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The slave trade transported 10-12 million enslaved African people from the 16th to the 19th century.
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In 1619, the first group of Africans was brought in captivity to the Jamestown colony in Virginia. They were not citizens, yet caught up in the transatlantic slave trade as a web of international commerce and human suffering.
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The earliest citizenship law was reserved for 'free white persons' or white male property owners. The federal government requires two years of residency for naturalization.
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The Removal Act forces Native Americans to settle in Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
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Estimated 4,000 Cherokee Indians were forced on a thousand-mile march to establish Indian Territory.
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A failed potato crop kills one million people in Ireland and prompted more than 500,000 to immigrate to America over the next five years.
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The promise of gold in California lured dreamers far and wide, 25,000 Chinese immigrants left their homes and moved to California.
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Supreme Court declares blacks are not U.S. citizens; rules 1820 Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery in the territories unconstitutional.
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The Emancipation Proclamation abolishes slavery and permits African-American men to join the Union Army.
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The 15th Amendment of the Constitution provides African-Americans with citizenship.
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Italy's troubled economy began with the start of four million Italian immigrants arriving in the United States.
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The federal government began restricting immigration
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The Exclusion Act excluded Chinese laborers from the country under the penalty of imprisonment and deportation. They were also made permanent aliens by excluding them from U.S. citizenship.
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The Russian Empire was a vast country with substantial portions of Europe and Asia. The era was suffering from overpopulation, widespread famines, and political unrest.
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The Immigration and Nationality Act allows individuals of all races to be eligible for naturalization.
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Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution prompts mass exodus and creates an influx of immigrants to Miami over the next two decades.
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This act legalizes illegal aliens residing in the U.S. unlawfully since 1982.