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Arrival
The first African slaves arrive in Virginia. The first North American slaves were brought over as 'indentured servants.' Their passage across the Atlantic and subsequent new life was paid for by years of labor in an agricultural or domestic setting. -
Period: to
Slavery was Legal
The time that slavery was still legal. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Poor whites and former slaves united against the colonial government to protest Native American encroachment--a sign that blacks and whites can unite for a common cause. -
Eli Whitney
Eli was an American inventor and he invented the cotton gin. This was a machine that was used to separate the seeds from the cotton. -
Missouri Compromise
This compromise restricted the spread of slavery in the West past the state of Missouri. It also created Maine, which would be a free state, and made Missuori a slave state. This compromise was estabilshed by Henry Clay and helped ease national tensions. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise guaranteed the illegality of slavery in California and other western states while establishing popular sovereignty in the newly captured territories of New Mexico and Arizona. It also placed greater emphasis on the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced Northerners to help Southerners capture runaway slaves. Finally, the compromise ended slavery in Washington D.C. -
Emancipation Proclamation
This proclamation by Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the Confederate States as an incentive for states to return to the Union. -
Period: to
Illegal to have slaves
The time that it became illegal and the Africans had their own freedom. -
Fourteenth Amendment
Declares that it is unconstitutional to deprive any citizen of his or her rights--targeted at the oppressed freedmen. -
Fifteenth Amendment
This amendment allowed men of all races to vote. -
Case: Plessy v. Ferguson
Establishes the "separate but equal" philoosphy. This leads the way for racial segregation in Southern public society. -
Education
The Supreme Court descision decreed that the concept of "separate but equal" was unfair and authorized integration of public places throughout the nation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act provided the legislation to disallow discrimination in society. This is a major step for the Civil Rights Movement.
