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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. -
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Revolutionary War
Blacks fought for both the British and the American side during the Revolutionary War, depending on who was offering freedom for doing so. For more information, see Africans in America, Pt. 2, Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
A passage by Thomas Jefferson condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies. -
U.S. Constitution Adopted
Slaves counted as three-fifths of a person for means of representation. -
First Fugitive Slave Act
Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act, which makes it a crime to harbor an escaped slave. -
The Missouri Compromise
This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30´ latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. -
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. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that mandated “popular sovereignty”–allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state's borders. Kansas was admitted as a free state in January 1861 only weeks after eight Southern states seceded from the union. -
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. Since the Ceonfederacy did not respond, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. -
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. -
First Jim Crow Segregation Law Passed
Tennessee passes the first of the "Jim Crow" segregation laws, segregating state railroads. Other Southern states pass similar laws over the next 15 years. -
NAACP Established
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination". Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, is one of the last surviving uses of the term colored people. -
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constituion
"The rights of citizens...to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of sex." -
Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers "I Have a Dream" in Washington, D.C.
Thanks to the Power of TV and radio, Martin Luther King Jr's speech at the end of the March on Washington was broadcast around the world.
