African american history

The History of African Americans

  • Crispus Attucks dies in Boston Massacre

    Crispus Attucks dies in Boston Massacre

    Crispus Attucks, one of the first men to die for American Revolution, was a fugitive slave who had escaped from his master and had worked for twenty years as a merchant seaman. Crispus Attucks was the first to fall in the celebrated Boston Massacre.
  • Nat Turners Rebellion

    Nat Turners Rebellion

    A slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed anywhere from 55 to 65 people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising in the American South.
  • Amistad Revolt

    Amistad Revolt

    Slaves aboard this ship and revolted to secure their freedom while being transported from one Cuban port to another.
  • Fugitive Slave Act

    Fugitive Slave Act

    Law allowed slave-hunters to seize alleged fugitive slaves without due process of law and prohibited anyone from aiding escaped fugitives or obstructing their recovery.
  • Fugitive Slave Law

    Fugitive Slave Law

    Passed by the United States Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.l
  • Scott vs. Sanford

    Scott vs. Sanford

    This opinion declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal courts.
  • John Brown's Raid

    John Brown's Raid

    Lead a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery.
  • SC Secedes from the Union

    SC Secedes from the Union

    South Carolina became the first Southern state to declare its secession and later formed the Confederacy.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Emancipation Proclamation

    Declared that all slaves are free in the rebellious states.
  • Assasination of Lincoln

    Assasination of Lincoln

    John Wilkes Booth, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army ending the American Civil War.
  • End of Civil War

    End of Civil War

    Robert E. Lee surrendered the last major Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The last battle was fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas.
  • 13th Amendment

    13th Amendment

    Abolished slavery in the United States.
  • 14th Amendment

    14th Amendment

    All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
  • 15th Amendment

    15th Amendment

    Granted African American men the right to vote.
  • Plessy vs Ferguson

    Plessy vs Ferguson

    A 7 to 1 decision the "separate but equal" provision of public accommodations by state governments was found to be constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.
  • Phoenix, Az Riot

    Phoenix, Az Riot

    The Phoenix Election Riot in 1898 was a riot by white South Carolinians in the name of Redemption in Greenwood, South Carolina. Over a dozen prominent black leaders were murdered and hundreds were injured by the white mob.
  • Wilmington NC, Riot

    Wilmington NC, Riot

    Occurred in Wilmington. It is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following Reconstruction.
  • Rosewood Massacre

    Rosewood Massacre

    Racially-motivated mob atrocity in Florida. In the violence at least six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed in what was characterized as a race riot.
  • Scottsboro Boys

    Scottsboro Boys

    Nine black teenagers accused of rape in Alabama. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial.
  • Congressional Hearings end for Tuskegee Study

    Congressional Hearings end for Tuskegee Study

    The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks.
  • Sweatt vs Painter

    Sweatt vs Painter

    A U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine. Case involved a black man, who was refused admission to the School of Law of the University of Texas, whose president prohibited integrated education.
  • Brown vs Board

    Brown vs Board

    A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
  • McLaurin vs Oklahoma

    McLaurin vs Oklahoma

    United States Supreme Court case that reversed the state law requiring African-Americans to be provided graduate or professional education on a segregated basis.
  • Death of Emmett Till

    Death of Emmett Till

    An African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman.
  • Little Rock 9

    Little Rock 9

    Nine courageous black students dared to challenge racial segregation in public schools by enrolling at the all-white Central High School, They became an integral part of the fight for equal opportunity in America.
  • Ruby Bridges

    Ruby Bridges

    An American activist known for being the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South.
  • James Meredith

    James Meredith

    American civil rights movement figure, Was the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the University of Mississippi.
  • March on Washington

    March on Washington

    One of the largest political rallies in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr.,delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism.
  • 16th St. Church Bombing

    16th St. Church Bombing

    This was bombed as an act of white supremacist terrorism. The explosion at the African-American church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the United States 1960s Civil Rights Movement and contributed to support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  • Assasination of Malcom X

    Assasination of Malcom X

    Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. Shortly after repudiating the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three of its members
  • Match on Selma

    Match on Selma

    Marked the political peak of the American civil rights movement. All were attempts to march from Selma to Montgomery. The marches grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League.
  • Voting Rights Act

    Voting Rights Act

    It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
  • Watts Riot

    Watts Riot

    Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old black man, was arrested for drunk driving on the edge of Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood.
  • Orangeburg Massacre

    Orangeburg Massacre

    The Orangeburg Massacre refers to the shooting of protestors by South Carolina Highway Patrol Officers that were demonstrating against racial segregation at a local bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina near South Carolina State University
  • Assasination of MLK, Jr

    Assasination of MLK, Jr

    Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American activist, and leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who became known for his advancement of civil rights by using civil disobedience. He was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
  • Arrest of Angela Davis

    Arrest of Angela Davis

    Angela Davis appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted List. She was able to evade the police for 2 months before being arrested. She spent 18 months in the Women's Detention Center in New York awaiting the trial.
  • LUCY is Discovered

    LUCY is Discovered

    Lucy was the first Australopithecus afarensis skeleton ever found, though her remains are only about 40 percent complete. With a mixture of ape and human features slender Lucy stood three and a half feet.
  • Roots was Published

    Roots was Published

    Roots is a novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his alleged descendants in the U.S. down to Haley.
  • Beating of Rodney King

    Beating of Rodney King

    Rodney Glen King was an African-American construction worker who became nationally known after being beaten by Los Angeles police officers, following a high-speed car chase.
  • Barack Obama becomes the first black President

    Barack Obama becomes the first black President

    Became the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office.