Black American History Timeline
1877 - 1964
1865
1861-1865
1619
The Jim Crow Era
Abolition of Slavey
US Civil War
Slavery in America
1863
1865-1877
1896
1808
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Reconstruction era
Plessy V. Fergusson
Act prohibiting slave importation
by A. Denutte
Black American History Timeline
1968
1964
1955 - 1956
1954 - 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated
Civil Rights Act
Montgomery bus boycott
Civil Rights Movement
1963
1965
1978 - 2008
1954
Civil rights demonstrations
Voting Rights Act
Post Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
by A. Denutte
Civil Rights Movement
a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
On May 17 the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Emancipation Proclamation
1863 January 1
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made it clear that a Union victory in the Civil War would mean the end of slavery in the United States.
Montgomery bus boycott
1955 December 1
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for violating a Jim Crow ordinance. Her arrest led to a successful citywide bus boycott, which brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence.
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, "Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American.
Slavery
1619: A Dutch ship with 20 enslaved Africans aboard arrives at the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
Within several decades of being brought to the American colonies, Africans were stripped of human rights and enslaved as chattel, an enslavement that lasted more than two centuries. Slavers whipped slaves who displeased them. Clergy preached that slavery was the will of God. Scientists "proved" that blacks were less evolved-a subspecies of the human race. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the importance of slavery to the South's economy.
US Civil War
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, southern states seceded, and the United States Civil War began. The 1860 census showed the black population of the United States to be 4,441,830, of which 3,953,760 were enslaved and 488,070 free. The American Civil War ends on April 26, after the surrender of the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and J.E. Johnston.
The Reconstruction Era
In the tumultuous years following the United States Civil War, the federal government was faced with two conflicting challenges: to reincorporate the eleven states that had seceded from the Union, and to define and implement a strategy for ensuring the economic, political, and social rights of newly-freed black Americans. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution (1868) affirmed that black Americans were citizens of the United States and entitled to due process and equal protection under the law. The 15th Amendment (1870) stated that the right of citizens to vote "shall not be denied...on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
1965 January - March
A Voter Registration Drive, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., was launched in Selma, Alabama and throughout the state. On March 7, black voting-rights activists began the fifty-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. They were viciously attacked by police. The national response to violence against the marchers contributed to the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
1896 May 18
PLESSY V. FERGUSSON
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court established the "Separate but Equal Doctrine," holding that legal racial segregation does not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
1963 August 28
The civil rights movement reached its peak when 250,000 black people and white people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which included the demand for passage of meaningful civil rights laws. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech.
Post Civil Rights
African Americans did not emerge from the civil rights movement fully integrated into American society; this is evident by the disproportionately large numbers of black people who are in poverty, under-educated, and incarcerated. Nevertheless, the civil rights movement did force the end of legal segregation, and spur the creation of a sizeable black middle class. In the 21st century, race relations remain a contentious issue in many sections of society.
13th Amendment
1865 December 6
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, outlawing slavery.
1968
1968 April 4 : Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.. 1968 April 11 : President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of most housing units in the country. 1968 November 5 : Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman, was elected by New York's Twelfth Congressional District.
Ban of the slave trade
Laws banning the African slave trade went into effect in the United States and in all British colonies. President : Thomas Jefferson Importation of slave : a federal crime
The Domestic slave trade persisted.
1964 July 2
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making segregation in public facilities and discrimination in employment illegal.
Black American History Timeline
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Transcript
Black American History Timeline
1877 - 1964
1865
1861-1865
1619
The Jim Crow Era
Abolition of Slavey
US Civil War
Slavery in America
1863
1865-1877
1896
1808
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Reconstruction era
Plessy V. Fergusson
Act prohibiting slave importation
by A. Denutte
Black American History Timeline
1968
1964
1955 - 1956
1954 - 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated
Civil Rights Act
Montgomery bus boycott
Civil Rights Movement
1963
1965
1978 - 2008
1954
Civil rights demonstrations
Voting Rights Act
Post Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
by A. Denutte
Civil Rights Movement
a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
On May 17 the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Emancipation Proclamation
1863 January 1 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made it clear that a Union victory in the Civil War would mean the end of slavery in the United States.
Montgomery bus boycott
1955 December 1 Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for violating a Jim Crow ordinance. Her arrest led to a successful citywide bus boycott, which brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence.
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, "Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American.
Slavery
1619: A Dutch ship with 20 enslaved Africans aboard arrives at the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
Within several decades of being brought to the American colonies, Africans were stripped of human rights and enslaved as chattel, an enslavement that lasted more than two centuries. Slavers whipped slaves who displeased them. Clergy preached that slavery was the will of God. Scientists "proved" that blacks were less evolved-a subspecies of the human race. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the importance of slavery to the South's economy.
US Civil War
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, southern states seceded, and the United States Civil War began. The 1860 census showed the black population of the United States to be 4,441,830, of which 3,953,760 were enslaved and 488,070 free. The American Civil War ends on April 26, after the surrender of the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and J.E. Johnston.
The Reconstruction Era
In the tumultuous years following the United States Civil War, the federal government was faced with two conflicting challenges: to reincorporate the eleven states that had seceded from the Union, and to define and implement a strategy for ensuring the economic, political, and social rights of newly-freed black Americans. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution (1868) affirmed that black Americans were citizens of the United States and entitled to due process and equal protection under the law. The 15th Amendment (1870) stated that the right of citizens to vote "shall not be denied...on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
1965 January - March
A Voter Registration Drive, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., was launched in Selma, Alabama and throughout the state. On March 7, black voting-rights activists began the fifty-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. They were viciously attacked by police. The national response to violence against the marchers contributed to the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
1896 May 18
PLESSY V. FERGUSSON
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court established the "Separate but Equal Doctrine," holding that legal racial segregation does not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
1963 August 28
The civil rights movement reached its peak when 250,000 black people and white people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which included the demand for passage of meaningful civil rights laws. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech.
Post Civil Rights
African Americans did not emerge from the civil rights movement fully integrated into American society; this is evident by the disproportionately large numbers of black people who are in poverty, under-educated, and incarcerated. Nevertheless, the civil rights movement did force the end of legal segregation, and spur the creation of a sizeable black middle class. In the 21st century, race relations remain a contentious issue in many sections of society.
13th Amendment
1865 December 6
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, outlawing slavery.
1968
1968 April 4 : Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.. 1968 April 11 : President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of most housing units in the country. 1968 November 5 : Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman, was elected by New York's Twelfth Congressional District.
Ban of the slave trade
Laws banning the African slave trade went into effect in the United States and in all British colonies. President : Thomas Jefferson Importation of slave : a federal crime The Domestic slave trade persisted.
1964 July 2
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making segregation in public facilities and discrimination in employment illegal.