Origins of Slavery (PERIODS 1-3)

1619: First African Slaves come to Jamestown

a few slaves lived in the colonies before 1619

1640s: First Slave Law is passed

imposes strict rules on Africans as well as stating that their descendants will also be slaves

1660: Charles II charted the Royal African Company

shipped many Africans to the Americas through the Middle Passage

1695: Slave codes are passed

restrict slaves’ rights in the colonies

1700: Slavery begins to replace indentured servitude as the main form of labor

1739: Stono Rebellion

Slave uprising that killed some white people, they were caught and conditions worsened

1787: ⅗ Compromise is passed into the Constitution

slaves count as ⅗ of a white person

1793: Fugitive Slave Act is Passed

End of Revolution: African Americans still seen as inferior

northern states took steps to end slavery and southern states took steps to end the slave trade

Pre Civil War/Expansion Period (PERIOD 4)

1803: Haitian Revolution

Successful slave revolution in Haiti led by Touissant L’Ouverture

Gains independence from France

First black-led nation in the Americas

1793: Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin

Reinvigorates slavery since more cotton can be produced faster

1820: Missouri Compromise

Missouri enters as a slave state and Maine enters as a free state to keep the balance of slave/free state votes

Had the southern border of Missouri be the cut off for where slave states could be

1831: The Liberator is First Published

Newspaper created by William Lloyd Garrison

Wanted the immediate end to slavery with no compensation for slave holders

Used moral persuasion, not violence

1831: The Underground Railroad Starts

Earliest mention is in 1831

1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion

Slave uprising in Virginia

Initially successful, but was stopped by the militia

Tighter control over other slaves

1833: American Anti-Slavery Society is Founded

Founded by Garrison

Abolitionist

1836: Gag Rule implemented

Congress would not talk about anti slavery petitions or views

1838: Frederick Douglass Escapes Slavery

1839: Amistad Mutiny

Slave rebellion on a ship headed for Cuba

Slaves were stopped and the ship was brought to a slave state

Slaves sued for their freedom

Won because the slave trade was outlawed in the States

1840: Liberty Party is Formed

Anti slavery political party

1845: Texas is annexed as a slave state

1847: North Star is Launched

Newspaper by Frederick Douglass

1848: Free Soil Party is Formed

Political party against only the expansion of slavery

The Civil War and Reconstruction (PERIOD 5)

1846: Wilmont Proviso

Tried to outlaw slavery in all territories acquired from Mexico

1850: Compromise of 1850

California is a free state

Stricter fugitive slave law: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Slavery in Utah and New Mexico is decided by popular sovereignty

Slave trade abolished in Washington DC

Worsened sectional tensions

1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin is Written

Showed injustices of slavery

1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act is Passed

Repealed Missouri Compromise

Popular sovereignty in Kansans and Nebraska

Passed to get the territories to organize for a transcontinental railroad

1854: Republican Party Forms

Committed to ending the spread of slavery

1854: Bleeding Kansas

Caused by the new popular sovereignty in Kansas

Those who did not live in Kansas went to make Kansas a slave state

Violence

1857: Dred Scott Case is Decided

Supreme Court decides that African Americans are property and slavery cannot be legally outlawed in any state

Angers northerners

1861: Civil War Starts

War over slavery

1861: Confiscation Acts Passed

The government is allowed to seize all property, including slaves, from the confederacy

1863: Emancipation Proclamation

Civil War is officially about slavery

No other countries will support the confederacy

All slaves belonging to the confederacy are pronounced free

1865: Field Order Number 15

Sherman promises all free slaves 40 acre plots of land after the war AND A MULE

Never happened

1865: 13th Amendment is Passed

Officially frees all of the slaves

1865: Freedmen's Bureau is Established

Provided assistance to the newly freed slaves

1865: Lincoln is Assassinated

The man who replaced him was less sympathetic towards black people

1865: Black Codes are Passed

Attempt to limit the newly freed people’s rights

1865: Sharecropping Grows in Use

Form of slavery which keeps the person who farms the land tied to the land through debt

Many former slaves stayed tied to the same land they were tied to before, but with slightly better conditions

1865: The KKK is Founded

First terrorist organization

White supremacists terrorizing people in the hopes of taking away black rights

1866: 14th Amendment is Passed

Defines a US citizen as anyone born in the US, including black people

Guarantees free and equal protection of all United States citizens

1869: 15th Amendment is Passed

Gave black men the right to vote

1870: Force Acts are Passed

Meant to protect African Americans from violence and guarantee their rights

1873: Slaughterhouse Cases

Ruled that the rights protected in the 14th amendment were only the ones specifically mentioned in the constitution

Major setback for equal rights

1875: Civil Rights Act

Guarantees all citizens the right to use public facilities

1876: United States v. Cruikshank Ruling

Supreme Court ruled that courts could prosecute states for violating the 14th amendment rights, but not individual citizens

Another huge setback for equal rights

1877: Compromise of 1877

Troops were removed from the formerly Confederate troops

Rutherford Hayes becomes president

Reconstruction is over

Early 20th Century (PERIODS 6-7)

1846: Convict Leasing Starts

African American criminals are sent to work on plantations

New form of slavery

1870s: Jim Crow Laws Begin

Beginning of legalized segregation in the South

Poll taxes and literacy tests to stop black people from voting

Racist

1896: Plessy v. Ferguson Case

Supreme Court officially legalizes segregation

Separate but ‘equal’

1881: Tuskegee Institute is Founded

Taught black people industrial habits and job skills

Booker T. Washington, the founder, wanted black people to accept segregation and white leaders to protect them

1896: National Association of Colored Women is Formed

1909: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is Formed

WEB DuBois, Ida B Wells, and Jane Adams founded it to fight for equal rights

1914: Universal Negro Improvement Asscoiation is Founded

1917: Great Migration

Began in this year: huge population shift of over 400000 African Americans from the south to the north

1920s: New Negro

Term for the generation born after emancipation who stood up for their rights

1920s: Harlem Renaissance

1931: Scottsboro 9

9 young African American men accused of raping 2 white women - falsley!

8 of the 9 were sentenced to death

New Deal: Legislation

A lot of the legislation did not benefit African Americans

1939: Double V

African American WWII slogan

Two victories: WWII and discrimination at home

1941: Tuskegee Airmen

African American airmen who overcame prejudice during WWII and became heroes

1942: Congress of Racial Equality is Founded (CORE)

Protested against racial inequality in public accommodations

Civil Rights Movement (PERIOD 8)

1947: To Secure These Rights

Report by Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights

Advocated racial equality

1954: Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas

No segregation in schools

Was not enforced, so segregation in schools continued for a long time

1955: Emmet Till is Killed

1956: Montgomery Bus Boycott

After Rosa Parks, wanted desegregation on public buses

1957: Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Founded by MLK

Promoted non-violent protest

1957: Little Rock 9

Attempt to officially desegregate schools

1960: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is Created (SNCC)

Organized sit-ins

1961: Freedom Rides

Integrated bus rides in the south

White supremacists were very violent

Because of the Cold War, the bad look it that limited civil rights gave the US, all transportation was integrated

1963: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

I Have a Dream speech

1964: Civil Rights Act

No discrimination in public accommodations

More federal enforcement of desegregation

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is Formed

Challenge to all white Democratic Party in the South

1964: Freedom Summer

Civil rights protests launched by CORE, SLCC, and SNCC

1965: Voting Rights Act

No poll taxes or literacy tests to disenfranchise black voters

1966: Black Panther Party is Founded

More militant, but not violent

Self-defense

Anti-assimilation

1971: School Bussing

Nation-wide attempts to integrate schools

More: There is Just So Much

Head of NAACP shot in his own driveway: 1963

Many black people were body blocked from getting into college and riots happened, killing two people: 1961

SNCC throws out its white members: 1966