused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War

Fugitive Slave Act of 1858

Sep 18, 1850

The Fugitive Slave law was passed by the United States Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soldiers. It declared that all runaway slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters .

Civil War

Period: Apr 12, 1861 to May 9, 1865

The Civil War was a war between the Union and Conferderate states. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. After 4 years of bloody combat, the Confederacy was defeated, and slavery was abolished.

Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation

Jan 1, 1863

The Emancipation Proclamation is an order issued to all segments of the Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. It was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. It proclaimed that all those enslaved in Confederate territory be freed.

Slavery ends in U.S

Jun 19, 1865

Slavery in the United States existed as a legal institution from the early years of the colonel period. It was then abolished on June 19th, 1865

Jim Crow Laws

Period: Aug 1, 1876 to Aug 1, 1965

The Jim Crow Laws mandated segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy with a "seperate but equal" status for African Americans. It lead to a large number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages for African Americans.

Brown vs. Board of Education

Aug 1, 1954

The Brown vs. Board of Education endel legal segregation in public shcools. This landmark decision highlights the U.S. Supreme Court’s role in affecting changes in national and social policy. It was a collection of five cases put together. They were held in Kansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Freedom Riders Movement

Period: May 1, 1955 to May 1, 1965

The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the Supreme Court decisions Boynton v. Virginia (1960) and Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1946).

Civil Rights Movement for African Americans

Period: Aug 1, 1955 to Aug 1, 1968

The civil rights movement was aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against black americans and restoring voting rights to them. It banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

The Murder of Emmett Till

Aug 28, 1955

Emmett Till was an African American boy who was about 13 or 14. He was murderd after reportedly flirting with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, at a grocery store.

U.S Ratifies Amendment to Constitution

Dec 18, 1965

The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War.

Dr. Martin Luther King assasination

Apr 4, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American Clergyman, activist, and prominent leader of the African-American civil rights movment. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize for his advancment of the civil rights. He was assasinated on April 4th, 1968.

Mauritania abolishes slavery

Aug 1, 1981

Slavery in Mauritania is an entrenched phenomenon the national government has repeatedly tried to abolish, banning the practice in 1905, 1981, and August 2007. The descendants of black Africans abducted into slavery now live in Mauritania as "blacks" or haratin and partially still serve the "Moors" (Arabs), or bidhan, as slaves.