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Crispus Attucks dies in the Boston Massacre
Crispus Attucks was the first person to be shot in the American Revolution. No one knew where the shot came from and it is known as the "Shot Heard Around the World" -
Fugitive Slave Laws
The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another state or territory. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
This was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, VA. Started 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
53 African slaves were captured and were being shipped to Havana, Cuba. A slave named Sengbe broke out of his shackles and freed the other captives which led to them overthrowing the ship and entirely returning to Africa. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This was an Act passed in reference to slave-holding laws. This act stated that every slave that ran away must be returned to their owner. -
Scott v. Stanford
This was was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that African Americans, whether slave or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court. -
John Brown's Raid
An attempt by the white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry. -
SC Secedes from the Union
The South seceded from the Union because of the North's views on slavery. The South needed the slave work force for economic reasons and the North did not want it at all -
Emancipation Proclamation
This was was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion of the United States. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time -
13th Amendment
This amendment outlawed slavery across the United States, unless used as a punishment for a crime. -
Assassination of Lincoln
Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while watch a play in Ford's Theatre. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth. -
End of Civil War
After the seccession of several Southern states, war was declared within the US between the Union (North) and the Confederacy ( South) -
14th Amendment
This amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, which basically made every person born in the US a citizen. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendments prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race or color. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This waas a US Landmark Supreme Court decision which outlawed segregation in public facilities. -
Phoenix Election Riot
A white mob of South Carolinians, started a riot in Abbeville because of the fear that blacks were gaining power in the county. Dozens of black officials and hundreds of others were injured. -
Wilmington, NC Riot
it is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following Reconstruction. Originally described as a race riot, but is now observed as citizens overthrowing the local government. -
Rosewood Massacre
This was a racially-motivated mob riot in Florida where at least six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed in what contemporary news reports characterized as a race riot. -
Scottsboro Boys
They were nine black teenagers accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. -
McLaurin v. Oklahoma
This was an important case that lead up to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down the Oklahoma statute that mandated segregation in education. -
Sweatt v. Painter
Heman Marion Sweatt, a black man, applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School. He was denied because of his race. -
Brown v. Board
a Supreme Court case in which the Court declared the state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. -
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the American South. -
Death of Emmett Till
Till was a young African- American boy who made remarks to a white woman and was tracked down by the wife's husband and brutally murdered. -
Little Rock 9
They were nine African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. -
James Meredith
Meredith was a black man that applied to the college of Ole Miss, but was denied because of the color of his skin. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington took place in Washington, D.C.. Attended by some 250,000 people, it was the largest demonstration of the civil rights movement ever seen in the nation's capital, and one of the first to have television coverage. -
16th Church Bombing
On a Sunday in Birmingham, Alabama, the 16th Street Church was bombed as an act of white supremacy. The explosion killed four young black girls. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm was delivering a speech in NY when an obsurd comment was delivered causing his guards to be distracted. White men then rushed on stage killing him. -
March on Selma
Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama. -
Voting RIghts Act
This was a legislative act passed to prohibit discrimination in voting. -
Watts Riots
This was a race riot that took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The six-day unrest resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. -
Assassination of MLK Jr.
MLK Jr. was standing outside the balcony of a hotel in Memphis TN when a sniper from the top of another building shot and killed him instantly. -
Arrest of Angela Davis
Davis had been on the run for over two months, crossing the country from Los Angeles to New York. She had numerous charges for murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. -
Congressional Hearing end for Tuskegee Study
This was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government. -
LUCY is discovered
Lucy was a humanoid discovered by Donald Johanson. Found in Ethiopia, Lucy was believed to be the first human ancestor to be discovered. -
ROOTS was published
After 12 years of research, a man named Alex Haley discovered the origins of his family. The book he published went on to become an award winning mini series. -
Beating of Rodney King
King was a man who was involved in a high speed chase and after he pulled to the side of the road he surrounded by four officers and beaten until he was severely injured. -
Barack Obama becomes the 1st black president
Obama won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009
