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AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY TIMELINE

Abolition of slavery celebration, Washington D.C., April 19, 1866

Public domain illustration by Frederick Dielman, Courtesy Library of Congress (00651116)

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Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1492-1600	1492	Christopher Columbus makes his first voyage to the New World opening a vast new empire for plantation slavery.	Exploration and Discovery	The Bahamas
1492-1600	1494	The first Africans arrive in Hispaniola with Christopher Columbus. They are free persons.	Africans in the New World	Dominican Republic
1492-1600	1501	The Spanish king allows the introduction of enslaved Africans into Spain's American colonies.	Spanish Slavery	Spain
1492-1600	1511	The first enslaved Africans arrive in Hispaniola.	Spanish Slavery	Dominican Republic
1492-1600	1513	Thirty Africans accompany Vasco Nunez de Balboa on his trip to the Pacific Ocean.	Exploration and Discovery	Panama
1492-1600	1517	Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas petitions Spain to allow the importation of twelve enslaved Africans for each household immigrating to America's Spanish colonies. De Las Casas later regrets his actions and becomes an opponent of slavery.	Spanish Slavery	Mexico
1492-1600	1518	King Charles I of Spain grants the first licenses to import enslaved Africans to the Americas.	Spanish Slavery	Spain
1492-1600	1518	The first shipload of enslaved Africans directly from Africa arrives in the West Indies. Prior to this time, Africans were brought first to Europe.	Spanish Slavery	Dominican Republic
1492-1600	1519	Hernan Cortez begins conquest of the Aztec Empire.	Colonial Conquest	Mexico
1492-1600	1520	Enslaved Africans are used as laborers in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico.	Spanish Slavery	Puerto Rico
1492-1600	1522	African slaves stage a rebellion in Hispaniola. This is the first slave uprising in the New World.	Anti-Slavery Resistance	Dominican Republic
1492-1600	1526	Spanish colonists led by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon build the community of San Miguel de Guadape in what is now Georgia. They bring along enslaved Africans, considered to be the first in the present-day United States. These Africans flee the colony, however,	Africans in the New World	United States
1492-1600	1527	Esteban, a Moroccan-born Muslim slave, explores what is now the Southwestern United States.	Exploration and Discovery	United States
1492-1600	1540	An African from Hernando de Soto's Expedition into the Lower Mississippi River valley decides to remain behind to make his home among the Native Americans there.	Africans in the New World	United States
1492-1600	1540	Africans serve in the New Mexico Expeditions of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and Hernando de Alarcon.	Exploration and Discovery	United States
1492-1600	1542	The Spanish Crown abolishes Indian slavery.	Emancipation	Mexico
1492-1600	1550	The first slaves directly from Africa arrive in the Brazilian city of Salvador.	Portuguese Slavery	Brazil
1492-1600	1562	An expedition to Hispaniola led by John Hawkins, the first English slave trader, sparks English interest in that activity. Hawkins' travels also call attention to Sierra Leone. Hawkins is knighted in 1588 for his service in England's victory over the Span	English Slavery	Great Britain
1492-1600	1565	African farmers and artisans accompany Pedro Menendez de Aviles on the expedition that establishes the community of San Agustin (St. Augustine, Florida).	Africans in the New World	United States
1492-1600	1573	Professor Bartolome de Albornoz of the University of Mexico writes against the enslavement and sale of Africans.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	Mexico
1492-1600	1598	Isabel de Olvera, a free mulatto, accompanies the Juan Guerra de Resa Expedition which colonizes what is now New Mexico.	Africans in the New World	United States
1601-1700	1603	Mathieu Da Costa, a free black explorer, guides the French through parts of Canada and the Lake Champlain region of what is now New York state.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	New York
1601-1700	1607	Jamestown is founded in Virginia.	Colonial America	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1613	Jan Rodriquez, a free sailor working for a Dutch fur trading company is assigned to live with and trade among the Native Americans on the island of Manhattan.	Africans in Colonial America	United States	New York
1601-1700	1619	Approximately 20 blacks from a Dutch slaver are purchased as indentured workers for the English settlement of Jamestown. These are the first Africans in the English North American colonies.	Africans in Colonial America	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1620	The Pilgrims reach New England.	Colonial America	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1624	The first African American child born free in the English colonies, William Tucker, is baptized in Virginia.	17th Century Black Religion	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1625	The first enslaved Africans arrive in the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City) with the Dutch West India Company. They quickly become the city's first municipal labor force, clearing land of timber, cutting lumber, cultivating crops, and cons	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	New York
1601-1700	1629	The first enslaved Africans arrive in what is now Connecticut.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	Connecticut
1601-1700	1634	Slavery is introduced in Maryland.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1636	Dutch minister Everadus Bogardus summons a teacher from Holland to Manhattan Island to provide religious training to Dutch and African children. This is the first example of educational efforts in Colonial North America which are directed toward persons o	Black Education	United States	New York
1601-1700	1641	Massachusetts explicitly permits slavery of Indians, whites, and Negroes in its Body of Liberties. It is the first mainland British colony to legalize slavery.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1641	Mathias De Sousa, an African indentured servant who came from England with Lord Baltimore, is elected to Maryland's General Assembly.	Black Politics	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1642	Virginia passes a fugitive slave law. Offenders helping runaway slaves are fined in pounds of tobacco. An enslaved person is to be branded with a large R after a second escape attempt.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1643	The New England Confederation reaches an agreement that makes the signature of a magistrate sufficient evidence to reenslave a suspected fugitive slave.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	New Hampshire
1601-1700	1645	Merchant ships from Barbados arrive in Boston where they trade their cargoes of enslaved Africans for sugar and tobacco. The profitability of this exchange encourages the slave trade in New England.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1645	Dutch colonists transfer some of their landholdings in New Amsterdam to their former enslaved Africans as compensation for their support in battles with Native Americans. A condition of the land transfer, however, is the guarantee of a specified amount of	Emancipation	Colonial America	New York
1601-1700	1650	Connecticut legalizes slavery. Rhode Island by this date has large plantations worked by enslaved Africans.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Connecticut
1601-1700	1650	The Dutch West India Company introduces new rules concerning slavery in New Netherlands. After gaining freedom, former slaves, for example, are required to give fixed amounts of their crops to the company. After the English capture of the colony, greater	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	New York
1601-1700	1651	Anthony Johnson, a free African American, imports several enslaved Africans and is given a grant of land on Virginia's Puwgoteague River Other free African Americans follow this pattern.	Africans in Colonial America	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1652	Massachusetts enacts a law requiring all African American and Native American servants to undergo military training so as to be able to help defend the colony.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1652	Rhode Island enacts first anti-slavery law in the British colonies. The law limits slavery to ten years.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	Rhode Island
1601-1700	1653	Enslaved African and Indian workers bulid wall across Manhattan Island to protect the Dutch colony from British invasion. The site of the wall is now Wall Street.	Slave Labor	United States	New York
1601-1700	1655	Anthony Johnson successfully sues for the return of his slave John Casor, whom the court had earlier treated as an indentured servant.	Africans in Colonial America	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1656	Fearing the potential for slave uprisings, Massachusetts reverses its 1652 statute and prohibits blacks from arming or training as militia. New Hampshire, and New York soon follow.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1657	Virginia amends its fugitive slave law to include the fining of people who harbor runaway slaves. They are fined 30 pounds of tobacco for every night they provide shelter to a runaway slave.	Slave Laws	United States	Virginia
1601-1700	1660	A Connecticut law prohibits African Americans from serving in the militia.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Connecticut
1601-1700	1662	Virginia reverses the presumption of English law that the child follows the status of his father, and enacts a law that makes the free or enslaved status of children dependent on the status of the mother.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1663	Black and white indentured servants plan a rebellion in Gloucester County, Virginia. Their plans are discovered and the leaders are executed.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1663	Maryland slave laws rules that all Africans arriving in the colony are presumed to be slaves. Free European American women who marry enslaved men lose their freedom. Children of European American women and enslaved men are enslaved. Other North American c	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1663	In South Carolina every new white settler is granted twenty acres for each black male slave and ten acres for each black female slave he or she brings into the colony.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	South Carolina
1601-1700	1663	A planned revolt of enslaved Africans and indentured servants is uncovered in Gloucester County, Virginia.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1664	In Virginia, the enslaved African's status is clearly differentiated from the indentured servant's when colonial laws decree that enslavement is for life and is transferred to the children through the mother. Black and slave become synonymous, and enslave	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1664	Maryland establishes slavery for life for persons of African ancestry.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1664	New Jersey and New York also recognize the legality of slavery.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	New Jersey
1601-1700	1664	Maryland enacts the first law in Colonial America banning marriage between white women and black men.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Maryland
1601-1700	1667	England enacts strict laws regarding enslaved Africans in its colonies. An enslaved African is forbidden to leave the plantation without a pass, and never on Sunday. An enslaved African may not possess weapons or signaling mechanisms such as horns or whis	Slave Laws	Colonial America	n. a.
1601-1700	1667	Virginia declares that baptism does not free a slave from bondage, thereby abandoning the Christian tradition of not enslaving other Christians.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1670	The Massachusetts legislature passes a law that enables its citizens to sell the children of enslaved Africans into bondage, thus separating them from their parents.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1670	The Virginia Assembly enact law that allows all non-Christians who arrive by ship to be enslaved.	Slave Laws	United States	Virginia
1601-1700	1670	Massachusetts permits the separate sale of children of enslaved parents.	Slave Laws	United States	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1671	A Maryland law states that the conversion of enslaved African Americans to Christianity does not affect their status as enslaved people.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1672	King Charles II of England charters the Royal African Company, which dominates the slave trade to North America for the next half century.	The Slave Trade	Colonial America	n. a.
1601-1700	1672	Virginia law now bans prosecution for the killing of a slave if the death comes during the course of his his or her apprehension.	Slave Laws	United States	Virginia
1601-1700	1673	The Massachusetts legislature passes a law that forbids European Americans from engaging in any trade or commerce with an African American.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1675	An estimated 100,000 Africans are enslaved in the West Indies and another 5,000 are in British North America.	Black Population	Colonial America	n. a.
1601-1700	1676	Nathaniel Bacon leads an unsuccessful rebellion of whites and blacks against the English colonial government in Virginia.	Africans in Colonial America	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1680	Virginia enacts a law that forbids all blacks from carrying arms and requires enslaved blacks to carry certificates at all times when leaving the slaveowner's plantation.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Virginia
1601-1700	1681	Maryland laws mandate that children of European servant women and African men are free.	Emancipation	Colonial America	Maryland
1601-1700	1682	A new slave code in Virginia prohibits weapons for slaves, requires passes beyond the limits of the plantation and forbids self-defense by any African Americans against any European American.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	Virginia
1601-1700	1682	New York enacts its first slave codes. They restrict the freedom of movement and the ability to trade of all enslaved people in the colony.	Slave Laws	United States	New York
1601-1700	1685	New York law forbids enslaved Africans and Native Americans from having meetings or carrying firearms.	Slave Laws	Colonial America	New York
1601-1700	1688	Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania denounce slavery in the first recorded formal protest in North America against the enslavement of Africans.	The Abolition Movement	Colonial America	Pennsylvania
1601-1700	1690	By this year, all English colonies in America have enslaved Africans.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	n.a.
1601-1700	1690	Enslaved Africans and Native Americans in Massachusetts plan a rebellion.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1601-1700	1690	South Carolina enacts its first laws regulating slave movement and behavior.	Slave Laws	United States	South Carolina
1601-1700	1691	Virginia enacts a new law which punishes white men and women for marrying black or Indians. Children of such interracial liaisons become the property of the church for 30 years.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Virginia
1601-1700	1694	The success of rice cultivation in South Carolina encourages the importation of larger numbers of enslaved laborers especially from Senegal and other rice producing regions of West Africa.	Agricultural Development	United States	South Carolina
1601-1700	1695	Rev. Samuel Thomas, a white cleric in Charleston, South Carolina, establishes the first school for African Americans in the British North American colonies.	Black Education	United States	South Carolina
1601-1700	1696	Quaker religious leaders warn that members who own slaves may be expelled from the demonination.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	United States	Pennsylvania
1601-1700	1700	The publication of Samuel Sewall's The Selling of Joseph, is considered the first major condemnation of slavery in print in British North America.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1702	The New York Assembly enacts a law which prohibits enslaved Africans from testifying against whites or gathering in groups larger than three on public streets.	Slave Laws	United States	New York
1701-1800	1704	French colonist Elias Neau opens a school for enslaved African Americans in New York City.	Black Education	Colonial America	New York
1701-1800	1705	The Colonial Virginia Assembly defined as slaves all servants brought into the colony who were not Christians in their original countries as well as Indians sold to the colonists by other Native Americans.	Slave Laws	United States	Virginia
1701-1800	1708	Africans in South Carolina outnumber Europeans, making it the first English colony with a black majority.	Black Population	Colonial America	South Carolina
1701-1800	1711	Great Britain's Queen Anne overrules a Pennsylvania colonial law prohibiting slavery.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1711	A public slave market opens in New York City at the east end of Wall Street.	The Slave Trade	United States	New York
1701-1800	1712	The New York City slave revolt begins on April 6. Nine whites are killed and an unknown number of blacks die in the uprising. Colonial authorities execute 21 slaves and six commit suicide.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	New York
1701-1800	1712	New York City enacts an ordinance that prevents free blacks from inheriting land.	Racial Restrictions	United States	New York
1701-1800	1713	England secures the exclusive right to transport slaves to the Spanish colonies in America.	Colonial Slavery	Colonial America	n. a.
1701-1800	1716	The first enslaved Africans arrive in Louisiana.	Colonial Slavery	United States	Louisiana
1701-1800	1718	New Orleans is founded by the French. By 1721 the city has more enslaved black men than free white men.	Colonial Slavery	United States	Louisiana
1701-1800	1721	South Carolina limits the vote to free white Christian men.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	South Carolina
1701-1800	1724	Boston imposes a curfew on non-whites.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1724	The French colonial government in Louisiana enacts the Code Noir, the first body of laws that govern both slaves and free blacks in North America.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Louisiana
1701-1800	1727	Enslaved Africans and Native Americans revolt in Middlesex and Gloucester Counties in Virginia.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	Virginia
1701-1800	1735	South Carolina passes laws requiring enslaved people to wear clothing identifying them as slaves. Freed slaves are required to leave the colony within six months or risk reenslavement.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	South Carolina
1701-1800	1737	An indentured black servant petitions a Massachusetts Court and wins his freedom after the death of his master.	Emancipation	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1738	The first permanent black settlement in what will become the United States is established by fugitive slaves at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose), Florida.	Free Blacks in Colonial America	United States	Florida
1701-1800	1739	The first major South Carolina slave revolt takes place in Stono on September 9. A score of whites and more than twice as many black slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	South Carolina

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1701-1800	1739	Nineteen white citizens of Darien, Georgia petition the colonial governor to continue the ban on the importation of Africans into the colony, calling African enslavement morally wrong.	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	Georgia
1701-1800	1741	During the New York Slave Conspiracy Trials, New York City officials execute 34 people for planning to burn down the town. Thirteen African American men are burned at the stake and another 17 black men, two white men and two white women are hanged. Sevent	Resistance to Enslavement	Colonial America	New York
1701-1800	1741	South Carolina's colonial legislature enacts the most extensive slave restrictions in British North America. The laws ban the teaching of enslaved people to read and write, prohibits their assembling in groups or earning money for their activities. The la	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	South Carolina
1701-1800	1746	Lucy Terry, a slave, composes Bars Fight, the first known poem by an African American. A description of an Indian raid on Terry's hometown in Massachusetts, the poem will be passed down orally and published in 1855	Enslaved People in Colonial America	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1750	Anthony Benezet persuades fellow Philadelphia Quakers to open the first free school for black children in the colonies.	Black Education	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1752	Twenty-one year old Benjamin Banneker of Maryland constructs one of the first clocks in Colonial America, the first of a long line of inventions and innovations until his death in 1806.	Free Blacks in Colonial America	Colonial America	Maryland
1701-1800	1758	The African Baptist or Bluestone Church is founded on the William Byrd plantation near the Bluestone River, in Mecklenburg, Virginia, becoming the first known black church in North America	18th Century Black Religion	Colonial America	Virginia
1701-1800	1758	A school for free black children is opened in Philadelphia.	Black Education	Colonial America	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1760	Briton Hammon publishes A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprising Deliverance of Briton Hammon in Boston. This is believed to be the first autobiographical work written by an enslaved African living in British North America.	Art and Literature	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1761	Jupiter Hammon, a Long Island enslaved person, publishes a book of poetry. This is believed to be the first volume of poetry written and published by an African American.	Art and Literature	Colonial America	New York
1701-1800	1762	Virginia restricts voting rights to white men.	Racial Restrictions	Colonial America	Virginia
1701-1800	1770	On March 5, Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave of African and Native American ancestry, becomes the first Colonial resident to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre.	American Revolution	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1773	Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, written by Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved Bostonian, is published in that city. It is the first book written by an African American woman published in the United States and only the second book in the nation'	Art and Literature	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1773	The Silver Bluff Baptist Church, the oldest continuously operating black church, is founded in Silver Bluff, South Carolina near Savannah, Georgia.	18th Century Black Religion	Colonial America	Georgia
1701-1800	1774	A group of enslaved blacks petition the Massachusetts General Court (legislature) insisting they too have a natural right to their freedom.	Emancipation	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1774	First African Baptist Church, one of the earliest black churches in the United States, is founded in Petersburg, Virginia.	Africans in Colonial America	United States	Virginia
1701-1800	1775	African Americans participate on the Patriot side in the earliest battles of the Revolution, Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill. Two of the first of these Patriot soldiers were Peter Salem at the Battle of Concord and Salem Poor at the Battle of Bunker Hi	African Americans in the Military	Colonial America	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1775	General George Washington reverses his earlier policy of rejecting the services of slaves and free blacks in the army. Five thousand African-Americans serve during the Revolutionary War including two predominantly black units in Massachusetts, one in Conn	African Americans in the Military	Colonial America	Connecticut
1701-1800	1775	The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully held in Bondage holds the first of four meetings in Philadelphia on April 14. This is the first abolitionist meeting in North America. In 1784 the organization becomes the Pennsylvania Abolition Societ	The Abolition Movement	Colonial America	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1775	On Nov. 7, Lord Dunmore, British Governor of Virginia declares all slaves free who come to the defense of the British Crown against the Patriot forces. Dunmore eventually organizes the first regiment of black soldiers to fight under the British flag.	African Americans in the American Revolution	Colonial America	Virginia
1701-1800	1775	The American War of Independence. Approximately 450,000 enslaved Africans comprise 20% of the population of the colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence.	African Americans in the American Revolution	Unied States	n. a.
1701-1800	1776	A passage in the Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson at the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, condemned the slave trade. The controversial passage is removed from the Declaration due to pressure from the southern colonies	African Americans in the American Revolution	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1776	Approximately 100,000 enslaved people flee their masters during the Revolution.	African Americans in the American Revolution	Unied States	n. a.
1701-1800	1777	On July 8, Vermont becomes the first political jurisdiction in the United States to abolish slavery.	Emancipation	United States	Vermont
1701-1800	1778	Boston businessman Paul Cuffe and his brother, John, refuse to pay taxes, claiming as blacks not allowed to vote they suffer taxation without representation.	African Americans in the American Revolution	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1778	The 1st Rhode Island Regiment comprised of enslaved and free black men is formed. It is the first and only all-black military unit to fight on the Patriot side in the American Revolution	African Americans in the American Revolution	United States	Rhode Island
1701-1800	1780	Massachusetts abolishes slavery and grants African American men the right to vote.	Emancipation	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1780	The Free African Union Society is created in Newport, Rhode Island. It is the first cultural organization established by blacks in North America.	Black Organizations	United States	Rhode Island
1701-1800	1780	Pennsylvania adopts first gradual emancipation law. All children of enslaved people born after Nov. 1, 1780 will be free on their 28th birthday.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1780	Paul Cuffee, a Boston merchant and shipowner, leads six other free blacks in petitioning the Massacusetts to end their taxation without representation.	Free Blacks in Colonial America	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1781	Twenty thousand black loyalists depart with British Troops from the newly independent United States. Approximately 5,000 African Americans served with Patriot forces. Three times that many served with the British although not all of them leave the new nat	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1701-1800	1784	Connecticut and Rhode Island adopt gradual emancipation laws.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	Connecticut
1701-1800	1784	Congress rejects Thomas Jefferson's proposal to exclude slavery from all western territories after 1800.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	New Jersey
1701-1800	1784	Prince Hall establishes the first black Masonic lodge in the United States. African Lodge #459 is granted a Masonic charter by the Grand Lodge of England.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1784	The New York African Society, a spiritual and benevolent association, is created by free blacks in New York City.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	New York
1701-1800	1785	New York frees all slaves who served in the Revolutionary Army.	Emancipation	United States	New York
1701-1800	1785	The New York Society for the Promoting of the Manumission of Slaves is founded by prominent New Yorkers including John Jay and Alexander Hamilton.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	United States	New York
1701-1800	1787	On July 13, Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance, which establishes formal procedures for transforming territories into states. It provides for the eventual establishment of three to five states in the area north of the Ohio River, to be considered equ	Emancipation	United States	New York
1701-1800	1787	The U.S. Constitution is drafted. It provides for the continuation of the slave trade for another 20 years and required states to aid slaveholders in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It also stipulates that a slave counts as three-fifths of a man for purp	The Slavery Controversy	United States	New York
1701-1800	1787	Free blacks in New York City found the African Free School, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated.	Black Education	United States	New York
1701-1800	1787	Richard Allen and Absalom Jones form the Free African Society in Philadelphia.	Black Organizations	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1788	In Massachusetts, following an incident in which free blacks were kidnapped and transported to the state from the island of Martinique, the Massachusetts legislature declares the slave trade illegal and provides monetary damages to victims of kidnappings.	Emancipation	United States	Massachusetts
1701-1800	1790	Free African Americans in Charleston form the Brown Fellowship Society.	Black Organizations	United States	South Carolina
1701-1800	1790	Census of 1790 (First Census of the U.S. Population): Total population, 3,929,214, Black Population: 757,208 (19.3%) including 59,150 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	New York
1701-1800	1791	In February Major Andrew Ellicott hires Benjamin Banneker to assist in a survey of the boundaries of the 100-square-mile federal district that would later become the District of Columbia.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	District of Columbia
1701-1800	1792	Benjamin Banneker's Almanac is published in Philadelphia. It is the first book of science published by an African American.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1793	The United States Congress enacts the first Fugitive Slave Law. Providing assistance to fugitive slaves is now a criminal offense.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1793	Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin in Georgia which he patents on March 13. The development of the cotton gin provides a major boost to the slave-based cotton economy of the South.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Georgia
1701-1800	1794	Mother Bethel AME Church is established in Philadelphia by Richard Allen.	18th Century Black Religion	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1794	New York adopts a gradual emancipation law.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	New York
1701-1800	1795	Bowdoin College is founded in Maine. It later becomes a center for Abolitionist activity; Gen. Oliver O. Howard (Howard University) graduated from the college; Harriet Beecher Stowe taught there and began to write Uncle Tom's Cabin while there (in 1850)	The Abolition Movement	United States	Maine
1701-1800	1796	On August 23, The African Methodist Episcopal Church is organized in Philadelphia.	18th Century Black Religion	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1798	Joshua Johnston of Baltimore, Maryland becomes the first black portrait painter to gain widespread recognition in the United States	Art and Literature	United States	Maryland
1701-1800	1798	Venture Smith's A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Native of Africa But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America appears as the first slave narrative written by the person in bondage. Earlier narratives were written by	Art and Literature	United States	Connecticut
1701-1800	1800	On August 30, Gabriel Prosser attempts a slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Virginia
1701-1800	1800	The United States Congress rejects 85 to 1 an antislavery petition offered by free Philadelphia African Americans.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	Pennsylvania
1701-1800	1800	Census of 1800, U.S. Population: 5,308,483, Black Population: 1,002,037 (18.9%) including 108,435 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1802	The Ohio Constitution outlaws slavery. It also prohibits free blacks from voting.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1802	James Callender claims that Thomas Jefferson has for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves, Sally Hemings. His charge is published in the Richmond Recorder that month, and the story is soon picked up by the Federalist press around	Black Women	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1803	On April 30, Louisiana is purchased from the French. The new territory nearly doubles the size of the United States.	U.S. Expansion	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1804	Lemuel Haynes is the first African American to receive an honorary degree in U.S. history when Middlebury College awards him a Master's Degree at its second commencement.	Humanitarian Honors	United States	Vermont
1801-1900	1804	In 1804 the Ohio legislature passes the Ohio Black Codes and in doing so becomes the first non-slaveholding state to place restrictions exclusively on its African American residents.	Racial Restrictions	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1804	The Lewis and Clark Expedition explores newly purchased Louisiana and the Pacific Northwest. An African American, York, is prominent in the expedition.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Oregon
1801-1900	1807	New Jersey disfranchises black voters.	Black Politics	United States	New Jersey
1801-1900	1808	The United States government abolishes the importation of enslaved Africans when it enacts the Slave Importation Ban. The ban, however, is widely ignored. Between 1808 and 1860, approximately 250,000 blacks are illegally imported into the United States.	The Slave Trade	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1809	New York recognizes marriage within the African American community.	Family and Interpersonal Relationships	United States	New York
1801-1900	1810	Census of 1810, U.S. Population: 7,239,881, Black Population: 1,377,808 (19 percent) including 186,446 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1810	The U.S. Congress prohibits African Americans from carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1810	By 1810, 75 percent of the African Americans in Delaware are free. This is the largest percentage of free blacks in a slave state.	Emancipation	United States	Delaware
1801-1900	1810	The African Insurance Company of Philadephia is the first black-owned insurance company in the United States.	Black Business	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1811	Andry's Rebellion on January 8-11. A slave insurrection led by Charles Deslondes, begins on the Louisiana plantation of Manual Andry.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1812	Previously independent African American schools become part of the Boston public school system.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1812	Two African American regiments are formed in New York to fight in the War of 1812.	African Americans and the Military	United States	New York
1801-1900	1814	Six hundred African American troops are among the U.S. Army of 3,000 led by General Andrew Jackson which defeats British forces at the Battle of New Orleans. The black troops were led by Major Joseph Savary, the highest ranking black officer in the histor	African Americans and the Military	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1815	Richard Allen officially creates the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first wholly African American church denomination in the United States.	19th Century Black Religion	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1815	Abolitionist Levi Coffin establishes the Underground Railroad in Indiana. Eventually it will spread across the North with routes originating in the South and stretching to British Canada.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Indiana
1801-1900	1816	The American Colonization Society is founded by Bushrod Washington (the nephew of George Washington) and other prominent white Americans who believe enslaved African Americans should be freed and settled in Africa.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1817	Francis Johnson of Philadelphia becomes the first black bandleader and composer to publish sheet music. In 1837 he becomes the first American to perform before Queen Victoria in England.	19th Century Black Music	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1817	Escaped slaves from Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama join the military campaign of the Florida Seminoles to keep their homelands.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Florida
1801-1900	1818	Connecticut disfranchises black voters.	Black Politics	United States	Connecticut
1801-1900	1818	Thomas Day of North Carolina is considered the first widely known furniture and cabinet maker in the United States.	Business and Labor	United States	North Carolina
1801-1900	1820	Census of 1820, U.S. Population: 9,638,452, Black Population: 1,771,656 (18.4 percent) including 233,504 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1820	The Compromise of 1820 allows Missouri into the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also sets the boundary between slave and free territory in the West at the 36th parallel.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1821	New York maintains property qualifications for African American male voters while abolishing the same for white male voters. Missouri disfranchises free black male voters.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1801-1900	1821	Thomas Jennings of New York City became the first African American to receive a patent from the United States government. His patent came because he developed a process for dry cleaning clothes.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	New York
1801-1900	1821	The African Grove Theater Group, the first black acting company, is founded in New York City.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1801-1900	1822	Denmark Vesey is arrested for planning a slave rebellion in South Carolina.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1822	Rhode Island disfranchises black voters.	Black Politics	United States	Rhode Island
1801-1900	1823	The African Grove Theater performs The Drama of King Shotaway, the first play written by an African American, Wiliam Henry Brown.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1801-1900	1827	Freedom's Journal begins publication on March 16 in New York City as the first African American owned newspaper in the United States. The editors are John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1801-1900	1827	Slavery is officially abolished in New York.	Gradual Emancipation	United States	New York
1801-1900	1828	Theodore Sedgewick Wright is the first black graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary.	Black Education	United States	New Jersey
1801-1900	1829	More than half of Cincinnati's African American residents are driven out of the city by white mob violence. The Cincinnati riots usher in a more than century-long period of white violence against Northern black urban communities.	Racial Violence	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1829	David Walker of Boston publishes An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the Worldwhich calls for a slave uprising in the South.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1829	The Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first permanent order of black Catholic nuns, is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.	19th Century Black Religion	United States	Maryland
1801-1900	1830	Census of 1830, U.S. Population: 12,866,020, Black Population: 2,328,842 (18.1 percent) including 319,599 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1830	African American delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia meet in Philadelphia in the first of a series of National Negro Conventions to devise ways to challenge slavery in the South and racial discrimination in the North.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1831	North Carolina enacts a statute that bans teaching slaves to read and write.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	North Carolina
1801-1900	1831	Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, killing at least 57 whites.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1831	Alabama makes it illegal for enslaved or free blacks to preach.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Alabama

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1801-1900	1831	William Lloyd Garrison of Boston founds The Liberator, the first abolitionist newspaper in the United States.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1831	Jarena Lee's The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, A Coloured Lady, was the first autobiography by an African American woman.	Art and Literature	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1832	Oberlin College is founded in Ohio. It admits African American men, black women and white women. By 1860 one third of its students are black.	Black Education	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1832	The Female Anti-Slavery Society, the first African American women's abolitionist society, is founded in Salem, Massachusetts.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1832	The Georgia Infirmary, founded by white philanthropists in Savannah, is the first hospital in the United States dedicated to black patient care.	Health and Medicine	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1833	The American Anti-Slavery Society is established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1834	African Free Schools are incorporated into the New York Public School system.	Black Education	United States	New York
1801-1900	1834	Henry Blair of Maryland received a patent from the U.S. government for developing a mechanical corn planter.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Maryland
1801-1900	1834	South Carolina bans the teaching of blacks, enslaved or free, in its borders.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1834	David Ruggles, abolitionist activist, opens the first African American bookstore in the nation, in New York City.	Black Business	United States	New York
1801-1900	1836	Texas declares its independence from Mexico. In its Constitution as an independent nation, Texas recognizes slavery and makes it difficult for free blacks to remain there.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1836	The Gag Rule prohibits Congress from considering petitions regarding slavery.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1837	The Institute for Colored Youth is founded in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It later becomes Cheyney University.	Black Education	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1837	The Philadelphia Vigilence Committee is organized to help fugitive slaves escape their pursuers.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1838	Pennsylvania disfranchises black voters.	Black Politics	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1839	On August 29, American vessels tow the Spanish ship the Amistad and its 53 slaves into New London, Connecticut. Their fate is decided by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. The Amistad on March 9, 1841 when the Court rules them free and th	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1840	Census of 1840, U.S. Population: 17,069,453, Black Population: 2,873,648 (16.1 percent) including 386,293 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1842	Frederick Douglass leads a successful campaign against Rhode Island's proposed Dorr Constitution which would continue the prohibition on black voting rights.	Black Politics	United States	Rhode Island
1801-1900	1842	The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Prigg v. Pennsylvania that states did not have to offer aid in the hunting or recapture of fugitive slaves within their borders.	Anti-Slavery Campaign	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1843	Rev. Henry Highland Garnet delivers his controversial "Address to the Slaves" at the National Negro Convention meeting in Buffalo, New York, which calls for a servile insurrection.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	New York
1801-1900	1843	Sojourner Truth and William Wells Brown begin their campaigns against slavery.	The Abolition Movement	United States	New York
1801-1900	1844	On June 25, the Legislative Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon enacts the first of a series of black exclusion laws.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	Oregon
1801-1900	1845	Texas is annexed to the United States.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1845	Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1845	Macon B. Allen of Worcester, Massachusetts is the first African American admitted to the bar in any state when he is allowed to practice law in Massachusetts.	The Legal System	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1845	William Henry Lane (Master Juba) of New York City is the first acclaimed black dance performer.	Dance and Theater	United States	New York
1801-1900	1846	War with Mexico.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1847	Frederick Douglass begins publication of The North Star in Rochester, New York.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1801-1900	1847	Missouri bans the education of free blacks.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Missouri
1801-1900	1847	Missouri abolitionists file a lawsuit on behalf of Dred Scott to gain his freedom. The case is eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade later.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Missouri
1801-1900	1847	David Jones Peck is the first African American graduate of a U.S. medical school. He graduates from Rush Medical College in Chicago.	Health and Medicine	United States	Illinois
1801-1900	1848	On February 2 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico cedes California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah and gives up claim to Texas at conclusion of War in exchange for $20 million.	U.S. Expansion	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1848	On July 19-20, Frederick Douglass is among the handful of men who attend the first Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York.	The Abolition Movement	United States	New York
1801-1900	1849	The California Gold Rush begins. Eventually four thousand African Americans will migrate to California during this period.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	California
1801-1900	1849	Harriett Tubman escapes from slavery and begins her efforts to rescue enslaved people.	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Maryland
1801-1900	1849	On December 4, Benjamin Roberts files a school desegregation lawsuit on behalf of his daughter, Sarah, who is denied admission to a Boston school. The lawsuit is unsuccessful.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1850	Census of 1850, U.S. Population: 23,191,876, Black Population: 3,638,808 (15.7 percent) including 433,807 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1850	The Compromise of 1850 revisits the issue of slavery. California enters the Union as a free state, but the territories of New Mexico and Utah are allowed to decide whether they will enter the Union as slave or free states. The 1850 Compromise also allowed	The Slavery Contoversy	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1850	On August 27, Lucy Stanton of Cleveland completes the course requirements for Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College) and becomes the first African American woman to graduate from an American college or university.	Black Education	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1850	The American League of Colored Workers, formed in New York City, is the first African American labor union in the United States.	Black Labor	United States	New York
1801-1900	1851	Sojourner Truth delivers her famous "Aren't I a Woman" speech at the Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio on May 29.	The Abolition Movement	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1852	Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which becomes a best selling book and a major influence on the Anti-Slavery Movement.	The Abolition Movement	United States	New York
1801-1900	1852	Martin R. Delany publishes The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States.	Free Blacks in Antebellum America	United States	New York
1801-1900	1852	The Jackson Street Hospital in Augusta, Georgia is established as the second medical facility dedicated solely to the care of African American patients.	Health and Medicine	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1853	Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (the Black Swan) debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and performs before Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace a year later.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1801-1900	1853	William Wells Brown of Buffalo, New York, becomes the first African American novelist when he publishes Clotel, or the President's Daughter. The novel is published in England, however and thus he is not considered the first published black novelist in th	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1801-1900	1854	On May 24, Virginia fugitive slave Anthony Burns is captured in Boston and returned to slavery under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act. Fifty thousand Boston residents watch his transport through the streets of the city in shackles. A Boston church	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1854	On May 30, the Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed by Congress. The Act repeals the Missouri Compromise and permits the admission of Kansas and Nebraska Territories to the Union after their populations decide on slavery.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1854	The Republican Party is formed in Jackson, Michigan in the summer in opposition to the extension of slavery into the western territories.	The Slavery Controversy	United States	Michigan
1801-1900	1854	Bleeding Kansas is an outgrowth of the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Between 1854 and 1858 armed groups of pro- and anti-slavery factions often funded and sponsored by organizations in the North and South, compete for control of Kansas Territo	The Slavery Controversy	United States	Kansas
1801-1900	1854	On October 13, Ashmun Institute, the first institution of higher learning for young black men, is founded by John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson. In 1866 it is renamed Lincoln University (Pa.) after President Abraham Lincoln	Black Education	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1854	James A. Healy is ordained in France as the first black Jesuit priest. He becomes Bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875, a diocese that includes all of Maine and New Hampshire, and holds that post for 25 years.	19th Century Black Religion	United States	Maine
1801-1900	1855	The Massachusetts Legislature outlaws racially segregated schools.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1855	William C. Nell of Boston publishes The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, considered the first history of African Americans.	Art and Literature	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1855	In November, John Mercer Langston is elected town clerk of Brownhelm Township, Ohio, becoming the first black elected official in the state of Ohio.	Black Politics	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1855	Frederick Douglass is nominated by the Liberty Party of New York for the office of secretary of state. He is the first black candidate in any state to be nominated for a statewide office.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1801-1900	1856	Wilberforce University becomes the first school of higher learning owned and operated by African Americans. It is founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Daniel A. Payne becomes the institution's first president.	Black Education	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1857	On March 6, the Dred Scott Decision is handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1858	Arkansas enslaves free blacks who refuse to leave the state.	Antebellum Slavery	United States	Arkansas
1801-1900	1859	On October 16, John Brown leads twenty men, including five African Americans (John Copeland, Shields Green, Lewis S. Leary, Dangerfield Newby, and Osborne Anderson), in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now We	Resistance to Enslavement	United States	West Virginia
1801-1900	1859	Harriett Wilson of Milford, New Hampshire publishes Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, the first novel by an African American woman.	Art and Literature	United States	New Hampshire
1801-1900	1860	Census of 1860, U.S. Population: 31,443,321, Black Population: 4,441,830 (14.1 percent) including 488,070 free African Americans.	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1860	On November 6, Abraham Lincoln is elected president.	The Civil War	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1860	On December 20, South Carolina secedes from the Union.	The Civil War	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1861	Congress passes the First Confiscation Act which prevents Confederate slave owners from reenslaving runaways.	African Americans and the Civil War	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1861	On May 2, black men in New Orleans organize the First Louisiana Native Guard of the Confederate Army. In doing so they create the first and only military unit of black officers and enlisted men to pledge to fight for Southern independence. By February 186	Black Soldiers in the Civil War	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1861	By February, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas secede. They form the Confederate States of America on March 4. After the firing on Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North C	The Civil War	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1861	The Civil War. Approximately 200,000 blacks (most are newly escaped/freed slaves) serve in Union armed forces and over 20,000 are killed in combat.	African Americans in the Civil War	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1862	The Port Royal (South Carolina) Reconstruction Experiment begins in March.	African Americans in the Civil War	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1862	On April 16, Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia.	Emancipation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1862	In May the coastal pilot Robert Smalls escapes Charleston, South Carolina with The Planter, a Confederate vessel and sixteen enslaved people.	African Americans in the Civil War	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1862	Congress permits the enlistment of African American soldiers in the U.S. Army on July 17.	African Americans in the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1862	With the southern states absent from Congress, the body recognizes Haiti and Liberia, marking the first time diplomatic relations are established with predominately black nations.	African Americans in the Civil War	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1862	On September 22, President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamationand announces that it will go into effect on July 1, 1863 if the states then in rebellion have not by that point returned to the Union.	Emancipation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1862	Educator Mary Jane Patterson is generally recognized as the first African American woman to receive a B.A. degree when she graduated from Oberlin College in 1862. Lucy Stanton Day Sessions graduated from Oberlin twelve years earlier but was not in a prog	Black Education	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1863	Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation takes effect on January 1, legally freeing slaves in areas of the South still in rebellion against the United States.	Emancipation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1863	The New York City draft riots erupt on July 13 and continue for four days, during which at least 100 of the city's residents are killed. This remains the highest death toll in any urban conflict in the 19th or 20th Centuries.	Racial Violence	United States	New York
1801-1900	1863	On July 18, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, the first officially recognized all-black military unit in the Union army, assaults Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina in an unsuccessful effort to take the fortification. Sergeant William H. C	African Americans in the Military	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1863	Robert Smalls of Charleston, South Carolina, is the first and only African American to be commissioned a captain in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.	Black Soldiers in the Civil War	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1863	Susie King Taylor of Savannah is the first black Army nurse in U.S. history.	Health and Medicine	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1864	The Fort Pillow Massacre takes place in West Tennessee on April 12. Approximately 300 of the 585 soldiers of the Union garrison at Fort Pillow are killed including many after the Union forces surrender. Only 14 Confederate soldiers die in the battle.	Afrrican Americans in the Military	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1864	In June Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler of Boston is the first African American woman to earn a medical degree when she graduates from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.	Health and Medicine	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1864	On June 15, Congress passed a bill authorizing equal pay, equipment, arms, and health care for African American troops in the Union Army.	African Americans in the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1864	On October 4, La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orleans (the New Orleans Tribune) begins publication. The Tribune is the first black-owned daily newspaper.	The Black Press	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1865	On February 1, 1865, Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery throughout the United States.	Reconstruction Amendments	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1865	On March 3, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to provide health care, education, and technical assistance to emancipated slaves. Congress also charters the Freedman's Bank to promote savings and thrift among the ex-slaves.	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1865	Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.	The Civil War	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1865	On April 15, President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, D.C.	Political Assassinations	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1865	On June 19, enslaved African Americans in Texas finally receive news of their emancipation. From that point they commemorate that day as Juneteenth.	Emancipation	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1865	Between September and November, a number of ex-Confederate states pass so called Black Codes.	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1865	The Ku Klux Klan is formed on December 24th in Pulaski, Tennessee by six educated, middle class former Confederate veterans. The Klan soon adopts terror tactics to thwart the aspirations of the formerly enslaved and their supporters.	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1865	Twenty thousand African American troops are among the 32,000 U.S. soldiers sent to the Rio Grande as a show of force against Emperor Maximilian's French troops occupying Mexico. Some discharged black soldiers join the forces of Mexican resistance leader B	African Americans and the Military	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1865	John S. Rock is the first African American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.	The Legal System	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1865	Martin R. Delany's appointment as Major by President Abraham Lincoln makes him the highest ranking African American officer during the Civil War.	Black Soldiers in the Civil War	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1865	On January 16, General William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15 which gives 400,000 acres of abandoned coastal land in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to formerly enslaved people. This order becomes the basis for subsequent "40 acres and	Reconstruction	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1865	With the approval of the Georgia Legislature on December 6, the 13th Amendmenttook effect and outlawed slavery throughout the United States and its possessions.	Reconstruction Amendments	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1866	Fisk University is founded in Nashville, Tennessee on January 9.	Black Education	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1866	On April 9, Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The act confers citizenship upon black Americans and guarantees equal rights with whites.	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1866	On May 1-3, white civilians and police in Memphis, Tennessee kill forty-six African Americans and injure many more, burning ninety houses, twelve schools, and four churches in what will be known as the Memphis Massacre.	Racial Violence	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1866	On June 13, Congress approves the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law to all citizens. The amendment also grants citizenship to African Americans.	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1801-1900	1866	Congress authorizes the creation of four all-black regiments in the United States Army. Two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th and two infantry regiments, the 24th and 25th will become the first and only units in which black soldiers can serve until the	African Americans and the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1866	Police in New Orleans supporting the Democratic Mayor storm a Republican meeting of blacks and whites on July 30, killing 34 black and 3 white Republicans. Over 150 people are injured in the attack.	Racial Violence	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1867	On January 8, overriding President Andrew Johnson's veto, Congress grants the black citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote. Two days later it passes the Territorial Suffrage Act which allows African Americans in the western territories to	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1867	Morehouse College is founded in Atlanta on February 14.	Black Education	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1867	The Reconstruction Acts are passed by Congress on March 2. Congress divides ten of the eleven ex-Confederate states into military districts. These acts also reorganize post-war Southern governments, disfranchising former high ranking Confederates and enfr	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1867	On March 2, Howard University is chartered by Congress in Washington, D.C. The institution is named after General Oliver O. Howard who heads the Freedman's Bureau.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1868	On July 21, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, granting citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the United States.	Reconstruction Amendments	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1868	Opelousas, Louisiana is the site of the Opelousas Massacre on September 28, in which an estimated 200 to 300 black Americans are killed by whites opposed to Reconstruction and African American voting.	Racial Violence	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1868	On November 3, Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) is elected president.	Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1868	On November 3, John Willis Menard is elected to Congress from Louisiana's Second Congressional District. Menard is the first African American elected to Congress. However, neither he nor his opponent will be seated due to disputed election results.	Black Politics	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1868	Howard University Medical School opens on November 9. It is the first medical school in the United States established for the training of African American doctors.	Health and Medicine	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1869	On February 26, Congress sends the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution to the states for approval. The amendment guarantees African American males the right to vote.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1869	On April 6, Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett is appointed minister to Haiti. He is the first black American diplomat and presidential appointee.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1869	Isaac Myers organizes the Colored National Labor Union in Baltimore.	Black Labor	United States	Maryland
1801-1900	1869	George Lewis Ruffin is the first African American to receive a law degree from any institution when he graduates from Harvard Law School.	The Legal System	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1870	Census of 1870, U.S. population: 39,818,449, Black population: 4,880,009 (12.7 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1870	Hiram R. Revels (Republican) of Mississippi takes his seat in the U.S. Senate on February 25. He is the first black United States senator, though he serves only one year, completing the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis.	Black Politics	United States	Mississippi
1801-1900	1870	The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified on March 30.	Reconstruction Amendments	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1870	In June Richard T. Greener becomes the first African American undergraduate to graduate from Harvard University.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1870	The Preparatory High School for Colored Youth opens in Washington, D.C. It is the first public high school for African Americans in the nation. The institution is later named the M Street High School and finally Dunbar High School in honor of Paul Lawrenc	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1871	In February Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1871 popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1871	On October 6, Fisk University's Jubilee Singers begin their first national tour. The Jubilee Singers become world-famous singers of black spirituals, performing before the Queen of England and the Emperor of Japan. The money they earn finances the constru	Black Entertainment	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1871	George Washington, an early black settler in Washington Territory becomes the first African American to found a predominately white town when he establishes Centerville, later Centralia, Washington.	Municipal Affairs	United States	Washington
1801-1900	1872	Lt. Governor Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback of Louisiana serves as governor of the state for one month from December 1872 to January 1873. He is the first African American to hold that position.	Black Politics	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1872	Charlotte Ray of Washington, D.C. is the first African American woman and only the third woman admitted to the bar to practice law in the U.S.	The Legal System	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1873	The 43rd Congress has seven black members.	Black Politics	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1873	On April 14, the U.S Supreme Court in the Slaughterhouse Cases rules that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment protects national, not state, citizenship.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1873	Bishop Patrick Healy serves as President of Georgetown University from 1873 to 1881. He is the first African American to preside over a predominately white university.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1873	On Easter Sunday more than 100 African Americans were killed in northwest Louisiana while defending Republicans in local office against white militia. The incident became known as the Colfax Massacre. Later that year in what would be known as the Coushatt	Racial Violence	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1874	The Freedman's Bank closes after African American depositors and investors lose more than one million dollars.	Black Business	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1875	Federal troops are sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi in January to protect African Americans attempting to vote and to allow the safe return of the African American sheriff who had been forced to flee the city.	African Americans and Reconstruction	United States	Mississippi
1801-1900	1875	On February 23rd Jim Crow laws are enacted in Tennessee. Similar statutes had existed in the North before the Civil War.	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1875	Congress enacts the Civil Rights Act of 1875 on March 1, guaranteeing equal rights to black Americans in public accommodations and jury duty.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1875	Blanche Kelso Bruce (Republican) of Mississippi becomes the first African American to serve a full six year term as senator when he takes his seat in the United States Senate on March 3.	Black Politics	United States	Mississippi
1801-1900	1875	The 44th Congress has eight black members.	Black Politics	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1875	Jockey Oliver Lewis wins the first Kentucky Derby race. Over the next 27 years fourteen black jockeys would ride the wining horse at the Derby.	African American Athletes	United States	Kentucky
1801-1900	1876	Lewis H. Latimer, while working for the Boston patent attorney office of Crosby and Gould, assists Alexander Graham Bell in obtaining a patent for the telephone on March 7.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1876	In May, Edward Alexander Bouchet receives a Ph.D. from Yale University. He is the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from an American university and only the sixth American to earn a Ph.D. in physics.	Black Education	United States	Connecticut
1801-1900	1876	Race riots and other forms of terrorism against black voters in South Carolina over the summer including the infamous Hamburg Massacre where blacks are killed while celebrating the Fourth of July, prompt President Grant to sent federal troops to restore o	Racial Violence	United States	South Carolina
1801-1900	1876	On October 13 Meharry Medical College is founded in Nashville by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Church.	Health and Medicine	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1876	The presidential election of 1876, pitting Samuel Tilden (Democrat) against Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), is inconclusive when the votes in the Electoral College are disputed.	Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1877	The Compromise of 1877 (also known as the Wormley House Compromise because the meeting takes place in a black-owned hotel in Washington, D.C.) is an arrangement worked out in January of that year which effectively ends Reconstruction. Although Democratic	Reconstruction	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1877	The 45th Congress has three black members.	Black Politics	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1877	On June 15, Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from West Point.	African Americans and the Military	United States	New York
1801-1900	1877	In July, 30 African American settlers from Kentucky establish the town of Nicodemus in western Kansas. This is the first of hundreds of all or mostly black towns created in the West.	Black Settlement in the West	United States	Kansas
1801-1900	1877	George Washington Henderson of the University of Vermont is the first African American elected to Phi Beta Kappy, the oldest humanities honor society in the U.S.	Black Education	United States	Vermont
1801-1900	1877	President Rutherford B. Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass as the first black U.S. Marshal. His jurisdication is the District of Columbia.	Pre-1970 Politics	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1878	Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American woman entertainer to perform at the White House when she presents a musical program to President Rutherford B. Hayes and assembled guests.	Black Entertainment	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1879	Mary Eliza Mahoney becomes the first African American professional nurse, graduating from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.	Blacks in the Professions	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1879	Approximately six thousand African Americans leave Louisiana and Mississippi counties along the Mississippi River for Kansas in what will be known as the Exodus.Henry Adams and Benjamin "Pap" Singleton were two of the major leaders of the Exodus.	Black Settlement in the West	United States	Kansas
1801-1900	1880	Census of 1880, U.S. population: 50,155,783, Black population: 6,580,793 (13.1 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1880	On May 14, Sgt. George Jordan of the Ninth Cavalry, commanding a detachment of Buffalo Soldiers, leads a successful defense of Tularosa, New Mexico Territory, against Apache Indians.	African Americans and the Military	United States	New Mexico
1801-1900	1880	The U.S. Supreme Court in Strauder v. West Virginia rules that African Americans cannot be excluded from juries solely on the basis of race.	Civil Rights	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1881	In January the Tennessee State Legislature votes to segregate railroad passenger cars. Tennessee's action is followed by Florida (1887), Mississippi (1888), Texas (1889), Louisiana (1890), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Georgia (1891), South Carolina (1	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1881	Spelman College, the first college for black women in the U.S., is founded on April 11 by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles.	Black Education	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1881	On the Fourth of July 25-year-old Booker T. Washington opens Tuskegee Institute in central Alabama.	Black Education	United States	Alabama
1801-1900	1882	The Virginia State Assembly established the first state mental hospital for African Americans and locates it near Petersburg.	Health and Medicine	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1882	George Washington Williams's History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 is considered teh first history of African Americans that met the standards of professionally written history of that era.	Art and Literature	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1883	The 50th Congress has no black members. Intimidation keeps most black voters from the polls.	Black Politics	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1883	On October 16, U. S. Supreme Court in a decision known as the Civil Rights Casesdeclares invalid the Civil Rights Act of 1875, stating the Federal Government cannot bar corporations or individuals from discriminating on the basis of race.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1883	On November 3, white conservatives in Danville, Virginia, seize control of the local racially integrated and popularly elected government, killing four African Americans in the process.	Racial Violence	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1884	Judy W. Reed of Washington D.C. becomes the first African American woman to receive a patent. She is granted patent number 305,474 on September 23 for her creation of a dough kneader and roller.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1884	Granville Woods founds the Woods Railway Telegraph Company in Columbus, Ohio. The company manufactured and sold telephone and telegraph equipment.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1885	On June 25, African American Priest Samuel David Ferguson is ordained a bishop of the Episcopal Church at a ceremony at Grace Church, New York City.	19th Century Black Religion	United States	New York
1801-1900	1886	The Knights of Labor, founded and headquartered in Philadelphia, reaches it peak membership of 700,000 with approximately 75,000 African American members.	Black Labor	United States	Pennsylvania
1801-1900	1886	The American Federation of Labor is organized on December 8 in Columbus, Ohio. All major unions of the federation excluded black workers.	Black Labor	United States	Ohio
1801-1900	1886	Norris Wright Cuney becomes chairman of the Texas Republican Party. He is the first African American to head a major political party at the state level in U.S. history	Pre-1970 Politics	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1887	On July 14, 1887, the directors of the International League (Major League Baseball) voted to prohibit the signing of additional black players while allowing those under contract such as Frank Grant of Buffalo and Moses Fleetwood Walker of Syracuse franchi	African American Athletes	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1887	The National Colored Farmers' Alliance is formed in Houston County, Texas.	Black Farmers	United States	Texas
1801-1900	1888	On April 11, Edward Park Duplex is elected mayor of Wheatland, California. He is believed to be the first African American mayor of a predominantly white town in the United States.	Black Politics	United States	California
1801-1900	1888	Two of America's first black-owned banks, the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain United Order of the Reformers, in Richmond, Virginia, and Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C, open their doors.	Black Business	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1889	Florida becomes the first state to use the poll tax to disenfranchise black voters.	Black Politics	United States	Florida
1801-1900	1889	Frederick Douglass is appointed Minister to Haiti.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1890	Census of 1890, U.S. population: 62,947,714, Black population: 7,488,676 (11.9 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1890	The Afro-American League is founded on January 25 in Chicago under the leadership of Timothy Thomas Fortune.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1801-1900	1890	On November 1, the Mississippi Legislature approves a new state Constitution that disenfranchises virtually all of the state's African American voters. The Mississippi Plan used literacy and understanding tests to prevent African Americans from casting ba	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	Mississippi
1801-1900	1890	William Henry Lewis and William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson were the first known black players on a white college football team when they played at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Lewis was team captain for the 1891-92 season.	African American Athletes	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1891	Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founds Provident Hospital in Chicago, the first African American-owned hospital in the nation.	Health and Medicine	United States	Illinois
1801-1900	1892	On June 15 operatic soprano Sissieretta Jones becomes the first African American to perform at Carnegie Hall.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1801-1900	1892	On July 14 three companies of the 24th Infantry occupy the Coeur d'Alene Mining District in northern Idaho which has been declared under martial law following a violent strike by silver miners. They remain for four months.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Idaho
1801-1900	1892	In October activist Ida B. Wells begins her anti-lynching campaign with the publication of Southern Horrors: Lynch Law and in All Its Phases and a speech in New York City's Lyric Hall	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New York
1801-1900	1892	The National Medical Association is formed in Atlanta by African American physicians because they are barred from the American Medical Association.	Health and Medicine	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1892	First intercollegiate football game between African American colleges takes place between Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) and Livingston College.	African American Athletes	United States	North Carolina
1801-1900	1892	A record 230 people are lynched in the United States this year, 161 are black and 69 white. In the period between 1882 and 1951, Tuskegee Institute compiled nationwide lynching statistics. In that 69 year period, 4,730 people were lynched including 3,437	Racial Violence	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1892	The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper is founded by former slave John H. Murphy, Sr.	The Black Press	United States	Maryland
1801-1900	1893	Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful operation on a human heart in his Chicago hospital. The patient, a victim of a chest stab wound, survives and lives for twenty years after the operation.	Health and Medicine	United States	Illinois
1801-1900	1894	The Church of God in Christ is founded in Memphis by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason.	19th Century Black Religion	United States	Tennessee
1801-1900	1895	White terrorists attack black workers in New Orleans on March 11-12. Six blacks are killed.	Racial Violence	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1895	In June, W.E.B. Du Bois becomes the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1895	Booker T. Washington delivers his famous Atlanta Compromise address on September 18 at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition. He says the Negro problem would be solved by a policy of gradualism and accommodation.	Segregated America	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1895	Three black Baptist organizations, the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention of the United States (1880), the American National Baptist Convention (1886) and the Baptist National Educational Convention (1893) combined at Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta	19th Century Black Religion	United States	Georgia
1801-1900	1896	Plessey v. Ferguson is decided on May 18 when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Southern segregation laws and practices (Jim Crow) do not conflict with the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Court defends its ruling by articulating the separate but equal doctr	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1896	On July 21 the National Association of Colored Women is formed in Washington, D.C. Mary Church Terrell is chosen as its first president.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1896	In September George Washington Carver is appointed director of agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute. His work advances peanut, sweet potato, and soybean farming.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Alabama
1801-1900	1896	John Shippen became the first black professional golfer when he participated in a tournament in England.	African American Athletes	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1897	The American Negro Academy is established on March 5 in Washington, D.C. to encourage African American participation in art, literature and philosophy.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1897	The first Phillis Wheatley Home is founded in Detroit. These homes, established in most cities with large African American populations, provide temporary accommodations and social services for single African American women.	Black Organizations	United States	Michigan
1801-1900	1898	In January the Louisiana Legislature introduces the Grandfather Clause into the state's constitution. Only males whose fathers or grandfathers were qualified to vote on January 1, 1867, are automatically registered. Others (African Americans) must comply	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1898	The Spanish-American War begins on April 21. Sixteen regiments of black volunteers are recruited; four see combat in Cuba and the Philippines Five African Americans win Congressional Medals of Honor during the war. A number of black officers command troop	African Americans and the Military	United States	n.a.
1801-1900	1898	The National Afro-American Council is founded on September 15 in Rochester, New York. The organization elects Bishop Alexander Walters as its first president.	Black Organizations	United States	New York

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1801-1900	1898	On November 10, in Wilmington, North Carolina, eight black Americans were killed as white conservative Democrats forcibly removed from power black and white Republican officeholders in the city. The episode would be known as the Wilmington Riot.	Racial Violence	United States	North Carolina
1801-1900	1898	The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Insurance Company of Durham, North Carolina and the National Benefit Life Insurance Company of Washington, D.C. are established.	Black Business	United States	North Carolina
1801-1900	1898	The U.S. Supreme Court in Williams v. Mississippi upholds the provisions of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 which effectively disfranchises virtually all of the black voters in the state.	Civil Rights	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1899	In May, the 24th Infantry returns to occupy the Coeur d'Alene Mining District in northern Idaho after violence again erupts.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Idaho
1801-1900	1899	The Afro-American Council designates June 4 as a national day of fasting to protest lynching and massacres.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1801-1900	1899	Scott Joplin composes the Maple Leaf Rag, which introduces ragtime music to the United States.	19th Century Black Music	United States	Missouri
1801-1900	1900	Census of 1900, U.S. population: 75,994,575, Black population: 8,833,994 (11.6 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1801-1900	1900	In January James Weldon Johnson writes the lyrics and his brother John Rosamond Johnson composes the music for Lift Every Voice and Sing in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida in celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The song is eventually a	19th Century Black Music	United States	Florida
1801-1900	1900	The New Orleans Race Riot (also known as the Robert Charles Riot) erupts on July 23 and lasts four days. Twelve African Americans and seven whites were killed.	Racial Violence	United States	Louisiana
1801-1900	1900	On August 23, the National Negro Business League is founded in Boston by Booker T. Washington to promote business enterprise.	Black Business	United States	Massachusetts
1801-1900	1900	In September Nannie Helen Burroughs leads the founding of the Women's' Convention of the National Baptist Convention at its meeting in Richmond, Virginia.	Black Organizations	United States	Virginia
1801-1900	1900	This year marks the beginning of significant West Indian immigration to the United States.	Black Immigrants	United States	n. a.
1801-1900	1900	By 1900 nearly two-thirds of the landowners in the Mississippi Delta were black farmers, most of whom had bought and cleared land after the Civil War.	African American Farmers	United States	Mississippi
1801-1900	1900	An estimated 30,000 black teachers have been trained since the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865. They are a major factor in helping more than half the black population achieve literacy by this date.	Black Education	United States	n.a.
1901-2000	1901	The last African American congressman elected in the 19th Century, George H. White, Republican of North Carolina, leaves office. No African American will serve in Congress for the next 28 years.	Black Politics	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1901	On October 11, when Bert Williams and George Walker record their music for the Victor Talking Machine Company, they become the first African American recording artists.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1901	On October 16, only one month after becoming President, Theodore Roosevelt holds an afternoon meeting at the White House with Booker T. Washington. At the end of the meeting the President informally invites Washington to remain for dinner, making the Tusk	Segregated America	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1901	Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up From Slavery is published.	Art and Literature	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1902	In May jockey Jimmy Winkfield wins the Kentucky Derby in an era when African American jockeys dominate the sport.	African American Athletes	United States	Kentucky
1901-2000	1903	W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folks is published on April 27. In it Du Bois rejects the gradualism of Booker T. Washington, calling for agitation on behalf of African American rights.	Segregated America	United States	New York
1901-2000	1903	Maggie Lena Walker founds St. Lukes Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia.	Black Business	United States	Virginia
1901-2000	1904	Educator Mary McLeod Bethune founds a college in Daytona Beach, Florida that today is known as Bethune-Cookman University.	Black Education	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1904	Sigma Pi Phi (the Boule) is founded in Philadelphia on May 15 by four wealthy African American college graduates.	Black Organizations	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1904	Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, who trains at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital at the University of Munich with Dr. Alois Alzheimer, becomes a widely published pioneer in Alzheimers disease research. Fuller also becomes the nations first black psychiatrist.	Health and Medicine	United States	New York
1901-2000	1905	The black weekly newspaper, The Chicago Defender, is founded by Robert Abbotton May 5.	The Black Press	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1905	The Niagara Movement is created on July 11-13, by African American intellectuals and activists, led by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1905	Nashville African Americans boycott streetcars to protest racial segregation.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Tennessee
1901-2000	1906	The Azusa Street Revival begins in the former African Methodist Episcopal Church building at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles in April. The revival, led by black evangelist William J. Seymour, is considered the beginning of the worldwide Pentecostal Moveme	20th Century Black Religion	United States	California
1901-2000	1906	On August 13 in Brownsville, Texas, approximately a dozen black troops riot against segregation and in the process kill a local citizen. When the identity of the killer cannot be determined, President Theodore Roosevelt discharges three companies of black	African Americans and the Military	United States	Texas
1901-2000	1906	The Atlanta Race Riot on September 22-24 produces twelve deaths; ten blacks and two whites.	Racial Violence	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1906	On December 4, seven students at Cornell University form Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first college fraternity for black men.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1907	Alain Locke of Philadelphia, a Harvard graduate, becomes the first African American Rhodes Scholar.	Black Education	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1907	The Pittsburgh Courier is established by Edwin Harleston, a security guard and aspiring writer. Three years later attorney Robert Vann takes control of the paper as its editor-publisher.	The Black Press	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1907	Madam C.J. Walker of Denver develops and markets her hair straightening method and creates one of the most successful cosmetics firms in the nation.	Black Business	United States	Colorado
1901-2000	1908	On January 15, Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first black sorority, is founded on the campus of Howard University.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1908	On August 14, the Springfield Race Riot breaks out in Springfield, Illinois, the home town of Abraham Lincoln. Two blacks and four whites are killed. This is the first major riot in a Northern city in nearly half a century.	Racial Violence	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1909	The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed on February 12 in New York City, partly in response to the Springfield Riot.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1909	On April 6, Admiral Robert E. Peary and African American Matthew Henson, accompanied by four Eskimos, become the first men known to have reached the North Pole.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	New York
1901-2000	1909	On December 4, the New York Amsterdam News begins publication.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1909	The Knights of Peter Claver, the first permanent national black Catholic fraternal order, is founded in Mobile, Alabama.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1910	Census of 1910: U.S. population: 93,402,151, Black population: 9,827,763 (10.7 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1910	The National Urban League is founded in New York City on September 29. The League is organized to help African Americans secure employment and to adjust to urban life.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1910	The first issue of Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP, appears on November 1. W.E.B. Du Bois is the first editor.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1910	On December 19, the City Council of Baltimore approves an ordinance segregating black and white neighborhoods. This ordinance is followed by similar statutes in Dallas, Texas, Greensboro, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Norfolk, Virginia, Oklahoma C	Jim Crow Legislation	United States	Maryland
1901-2000	1911	Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity is founded at Indiana University on January 5.	Black Organizations	United States	Indiana
1901-2000	1911	Omega Psi Phi Fraternity is founded at Howard University on November 17.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1912	W.C. Handy published "Memphis Blues" sheet music in Memphis	20th Century Black Music	United States	Tennessee
1901-2000	1913	The Jubilee year, the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, is celebrated throughout the nation over the entire year.	Black Holidays and Celebrations	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1913	Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is founded at Howard University on January 13.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1913	On April 11, the Woodrow Wilson administration initiates the racial segregation of work places, rest rooms and lunch rooms in all federal offices across the nation.	Segregated America	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1913	Bert Williams plays the lead role in Darktown Jubilee, making him the first African American actor to star in a motion picture.	Black Hollywood	United States	California
1901-2000	1913	Noble Drew Ali founds the Moorish Science Temple in Newark, New Jersey.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	New Jersey
1901-2000	1914	Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity is founded at Howard University on January 9.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1914	Cleveland inventor Garrett Morgan patents a gas mask called the Safety Hood and Smoke Protector. The mask, initially used to rescue trapped miners, is eventually adopted by the U.S. Army.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Ohio
1901-2000	1914	On August 1, World War I began in Europe.	African Americans in World War I	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1915	The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Northern cities begins.	Black Migration	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1915	On June 21, the Oklahoma Grandfather Clause is overturned in Guinn v. United States.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1915	In September, Carter G. Woodson founds the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in Chicago.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1916	Marcus Garvey founds the New York Division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association with sixteen members. Four years later the UNIA holds its national convention in Harlem. At its height the organization claims nearly two million members.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1916	On July 25, Garrett Morgan uses his newly invented gas mask to rescue men trapped after an explosion in a tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Ohio
1901-2000	1916	In January the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) begins publishing the Journal of Negro History which becomes the first scholarly journal devoted to the study of African American history.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1917	The United States enters World War I on April 6. Some 370,000 African-Americans join the armed forces with more than half serving in the French war zone. Over 1,000 black officers command these troops. The French government awards the Croix de Guerre to 1	African Americans in World War I	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1917	The East St. Louis Race Riot begins on July 1 and continues to July 3. Forty people are killed, hundreds more injured, and 6,000 driven from their homes.	Racial Violence	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1917	Nearly 10,000 African Americans and their supporters march down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on July 28 as part of a silent parade, an NAACP-organized protest against lynchings, race riots, and the denial of rights. This is the first major civil rights demons	Racial Violence	United States	New York
1901-2000	1917	In August, A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen found The Messenger, a black socialist magazine, in New York City.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1917	On August 23, the Houston Mutiny and subsequent riot erupts between black soldiers and white citizens; two blacks and 11 whites are killed. Twenty-nine black soldiers are executed for participation in the riot.	Racial Violence	United States	Texas
1901-2000	1917	On November 5, the Supreme Court in Buchanan v. Warley strikes down the Louisville, Kentucky ordinance mandating segregated neighborhoods.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1918	On July 25-28, a race riot in Chester, Pennsylvania claims five lives, three blacks and two whites.	Racial Violence	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1918	On July 26-29, in nearby Philadelphia, another race riot breaks out killing four, three blacks and one white.	Racial Violence	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1918	The Armistice on November 11 ends World War I. However, the northern migration of African Americans continues. By 1930 there were 1,035,000 more black Americans in the North than in 1910.	Black Migration	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1919	The Ku Klux Klan is revived in 1915 at Stone Mountain, Georgia, and by the beginning of 1919 operates in 27 states. Eighty-three African Americans are lynched during the year, among them a number of returning soldiers still in uniform.	Racial Violence	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1919	The West Virginia State Supreme Court rules that an African American is denied equal protection under the law if his jury has no black members.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	West Virginia
1901-2000	1919	The Associated Negro Press is established in Chicago by Claude A. Barnett on March 2.	The Black Press	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1919	The twenty five race riots that take place throughout the nation prompt the term, Red Summer. The largest clashes take place on May 10 in Charleston, South Carolina, July 13 in Longview, Texas, July 19-23 in Washington, D. C, July 27-Aug. 1 in Chicago, Se	Racial Violence	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1919	Claude McKay publishes "If We Must Die," considered one of the first major examples of Harlem Renaissance writing.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1919	Father Divine founds the Peace Mission Movement at his home in Sayville, New York.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	New York
1901-2000	1919	South Dakota resident Oscar Micheaux releases his first film, The Homesteader, in Chicago. Over the next four decades Micheaux will produce and direct 24 silent films and 19 sound films, making him the most prolific black filmmaker of the 20th Century.	Black Hollywood	United States	South Dakota
1901-2000	1920	Census of 1920, Black population: 10,463,131 (9.9 percent), U.S. population: 105,710,620	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1920	The decade of the 1920s witnesses the Harlem Renaissance, a remarkable period of creativity for black writers, poets, and artists, including among others Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1920	On January 16, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority is founded at Howard University.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1920	Andrew Rube Foster leads the effort to establish the Negro National (Baseball) League on February 14 in Kansas City. Eight teams are part of the league.	African American Athletes	United States	Missouri
1901-2000	1920	On August 26, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified giving all women the right to vote. Nonetheless, African American women, like African American men, are denied the franchise in most Southern states.	Black Women	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1920	Former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson opens the Club Deluxe in Harlem. Two years later gangaster Owney Madden buys the club and changes its name to the Cotton Club.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1920	Marcus Garvey leads the first international convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which he calls the International Convention of Negro Peoples of the World. The meeting is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	New York
1901-2000	1921	Shuffle Along by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake opens on Broadway on May 23. This is the first major play of the Harlem Renaissance.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1921	On May 31-June 1, at least 60 blacks and 21 whites are killed in the Tulsa Race Riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The violence destroys a thriving African American neighborhood and business district called Deep Greenwood.	Racial Violence	United States	Oklahoma
1901-2000	1921	In June Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander of the University of Pennsylvania, Eva B. Dykes of Radcliff and Georgiana R. Simpson of the University of Chicago become the first African American women to earn Ph.D. degrees.	Black Education	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1921	Harry Pace forms Black Swan Phonograph Corporation, the first African American-owned record company in Harlem. His artists will include Mamie and Bessie Smith.	Black Business	United States	New York
1901-2000	1921	One of the earliest exhibitions of work by African American artists, including Henry Ossawa Tanner and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, is held at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1921	Jesse Binga founds the Binga State Bank in Chicago. It will become the largest African American bank in the nation before it collapses during the 1929 Stock Market Crash.	Black Business	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1922	In September William Leo Hansberry of Howard University teaches the first course in African history and civilization at an American university.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1922	Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is founded on November 12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.	Black Organizations	United States	Indiana
1901-2000	1922	The Harmon Foundation is established in New York City to promote African American participation in the fine arts.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1923	On January 4, the small, predominately black town of Rosewood, Florida is destroyed by a mob of white residents from nearby communities. The attack would be known as the Rosewood Massacre.	Racial Violence	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1923	Marcus Garvey is imprisoned for mail fraud. He is sent to the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta in 1925.	Crime and Punishment	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1923	In September, the Cotton Club opens in Harlem.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1923	Bessie Smith signs with Columbia Records to produce race records. Her recording, "Down-Hearted Blues," becomes the first million-selling record by an African American artist. Two years later she records "St. Louis Blues" with Louis Armstrong.	20th Century Black Music	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1923	On November 20, Garrett T. Morgan patents a caution light which improves the traffic signal.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Ohio
1901-2000	1923	The National Urban League publishes its first issue of Opportunity, A Journal of Negro Life. The magazine, edited by Charles S. Johnson, quickly becomes a forum for artists and authors of the Harlem Renaissance.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1923	Rojo Jack is the first African American to particiapte in professional car racing when he competes in a race in Honolulu Hawaii.	African American Athletes	United States	Hawaii

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1901-2000	1924	Photographer James Van Der Zee begins his career by capturing images of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1925	The New Negro by Alain Locke is published in New York City.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1925	The National Bar Association, an organization of black attorneys, is established on August 1 in Des Moines, Iowa.	Black Organizations	United States	Iowa
1901-2000	1925	On August 2, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids is organized with A. Philip Randolph as its first president.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1925	On September 9, Ossian Sweet, a Detroit physician, is arrested for murder after he and his family kill a member of a white mob while defending their home. The Sweet family is represented at their trial by Clarence Darrow and acquitted of the charge.	Racial Violence	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1925	The American Negro Labor Congress is founded in Chicago in October.	Blacks and Organized Labor	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1925	Although African Americans have been serving as U.S. ambassadors since 1869, Clifton Reginald Wharton becomes the first African American to permanently enter the U.S. Foreign Service.	International Diplomacy	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1926	Carter G. Woodson establishes Negro History Week in February between the Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass Birthdays.	Black Holidays and Celebrations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1926	Dr. Mordecai Johnson becomes the first African American president of Howard University in September.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1926	The Carnegie Corporation purchases Arturo Schomburg's collection of books and artifacts on African American life. The collection becomes the basis for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1927	Chicago businessman Abe Saperstein forms the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team in Chicago on January 30.	African American Athletes	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1927	On December 2, Marcus Garvey is deported from the United States.	Crime and Punishment	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1927	Floyd Joseph Calvin, a Pittsburgh Courier journalist, becomes the first black radio talk show host when he begins broadcasting from WGBS in Pittsburgh.	Radio and Television	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1928	On November 6, Oscar DePriest, a Republican, is elected to Congress from Chicagos South Side. He is the first African American to represent a northern, urban district.	Black Politics	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1928	The Atlanta Daily World begins publication in November.	The Black Press	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1929	Fats Waller's musical, Aint Misbehavin, opens on Broadway.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1930	Census of 1930, Black population: 11,891,143 (9.7 percent), U.S. population: 122,775,046	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1930	James V. Herring establishes the Howard University Gallery of Art, the first gallery in the United States directed and controlled by African Americans. It is also one of the earliest galleries to highlight African American art.	Art and Literature	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1930	Wallace Fard Muhammad founds Black Muslim movement in Detroit in 1930. Four years later Elijah Muhammad assumes control of the movement and transfers the headquarters to Chicago.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1931	Walter White is named NAACP executive secretary. Soon afterwards the NAACP mounts a new strategy primarily using lawsuits to end racial discrimination.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New York
1901-2000	1931	The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama. Their trial begins on April 6.	Crime and Punishment	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1931	William Grant Still becomes the first black symphony composer to have his music performed by a major symphony orchestra when the Rochester, New York, Philharmonic Orchestra presets "The Afro-American Symphony" in concert.	20th Century Black Music	United States	New York
1901-2000	1932	The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment begins under the direction of the U.S. Public Health Service. The experiment ends in 1972.	Health and Medicine	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1932	Gospel Composer Thomas Dorsey writes "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."	20th Century Black Music	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1932	Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president of the United States in November.	Blacks and the Great Depression	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1932	The Los Angeles Sentinel is founded by Leon H. Washington.	The Black Press	United States	California
1901-2000	1932	Dudley Murphy releases the film The Emperor Jones starring Paul Robeson.	Black Entertainment	United States	California
1901-2000	1934	W.E.B. Du Bois resigns from the NAACP in a dispute over the strategy of the organization in its campaign against racial discrimination. Roy Wilkins becomes the new editor of Crisis magazine.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New York
1901-2000	1934	The Southern Tenant Farmers Union is organized by the Socialist Party.	Racial Alliances	United States	Arkansas
1901-2000	1934	Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, Jonahs Gourd Vine, is published.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1934	After operating under a number of names, the Apollo Theater opens under its current name in Harlem.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1935	On March 20, the Harlem Race Riot, a one day riot erupts leaving two people dead.	Racial Violence	United States	New York
1901-2000	1935	On April 1, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Norris v. Alabama that a defendant has a right to trial by a jury of his or her peers.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1935	The Michigan Chronicle is founded in Detroit by Louis E. Martin.	The Black Press	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1935	On November 5, the Maryland Supreme Court rules in Murray v. Pearson that the University of Maryland must admit African Americans to its law school or establish a separate school for blacks. The University of Maryland chooses to admit its first black stud	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	Maryland
1901-2000	1935	On December 24, Mary McLeod Bethune calls together the leaders of 28 national womens organizations to found the National Council of Negro Women in New York City.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1936	The first meeting of the National Negro Congress takes place in Chicago on February 14, 1936. Nearly 600 black organizations are represented.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1936	On June 24, Mary McLeod Bethune is named Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, the National Youth Administration. She is the highest ranking black official in the Roosevelt Administration and leads the Black Cabinet. She is also the first black woman	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1936	Track star Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics between August 3 and August 9.	African American Athletes	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1936	Dr. William Augustus Hinton's book, Syphilis and Its Treatment, is the first published medical textbook written by an African American.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Massachusetts
1901-2000	1937	William H. Hastie, former advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, is confirmed on March 26 as the first black federal judge after his appointment by Roosevelt to the federal bench in the Virgin Islands.	Judicial Appointments	United States	Virgin Islands
1901-2000	1937	The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids is recognized by the Pullman Company.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1937	On June 22, boxer Joe Louis wins the heavyweight championship in a bout with James J. Braddock in Chicago.	African American Athletes	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1937	In October, Katherine Dunham forms the Negro Dance Group, a company of black artists dedicated to presenting aspects of African American and African-Caribbean Dance. The company eventually becomes the Katherine Dunham Group.	Art and Literature	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1937	Hugh Morris Gloster founds the College Language Association (CLA) in Atlanta, Georgia.	Black Education	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1938	On June 22, Joe Louis beats Max Schmeling in a rematch of his 1936 defeat by the German boxer.	African American Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1938	Jacob Lawrence holds his first solo exhibition at the Harlem YMCA and completes his Toussaint L'Overture series.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1938	In November Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia becomes the first African American woman elected to a state legislature when she is chosen to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.	Black Politics	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1938	On December 12, the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canadarules that a state that provides in-state education for whites must provide comparable in-state education for blacks.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	Missouri
1901-2000	1939	Popular contralto Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 people on Easter Sunday after the Daughters of the American Revolution refuse to allow her to perform at Constitution Hall.	Art and Literature	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1939	Bill Bojangles Robinson organizes the Black Actors Guild.	Black Hollywood	United States	New York
1901-2000	1939	World War II begins in Europe on September 1 when Germany invades Poland	African Americans in World War II	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1939	Jane M. Bolin becomes the first African American woman judge in the United States when she is appointed to the domestic relations court of New York City.	Judicial Appointments	United States	New York
1901-2000	1940	Census of 1940, U.S. population 131,669,275, Black population: 12,865,518 (9.8 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia.
1901-2000	1940	On February 29, Hattie McDaniel receives an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her role in Gone With the Wind. She becomes the first black actor to win an academy award.	Black Hollywood	United States	California
1901-2000	1940	Richard Wright publishes his first novel, Native Son.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1940	Dr. Charles R. Drew presents his thesis, Banked Blood at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. The thesis includes his research which discovers that plasma can replace whole blood transfusions.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	New York
1901-2000	1940	In October, Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr., is named the first African American general in the regular army.	African Americans and the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1940	The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is established in New York City.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1941	Mary Lucinda Dawson founds the National Negro Opera Company in Pittsburgh.	Art and Literature	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1941	The U.S. Army creates the Tuskegee Air Squadron who will soon be known as the Tuskegee Airmen.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1941	On June 25, President Franklin Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802, desegregating war production plants and creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC).	African Americans in World War II	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1941	On December 8, the United States enters World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dorris "Dorie" Miller is later awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism during that battle.	African Americans in World War II	United States	Hawaii
1901-2000	1941	The desperate need for factory labor to build the war machine needed to win World War II leads to an unprecedented migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West. This migration transforms American politics as blacks increasingly vote	African Americans in World War II	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1942	While teaching at Livingstone College in North Carolina, Margaret Walker publishes For My People, which she began as her master's thesis at the University of Iowa.	Art and Literature	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1942	The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is founded in Chicago by James Farmer, Jr., George Houser, Bernice Fisher, James Russell Robinson, Joe Guinn, and Homer Jack.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1942	The U.S. Marine Corps accepts African American men for the first time at a segregated training facility at Camp Montford Point, North Carolina. They will be known as the Montford Point Marines.	African Americans and the Military	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1942	Charity Adams Earley becomes the first black woman commissioned officer in the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) while serving at Fort Des Moines.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Iowa
1901-2000	1942	Hugh Mulzac becomes the first African American captain in the American Merchant Marine.	African Americans in World War II	United States	New York
1901-2000	1943	The Naval Academy at Annapolis and other naval officer schools accept African American men for the first time.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Maryland
1901-2000	1943	The Detroit Race Riot, June 20-21, claims 34 lives including 25 African Americans. Other riots occur in Harlem, Mobile, Alabama, and Beaumont, Texas.	Racial Violence	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1943	The first black cadets graduate from the Army Flight School at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1943	By summer, fourteen thousand African American soldiers of the 93rd Infantry Division and the 32nd and 33rd companies of the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps(approximately 300 women) are stationed in the Arizona desert at Fort Huachuca for training. They are th	African Americans and the Military	United States	Arizona
1901-2000	1943	Two American Navy Destroyer ships, the USS Mason, and the submarine chaser, PC1264, are staffed entirely by African American crews.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1943	The black 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) flies its first combat mission in Italy.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1944	On April 3, the U.S. Supreme Court in Smith v. Allwright declares white only political primaries unconstitutional.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1944	Frederick Douglass Patterson establishes the United Negro College Fund on April 25 to help support black colleges and black students. The fund is incorporated in New York.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1944	Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, is elected to Congress from Harlem in November.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1901-2000	1944	Swedish Nobel Prize winner Gunnar Myrdal publishes An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy after being commissioned in 1938 by the Carnegie Corporation to study African American issues.	Segregated America	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1945	President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12.	African Americans in World War II	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1945	The United Nations is founded in San Francisco on April 25.	African Americans in World War II	United States	California
1901-2000	1945	On May 8, Germany surrenders on Victory in Europe (VE) day.	African Americans in World War II	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1945	Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. is named commander of Goodman Field, Kentucky. He is the first African American to command a military base.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Kentucky
1901-2000	1945	Japan surrenders on Victory over Japan (VJ) day ending World War II on September 2. By the end of the war one million African American men and women have served in the U.S. military.	African Americans in World War II	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1945	Nat King Cole becomes the first African American to have a radio variety show. The show airs on NBC.	African Americans and the Media	United States	New York
1901-2000	1945	Ebony magazine, created by Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company, published its first issue on November 1.	The Black Press	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1946	Dr. Charles S. Johnson becomes the first African American president of Fisk University in Nashville.	Black Education	United States	Tennessee
1901-2000	1946	The U.S. Supreme Court in Morgan v. Virginia rules that segregation in interstate bus travel is unconstitutional.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1946	Charles Spurgeon Johnson, President of Fisk University in Nashville, becomes the first African American President of the Southern Sociological Society.	Black Education	United States	Tennessee
1901-2000	1946	Channing H. Tobias is the first African American to head the Phelps-Stokes Fund, a philanthropic organization that supports black education.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1947	On April 10, Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers becomes the first African American to play major league baseball in the 20th Century.	African American Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1947	The NAACP petition on racism, An Appeal to the World, is presented to the United Nations.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New York
1901-2000	1947	John Hope Franklin's From Slavery to Freedom is published. The work will become the most popular textbook on African American history published in the 20th Century.	Black Education	United States	New York
1901-2000	1948	On July 26, President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981 directing the desegregation of the armed forces.	African Americans and the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1948	Alice Coachman becomes the first African American woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal. She wins the high jump competition in the London Olympics.	African American Athletes	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1948	On October 1, the California Supreme Court voids the law banning interracial marriages in the state.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	California
1901-2000	1948	On May 3, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that state and local governments cannot enforce racially restrictive housing covenants.	housing segregation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1948	Timmie Rogers, comedian, dancer, and singer, launches the first all-black variety show, Sugar Hill Times, on CBS Television.	Radio and Television	United States	New York
1901-2000	1948	E. Franklin Frazier of Howard University becomes the first African American President of the American Sociological Association.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1949	In June Wesley Brown becomes the first African American to graduate from the Naval Academy at Annapolis.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Maryland

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1901-2000	1949	Businessman Jesse Blayton, Sr., establishes WERD-AM, the first black owned radio station. It begins broadcasting in Atlanta on October 3.	African Americans and the Media	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1949	William A. Hinton is the first black professor at the Harvard University Medical School.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1901-2000	1950	U.S. Census, U.S. population: 150,697,361, Black population: 15,044,937 (10 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1950	On May 1, Gwendolyn Brooks of Chicago becomes the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize. She wins the prize in Poetry.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1950	Chuck Cooper, Nathaniel Clifton, and Earl Lloyd become the first African Americans to play professional basketball in the modern National Basketball Association (NBA). Cooper played for the Boston Celtics; Clifton played for the New York Knicks, and Lloyd	African American Athletes	United States	n.a.
1901-2000	1950	Juanita Hall became the first African American to win a Tony award. She was honored for her role in the Broadway play, South Pacific.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1951	On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court rules racial segregation in District of Columbia restaurants is unconstitutional.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1951	On May 24, a mob of 3,500 whites attempt to prevent a black family from moving into a Cicero, Illinois apartment. Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson calls out the Illinois National Guard to protect the family and restore order.	Racial Violence	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1951	Harry T. Moore, a Florida NAACP official, is killed by a bomb in Mims, Florida, on December 25.	Political Assassinations	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1951	Johnson Publishing Company publishes the first issue of Jet, a weekly news magazine for an African American audience.	Black Publications	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1952	Tuskegee Institute reported no lynchings in the United States for the first time in 71 years of tabulation.	Racial Violence	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1952	Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. is appointed commander of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing in Korea.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1952	Ralph Ellison publishes Invisible Man.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1953	On June 19, Baton Rouge, Louisiana African Americans begin a boycott of their city's segregated municipal bus line.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Louisiana
1901-2000	1953	On December 31, Hulan Jack becomes the first African American borough president of Manhattan. At the time he is the highest ranking black elected official in the nation.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1901-2000	1953	James Baldwin publishes his first novel, the semi-autobiographical Go Tell It On The Mountain.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1953	When he joins the Chicago Bears Willie Thrower becomes the first black NFL quarterback in the modern era.	African American Athletes	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1953	Ralph Bunche becomes the first African American president of the American Political Science Association.	Black Education	United States	New York
1901-2000	1954	On May 17, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education declares segregation in all public schools in the United States unconstitutional, nullifying the earlier judicial doctrine of separate but equal.	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1954	On October 27, Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., becomes the first black Air Force general after serving in the Korean War, appointed to brigadier general by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He also is the first African American to command an airbase.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1954	Malcolm X becomes Minister of the Nation of Islam's Harlem Temple 7.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	New York
1901-2000	1954	Attorney Frankie Muse Freeman (born Marie Frankie Muse) was the lead attorney for the NAACP in Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority which ended racial discrimination in public housing in the city. Freeman was the first black woman to win a majo	housing segregation	United States	Missouri
1901-2000	1954	On May 3 in Hernandez v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the U.S. are entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.	Civil Rights	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1955	Fourteen-year-old Chicago resident Emmett Till is lynched while vacationing in Money, Mississippi on August 28.	Racial Violence	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1955	Chuck Berry, an early breakthrough rock and roll artist, records "Maybellene" with Chicago's Chess Records.	20th Century Black Music	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1955	Rosa Parks refuses to relinquish her bus seat to a white man on December 1, initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Soon afterwards Dr. Martin Luther Kingbecomes the leader of the Boycott.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1955	On January 7 Marian Anderson becomes the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1955	On January 15 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10590 which creates the President's Committee on Government Policy to enforce the federal government's policy of nondiscrimination in federal employment.	Civil Rights	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1955	On May 7 Reverend George W. Lee, an NAACP activist, is killed in Belzoni, Mississippi.	Racial Violence	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1955	On May 31 the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Brown II that public school desegregation must occur with all deliberate speed.	Civil Rights	United States	Dustrict of Columbia
1901-2000	1955	Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the 26 year old pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which leads the year-long boycott against the city's racially segregated bus line.	Civil Rights Era	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1956	Autherine Lucy is admitted to the University of Alabama on February 3. She is suspended on February 7 after a riot ensues at the university to protest her presence. Lucy is expelled on February 29.	Black Education	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1956	On November 11, Nat King Cole becomes the first African American to host a prime time variety show on national television. He appears on NBC.	African Americans and the Media	United States	New York
1901-2000	1956	Harry Belafonte's "Calypso," released by RCA Records, is the first album in history to sell more than one million copies.	20th Century Black Music	United States	New York
1901-2000	1956	On November 13, the U.S. Supreme Court in Gayle v. Browder bans segregation in intrastate travel, effectively giving a victory to those supporting the Montgomery Bus Boycott.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1956	On April 10 popular entertainer Nat King Cole is assaulted on stage during a segregated performance at the Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama.	Racial Violence	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1956	The Mississippi Sovereignty Commisison is formed in Jackson, the state captial, to maintain racial segregation in Mississippi.	Segregated America	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1957	Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first legislation protecting black rights since Reconstruction. The act establishes the Civil Rights section of the Justice Department and empowers federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against i	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1957	Dorothy Irene Height is appointed president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she holds for 41 years. She later launches a crusade for justice for black women and works to strengthen the black family.	Black Women	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1957	In September President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to ensure the enforcement of a Federal court order to desegregate Central High School and to protect nine African American students enrolled as part of the order. Th	Black Education	United States	Arkansas
1901-2000	1957	The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was founded at a mass meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.	Black Organizations	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1957	Perry H. Young becomes the first black pilot for a commercial passenger airline (New York Airways). The following year, 1958, Ruth Carol Taylor becomes the first commercial passenger airline flight attendant (Mohawk Airlines).	Black Transportation	United States	New York
1901-2000	1958	On January 12, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is organized in Atlanta with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its first President.	Black Organizations	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1958	The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is formed in New York.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1958	Louis E. Lomax becomes the first African American newscaster for a major network station. He is hired by WNTA-TV in New York City.	African Americans and the Media	United States	New York
1901-2000	1958	Althea Gibson becomes the first African American woman to win the U.S. Open tennis championship in Forest Hills.	African American Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1959	On January 12, Berry Gordy, Jr., founds Motown Records in Detroit.	Black Business	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1959	Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" opens in New York on March 11 with Sidney Poitier in the starring role. It is the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1959	On April 26, Mack Charles Parker is lynched near Poplarville, Mississippi.	Racial Violence	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1959	Ella Fitzgerald and William "Count" Basie become the first African American performers to win Grammy awards.	20th Century Black Music	United States	New York
1901-2000	1960	Census of 1960, U.S. population: 179,323,175, Black population: 18,871,831 (10.6 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1960	On February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro begin a sit-in at Woolworth's Drug Store to protest company policy which bans African Americans from sitting at its counters.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1960	On April 15, 150 black and white students gather at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1960	The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 6. The Act established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduces penalties for anyone who obstructs a citizen's attempt to register to vote	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1960	On Nov. 8, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections in history. Many observers credit African American voters with Kennedy's narrow margin of victory.	Black Politics	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1961	On May 4, seven blacks and four whites leave Washington, D.C., for the Deep South on the first Freedom Ride for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1961	Riots on the University of Georgia campus in September fail to prevent the enrollment of the institutions first two African American students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter (Gault).	Black Education	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1962	Ernie Davis, a running back at Syracuse University, becomes the first African American athlete to receive college football's Heisman Trophy.	African American Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1962	On October 1, James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. On the day he enters the University, he is escorted by U.S. marshals after federal troops are sent in to suppress rioting and maintain order.	Black Education	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1963	Martin Luther King, Jr. writes his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" on April 16.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1963	On May 3, Birmingham police use dogs and fire hoses to attack civil rights demonstrators.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1963	Despite Governor George Wallace's vow to block the schoolhouse door to prevent their enrollment on June 11, Vivian Malone and James Hood register for classes at the University of Alabama. They are the first African American students to attend the universi	Black Education	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1963	On June 12, Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers is assassinated outside his home in Jackson.	Political Assassinations	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1963	Over 200,000 people gather in Washington, D.C. on August 28 as part of the March on Washington, an unprecedented demonstration demanding civil rights and equal opportunity for African Americans. Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1963	Former tennis champion Althea Gibson becomes the first African American woman to compete in a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournament in Cincinnati.	African American Athletes	United States	Ohio
1901-2000	1963	On September 15, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is bombed in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, ages 11-14.	Racial Violence	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1963	Iota Phi Theta Fraternity is founded on September 19 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.	Black Organizations	United States	Maryland
1901-2000	1963	President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas on November 22.	Political Assassinations	United States	Texas
1901-2000	1963	Wendell Oliver Scott became the first black driver to win a major NASCAR race, the Grand National (now Winston Cup) race.	African American Athletes	United States	Virginia
1901-2000	1963	Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche are the first black winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.	Humanitarian Awards	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1964	On January 8, President Lyndon Johnson in his first State of the Union Address declares unconditional war on poverty in America, thus initiating a broad array of government programs designed to assist the poorest citizens of the nation including a disprop	War on Poverty	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1964	The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1964	On February 25, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins the first of three world heavyweight championships in a bout with Sonny Liston in Miami, Florida.	African American Athletes	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1964	Sidney Poitier wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film, "Lilies of the Field." He is the first African American male actor to win in that category.	Black Hollywood	United States	California
1901-2000	1964	On March 12, Malcolm X announces his break with the Nation of Islam and his founding of the Muslim Mosque in Harlem. On June 28 he founds the Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	New York
1901-2000	1964	On June 21 civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner are abducted and killed by terrorists in Mississippi.	Racial Violence	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1964	The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed by Congress on July 2. The act bans discrimination in all public accommodations and by employers. It also establishes the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) to monitor compliance with the law.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1964	The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) delegation led by Fannie Lou Hamer is denied seating at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City in August.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New Jersey
1901-2000	1964	On August 20, President Lyndon Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, initiating the federally-sponsored War on Poverty. The act includes Head Start, Upward Bound, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).	War on Poverty	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1965	Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, New York on February 21.	Political Assassinations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1965	On March 7, six hundred Alabama civil rights activists stage a Selma-to-Montgomery protest march to draw attention to the continued denial of black voting rights in the state. The marchers are confronted by Alabama State Troopers whose attack on them at t	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1965	In March, the White House releases "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," popularly known as the Moynihan Report.	The Black Family	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1965	Alex Haley publishes The Autobiography of Malcolm X.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1965	The Voting Rights Act is signed into law on August 6.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1965	The Watts Uprising (also known as the Watts Rebellion) occurs in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 11-16. Thirty four people are killed and one thousand are injured in the five day confrontation.	Racial Violence	United States	California
1901-2000	1965	Maulana Karenga founds the black nationalist organization US in Los Angeles following the Watts Uprising.	Black Organizations	United States	California
1901-2000	1966	On January 13, Robert Weaver, President Lyndon Baines Johnsons nominee to head the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development, is confirmed for the post by the U.S. Senate. Weaver becomes the first African American to hold a cabinet post.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1966	On January 25th Constance Baker Motley is appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the Federal Bench in New York City. She becomes the first African American woman elevated to a Federal judgeship.	Judicial Appointments	United States	New York
1901-2000	1966	In May, Stokely Carmichael becomes chairman of SNCC at its headquarters in Atlanta and publicly embraces the concept of black power.	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1966	On June 5, James Meredith begins a solitary "March Against Fear" for 220 miles from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi to protest racial discrimination. Soon after crossing into Mississippi Meredith is shot by a sniper. Civil Rights leaders including Martin	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1966	On October 15, The Black Panther Party is formed in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton.	Black Organizations	United States	California
1901-2000	1966	Andrew F. Brimmer is appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to be the first African American to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1966	James T. Whitehead, Jr., becomes the first African American to pilot a U-2 spy plane.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n.a.
1901-2000	1966	On November 8, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts becomes the first African American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate.	Black Politics	United States	Massachusetts
1901-2000	1966	On November 8, Julian Bond wins a seat in the Georgia State Senate. However he is denied the seat by the Georgia Legislature because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bond is eventually seated after a bitter court battle.	Black Politics	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1966	Ruby Doris Smith Robinson becomes Executive Director of SNCC.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1967	On April 4, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers the speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church, New York City. It is his first public criticism of the Vietnam War.	The Civil Rights Movement	United States	New York
1901-2000	1967	H. Rap Brown becomes chairman of SNCC on May 12 at its headquarters in Atlanta.	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1967	On June 12, the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia strikes down state interracial marriage bans.	Major Judicial Decisions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1967	The six-day Newark Riot begins on July 12 and claims 23 dead, 725 injured and 1,500 arrested.	Racial Violence	United States	New Jersey

Era	Year	Events	Subject	Country	State
1901-2000	1967	Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall takes his seat as the first African American Justice on the United States Supreme Court on July 13.	Judicial Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1967	On July 23, the Detroit Race Riot erupts. Between July 23 and July 28, 43 are killed, 1,189 are injured and over 7,000 are arrested.	Racial Violence	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1967	On November 13, Carl Stokes and Richard G. Hatcher are elected the first black mayors of Cleveland and Gary, Indiana, respectively.	Black Politics	United States	Indiana
1901-2000	1967	Renee Powell becomes the first African American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.	African American Athletes	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1967	Albert William Johnson is the first African American awarded a dealership from a major automaker when he opens an Oldsmobile dealership in a predominately black neighborhood in Chicago.	Black Business	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1968	On February 8, three students at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg are killed by police in what will be known as the Orangeburg Massacre.	Racial Violence	United States	South Carolina
1901-2000	1968	The "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," popularly known as the "Kerner Report," is released in March.	Racial Violence	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1968	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4. In the wake of the assassination 125 cities in 29 states experience uprisings. By April 11, 46 people are killed and 35,000 are injured in these confrontations.	Political Assassinations	United States	Tennessee
1901-2000	1968	In April Congress enacts the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which outlaws discrimination in the sale and rental of housing.	Civil Rights Legislation	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1968	New York Senator and Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated on June 5 in Los Angeles.	Political Assassinations	United States	California
1901-2000	1968	On June 19, the Poor Peoples Campaign brings 50,000 demonstrators to Washington, D.C.	War on Poverty	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1968	Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to win the Men's Singles competition in the U.S. Open.	African American Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1968	San Francisco State University establishes the nations first Black Studies Program in September.	Black Education	United States	California
1901-2000	1968	In November Shirley Chisholm of New York is the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1901-2000	1968	Elizabeth Duncan Koontz becomes the first African American to serve as president of the National Education Association (NEA).	Black Education	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1969	The Ford Foundation gives one million dollars to Morgan State University, Howard University, and Yale University to help prepare faculty members to teach courses in African American studies.	Black Education	United States	New York
1901-2000	1969	On May 5, Moneta Sleet, Jr. of Ebony magazine, becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize in Photography.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1969	On September 22, the African American Studies Program begins offering courses at Harvard University.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1901-2000	1969	Robert Chrisman and Nathan Hare publish the first issue of The Black Scholar in November.	Black Education	United States	California
1901-2000	1969	Howard N. Lee becomes the first African American mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At the time he is the first African American mayor of a predominately white Southern city.	Black Politics	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1969	On December 4, Chicago police kill Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clarke.	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1969	Jimi Hendrix headlines the Woodstock Musical Festival near Bethel, New York between August 15 and August 18. Over 500,000 people attend what is to that point the largest musical concert in history.	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1970	Census of 1970, U.S. population: 204,765,770, Black population: 22,580,289 (11.1 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1970	Dr. Clifton Wharton, Jr., is named president of Michigan State University on January 2. He is the first African American to lead a major, predominately white university in the 20th Century.	Black Education	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1970	On February 18, Bobby Seale and six other six defendants (popularly known as the Chicago Seven) are acquitted of the charge of conspiring to disrupt the 1968 Democratic National Convention.	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	New York
1901-2000	1970	The first issue of Essence magazine appears in May.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1970	On May 15, two students, Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, are killed by police in a confrontation with students at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi.	Racial Violence	United States	Mississippi
1901-2000	1970	On July 1, Kenneth Gibson becomes the first black mayor of an eastern city when he assumes the post in Newark, New Jersey.	Black Politics	United States	New Jersey
1901-2000	1970	The first issue of Black Enterprise magazine appears in August.	The Black Press	United States	New York
1901-2000	1970	The San Rafael, California courthouse shooting on August 7 results in the death of Judge Harold Haley and three others including Jonathan Jackson, the younger brother of imprisoned Black Panther George Jackson. UCLA Philosophy Professor Angela Davis is im	Black Nationalism and Black Power	United States	California
1901-2000	1970	On October 12, Charles Gordone becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize in Drama for his play, "No Place to Be Somebody."	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1970	The Joint Center for Political Studies is established in Washington, D.C.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1971	On January 12th the Congressional Black Caucus is formed in Washington, D.C.	Black Organizastions	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1971	In July Captain Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. is promoted to Rear Admiral. He becomes the first African American to achieve Flag Rank in the U.S. Navy.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1971	On September 9, nearly 1,200 inmates seize control of half of the New York State Prison at Attica in what will be known as the Attica Prison Riot. Four days later 29 inmates and ten hostages are killed when state troopers and correctional officers suppres	Crime and Punishment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1971	On December 18, Rev. Jesse Jackson founds People United to Save Humanity(PUSH) in Chicago.	Black Organizations	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1971	Johnson Products, a hair care company, becomes the first black-owned company to be listed on a major U.S. stock exchange (AMEX).	Black Business	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1971	Leroy Satchel Paige becomes the first former Negro Leagues baseball player inducted int the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York.	Black Athletes	United States	New York
1901-2000	1971	Beverly Johnson is the first black woman to appear on the cover of a major fashion magazine (Glamour).	Black Entertainment	United States	New York
1901-2000	1972	On March 10-12 several thousand African Americans gather in Gary, Indiana, for the first National Black Political Convention.	Black Politics	United States	Indiana
1901-2000	1972	Over the summer New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm makes an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She is the first African American to campaign for the nomination.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1901-2000	1972	In November Barbara Jordan of Houston and Andrew Young of Atlanta become the first black Congressional representatives elected from the U.S. South since 1898.	Black Politics	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1972	The first Haitian boat people arrive in south Florida.	20th Century Black Immigrants	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1972	Wilt Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Lakers becomes the first National Basketball Association player to score over 30,000 points during his career.	Black Athletes	United States	California
1901-2000	1973	On May 29, Thomas Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles in the modern era. He is reelected four times and thus holds the mayors office for 20 years.	Black Politics	United States	California
1901-2000	1973	The National Black Feminist Organization is established by Eleanor Holmes Norton.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1973	Marion Wright Edelman creates the Children's Defense Fund.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1973	On October 16, Maynard H. Jackson, Jr. is elected the first black mayor of Atlanta.	Black Politics	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1973	On Nov. 6, Coleman Young is elected the first black mayor of Detroit.	Black Politics	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1974	On April 8, Henry (Hank) Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th home run surpassing Babe Ruth to become the all-time leader in home runs in major league baseball.	African American Athletes	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1974	On June 21, U.S. District Judge W. Arthur Garrity issues a court order in Morgan v. Hennigan that initiates a busing program, involving several thousand students. The order is designed to desegregate the public schools of Boston.	Black Education	United States	Massachusetts
1901-2000	1974	The largest single gift to date from a black organization is the $132,000 given by the Links, Inc., to the United Negro College Fund on July 1.	Black Organizations	United States	New York
1901-2000	1974	On November 5, Mervyn Dymally is elected Lieutenant Governor of California along with George Brown who is elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado the same day. They are the first African Americans to hold these posts in the 20th century.	Black Politics	United States	California
1901-2000	1975	The Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta) becomes the only black medical school established in the United States in the 20th Century. The first dean and president of the Morehouse School of Medicine is Dr. Louis Sullivan who later becomes the U.S. Surgeo	Black Education	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1975	Wallace D. Muhammad assumes control of the Nation of Islam after the death of his father, Elijah Muhammad. He changes the organizations direction and its name to the World Community of al-Islam.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1975	Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to win the British Men's Singles at Wimbledon.	African American Athletes	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1975	General Daniel Chappie James of the Air Force becomes the first African American four star general.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Colorado
1901-2000	1975	On October 12, Frank Robinson becomes the first black Major League Baseball manager when he takes over the Cleveland Indians.	African American Athletes	United States	Ohio
1901-2000	1975	Lee Elder becomes the first African American golfer to compete in the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.	Black Athletes	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1975	William Venoid Banks becomes the first African American to own a television station when he launches WGPR-TV in Detroit.	Radio and Television	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1975	John Hope Franklin is the first African American elected president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Four years later he will be the fiirst African American elected president of the American Historical Association (AHA).	Black Education	United States	New York
1901-2000	1976	The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis admits women for the first time in June. Janie L. Mines becomes the first African American women cadet to enter. She graduates in 1980.	African Americans and the Military	United States	Maryland
1901-2000	1976	College and university enrollment for African American students rises sharply from 282,000 in 1966 to 1,062,000 in 1976.	Black Education	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1976	Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan becomes the first African American woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention which meets that year in New York City.	Black Politics	United States	New York
1901-2000	1976	Clara Stanton Jones of Detroit becomes the first African American elected President of the American Library Association.	Black Education	United States	Michigan
1901-2000	1977	In January, Patricia Harris is appointed by President Jimmy Carter to head Housing and Urban Development. She becomes the first African American woman to hold a cabinet position.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1977	In January, Congressman Andrew Young is appointed by President Jimmy Carter to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He is the first African American to hold that post.	Presidential Appointments	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1977	The eighth and final night for the miniseries based on Alex Haley's Roots is shown on February 3. This final episode achieves the highest ratings to that point for a single television program.	African Americans and the Media	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1977	On March 8, Henry L. Marsh III became the first African American mayor of Richmond, Virginia	Black Politics	United States	Virginia
1901-2000	1977	In September, Randall Robinson founds TransAfrica (now TransAfrica Forum), a lobbying group for Africa, in Washington, D.C.	Black Organizations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1978	Minister Louis Farrakhan breaks with the World Community of al-Islam and becomes the leader of the revived Nation of Islam.	20th Century Black Religion	United States	Chicago
1901-2000	1978	On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court in Regents of the University of California Regents v. Bakke narrowly uphold affirmative action as a legal strategy for addressing past discrimination.	Affirmative Action	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1978	On September 15, Muhammad Ali becomes the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship three times when he defeats Leon Spinks at the Superdome in New Orleans.	African American Athletes	United States	Louisiana
1901-2000	1978	Max Robinson becomes the first black network anchor when he begins broadcasting for ABC-TV News from Chicago.	Radio and Television	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1978	Faye Wattleton becomes the first black woman to head Planned Parenthood.	Health and Medicine	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1978	Jill Brown becomes the first black female pilot for a commercial passenger airline (Texas International Airlines).	Black Transportation	United States	Texas
1901-2000	1979	The Sugar Hill Gang records "Rappers Delight" in Harlem.	20th Century Black Music	United States	New York
1901-2000	1979	Franklin Thomas is named president of the Ford Foundation.	Black Education	United States	New York
1901-2000	1979	Frank E. Petersen, Jr. becomes the first African American to earn the rank of General in the United States Marines.	African Americans and the Military	United States	n. a.
1901-2000	1979	In September Hazel W. Johnson becomes the first African American woman to be promoted to the rank of General in the United States Army.	African Americans and the Military	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1979	Richard Arrington, Jr. is elected the first African American mayor of Birmingham, Alabama.	Black Politics	United States	Alabama
1901-2000	1979	The Nobel Prize in Economics goes to Sir Arthur Lewis of Princeton University. He is the first black person to win the award in a category other than peace.	Black Education	United States	New Jersey
1901-2000	1980	Census of 1980, U.S. population: 226,504,825, Black population: 26,482,349 (11.8 percent)	Black Population	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1980	In January Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. becomes the first African American Speaker in a state legislature when he is selected for the post in the California Assembly. Brown holds the Speakership until 1995 when he is elected Mayor of San Francisco.	Black Politics	United States	California
1901-2000	1980	On May 17-18 rioting breaks out in Liberty City, Florida (near Miami) after police officers are acquitted for killing an unarmed black man. The riot which generates 15 deaths is the worst in the nation since Detroit in 1967.	Racial Violence	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1980	Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters wins the American Book Award.	Art and Literature	United States	Georgia
1901-2000	1980	Robert L. Johnson begins operation of Black Entertainment Television (BET) out of Washington, D.C.	African Americans and the Media	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1980	The Mariel boatlift transports 125,000 Cubans to Florida including a large number of Afro-Cubans.	International Refugees	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1982	The struggle of Rev. Ben Chavis and his followers to block a toxic waste dump in Warren County, North Carolina launches a national campaign against environmental racism.	The Enviroment	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1982	Bryant Gumbel is named anchor of The Today Show, becoming the first African American to hold the post on a major network.	African Americans and the Media	United States	New York
1901-2000	1982	Michael Jackson's album, Thriller, is released. It will eventually sell 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best selling album in music history.	20th Century Black Music	United States	California
1901-2000	1983	Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American crowned Miss America on September 18 in Atlantic City. In July 1984 she relinquishes her crown to Suzette Charles when nude photos of her appear in Penthouse magazine.	Beauty Pageants	United States	New Jersey
1901-2000	1983	On April 12, Harold Washington is elected the first black mayor of Chicago.	Black Politics	United States	Illinois
1901-2000	1983	On August 30, Guion (Guy) S. Bluford, Jr., a crew member on the Challenger,becomes the first African American astronaut to make a space flight.	Exploration and Discovery	United States	Florida
1901-2000	1983	On November 2, President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing January 20 as a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.	Black Holidays and Celebrations	United States	District of Columbia
1901-2000	1983	Alice Walker's The Color Purple wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.	Art and Literature	United States	New York
1901-2000	1983	Harvey Bernard Gantt becomes the first African American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina.	Black Politics	United States	North Carolina
1901-2000	1983	Robert C. Maynard become the first African American to own the major daily newspaper in a large city when he becomes the majority stockholder of the Oakland Tribune.	Newspapers and Other Print Media	United States	California
1901-2000	1984	On January 2, W. Wilson Goode becomes the first African American mayor of Philadelphia.	Black Politics	United States	Pennsylvania
1901-2000	1984	Rev. Jesse Jackson wins approximately one fourth of the votes cast in the Democratic primaries and caucuses and about one eighth of the convention delegates in a losing bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.	Black Politics	United States	n. a.

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