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In 1619 twenty Africans were brought to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
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Eli Whitney’s (1765 – 1825) cotton gin increases the need for slaves.
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Approximately 75,000 slaves escape to the North using the Underground Railroad.
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Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes an instrumental leader of the Underground Railroad.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president, angering the southern states.
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The Civil War begins.
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1863 Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation proclaims that all slaves in rebellious territories are forever free.
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The Civil War ends.
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1866 The “Black Codes” are passed.
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The 14th Amendment is ratified, defining citizenship. This overturns the Dred Scot decision.
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The 15th Amendment is ratified, giving African Americans the right to vote.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) and others set up the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading engine of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, standing up for her rights.
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The Civil Rights Act is signed, prohibiting discrimination of all kinds.
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The Voting Rights Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African American voters.
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Edward W. Brooke (1919 - ) becomes the first African American U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. He serves two terms as a Senator from Massachusetts.
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Barack Obama (1961 - ) becomes the first African American to win the U.S. presidential race.
