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The Boston Massacre
Crispus Attucks, a fugitive slave who escaped from his master and worked as a merchant seaman was innocently murdered as a result of the Boston Massacre. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was passed by the House of Representatives. The Act authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided the fugitive slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner led a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia. Rebel slaves killed nearly 55 to 65 people during the two day rebellion. -
La Amistad Revolt
Slaves aboard the slave ship, La Amistad, revolted in an attempt to secure their freedom. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. It required all escaped slaves, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate as well. -
Scott v. Sandford
The Supreme Court declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal Courts. -
John Browns' Raid
The white abolitionist John Brown started an armed slave revolt on a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
South Carolina became the first Southern state to declare its secession from the Union and later formed the Confederacy. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion during the American Civil War. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth assassinates President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. -
Civil War Ends
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to the Union at Appomattox Court House, Virginia resulting in the end of the Civil War. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was ratified to abolish slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was ratified to grant citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" and forbid states form denying any person "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment was ratified to grant African-American men the right to vote. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court required racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." -
Phoenix Election Riot
White South Carolinians murdered and injured black leaders who were attempting to vote at a Greenwood, South Carolina poll. -
Wilmington Race Riot
Democrats in North Carolina fueled racial hatred and promise violence to win the election of 1898. Riots began when a group of 1000 men broke into a printing press used by Alex Manly, an African-American newspaper editor. The newspaper office was destroyed by the mob of business and professional leaders. As a result of a dozen black men being murdered, 1500 black residents fled the area. -
Rosewood Massacre
A racially-motivated mob attacks the city of Rosewood, Florida because of false accusations that a white woman was raped and beaten by a black drifter. The massacre went on for 7 days ending on January 7, 1923. -
Scottsboro Boys
A group of black teenagers are falsely accused of raping and beating two young black women on a freight train traveling between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. -
McLaurin v. Oklahoma
The Supreme Court delcared that a public institution of higher learning could not provide different treatment to a student because of his/her race. -
Sweatt v. Painter
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Heman Sweatt, who applied for admission to the University of Texas School of Law and was sent to a separate black law school. The Court ruled that separate was not equal. -
Brown v. Board
The Supreme Court declared state laws that established separate public schools for white and black students was unconstituitional. -
Death of Emmett Till
Emmett Till, a 14 year old African-American boy, was a murdered in Mississippi for reportedly flirting with a white woman. -
Little Rock Nine
The National Guard escorted nine African American students into Little Rock Central High School following desegregation. -
Ruby Bridges Enrollment
The first day of school for a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges. Ruby was the first African American student to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. -
James Meredith Enrollment
James Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. -
March on Washington
200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C., for a political rally designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans faced across the country. -
16th Street Church Bombing
16th Street Baptist Church is bombed as an act of racially motivated terrorism. Four young black girls are killed by the explosion. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated by Black Muslims before he was about to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Harlem, New York. -
March on Selma
Martin Luther King, Jr. led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. The march was a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama. -
Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Act allowed for a mass enfranchisement of racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South -
Watts Riots
A riot that lasted from August 11 to the 17, took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage -
Orangeburg Massacre
Shootings at protestors against racial segregation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol Officers at a local bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina -
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the balcony in front of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Arrest of Angela Davis
Angela Davis was arrested in New York by the FBI. She had been on the run for over two months. -
Congressional Hearings End for Tuskegee Study
The study by the Public Health Service to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks ended. The study was expected to last 6 months and actually went on for 40 years. Of the orginial 399 men who started the test, 28 died of syphillis, and 100 were dead of related complications. Only 74 test subjects were still alive. -
Lucy is Discoverd
Australopithecus, the earliest found form of humans, is discovered -
Roots is published
Alex Haley releases the TV mini-series titled Roots that illustrates the progress of his family over many generations. -
Beating of Rodney King
Rodney King, an African-American construction worker, was beaten by Los Angeles police officers following a high-speed car chase. -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama becomes the first black president of the United States.
