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Christopher Columbus reaches The Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola.
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Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America. The Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U.S. history.
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The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
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Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956.
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James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
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(Washington, D.C.) About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
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Harlem, N.Y.) Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam.
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(Oakland, Calif.) The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
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In the most important affirmative action decision since the 1978 Bakke case, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School's policy, which ruled race could be one of factors colleges consider when selecting students because it furthered "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."
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The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act is passed by Congress with virtually no debate, giving the federal government the power to detain suspected “terrorists” for an unlimited time period without access to legal representation. Over 1000 Arab, Muslim, and South Asian men are detained in secret locations.
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Barack Obama is elected President of the United States of America. The first African-American to become president of the United States of Ameica.
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The Justice Department opens a civil rights investigation into police practices in Ferguson, Mo., where a Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer on Aug. 9. The Justice Department investigation is in addition to the FBI's civil rights inquiry.
