Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

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See also for an international view.

1600 – 1799

• unknown - The first record of African slavery in Colonial America.

• unknown - John Casor
  John Casor
  
  In 1654, John Casor of Northampton County, Virginia in the Virginia Colony became the first person in that colony to be declared a slavery for life....
  , a black man, became the first legally recognized slave in the area that became the United States.

• unknown - Virginia law defined that children of enslaved mothers followed the status of their mothers and were considered slaves, regardless of their father's status.

• unknown - Both free and enslaved African Americans fought in Bacon's Rebellion
  Bacon's Rebellion
  
  Bacon's Rebellion was an rebellion in 1676 in the Virginia Colony, led by Nathaniel Bacon , a wealthy colonist. It was the first rebellion in the Thirteen colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part; a similar uprising in Maryland occurred later that year....
   along with English colonists.

• unknown - The Virginia Slave codes
  Slave codes
  
  Slave codes were laws each United States state, or colony, had defining the status of slavery and the rights of masters; the code gave slave owners near-absolute power over the right of their human property....
   defined as slaves all those servants brought into the colony who were not Christian in their original countries, as well as those Indians sold to colonists by other Indians.

• April 6 - The New York Slave Revolt of 1712, one of the first of many such rebellions (see the article).

• September 9 - In the Stono Rebellion
  Stono Rebellion
  
  The Stono Rebellion is one of the earliest known organized acts of rebellion against slavery within the boundaries of the present United States....
  , South Carolina slaves gathered at the Stono River to plan an armed march for freedom.

• March 5 - Crispus Attucks
  Crispus Attucks
  
  Crispus Attucks was one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution and is the only Boston Massacre victim whose name is commonly remembered....
   is killed by British soldiers in the Boston Massacre
  Boston Massacre
  
  The Boston Massacre refers to an incident involving the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British Army on March 5, 1770, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British colonies in America, which culminated in the American Revolution....
  , a precursor to the American Revolution
  American Revolution
  
  The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
  .

• unknown - Rhode Island forbade the import of slaves. All of the colonies except Georgia had banned or limited the African slave trade by 1786; Georgia did so in 1798 - although some of these laws were later repealed.
• - The first black Baptist congregations were organized in the South
  The South
  
  The South may refer to:...
  : Silver Bluff Baptist Church
  Silver Bluff Baptist Church
  
  The Silver Bluff Baptist Church in Aiken County, South Carolina, was founded by several enslaved African-Americans who organized under elder David George in 1773-1775....
  , SC and First African Baptist Church near Petersburg, VA.

• April 14 - The Pennsylvania Abolition Society formed. Benjamin Franklin
  Benjamin Franklin
  
  Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and Printer , Satire, list of political philosophers, politician, scientist, inventor, activism, statesman, and diplomacy....
   would later be its president.

• Thousands of enslaved African Americans in the South escaped to British
  Great Britain
  
  Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
   or Loyalist
  Loyalist (American Revolution)
  
  Loyalists were Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriot , those that supported the American cause....
   lines, as they were promised freedom if they fought with the British. In South Carolina
  South Carolina
  
  South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
  , 25,000 enslaved African Americans, one-quarter of those held, escaped to the British. After the war, many African Americans left with the British for England
  England
  
  native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
  ; others went with other Loyalists to Canada
  Canada
  
  Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
   and settled in Nova Scotia
  Nova Scotia
  
  Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
   and New Brunswick
  New Brunswick
  
  New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
  . Still others went to Jamaica
  Jamaica
  
  Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about south of Cuba, and west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated....
   and the West Indies.
• Many free blacks in the North fought with the colonists for the rebellion.

• July 8 - Vermont
  Vermont
  
  Vermont is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area....
   passed a constitution that abolished slavery, the first state to do so.

• July 13 - The Northwest Ordinance
  Northwest Ordinance
  
  The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. The Ordinance unanimously passed on July 13, 1787....
   bans the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories north of the Ohio River
  Ohio River
  
  The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
   and east of the Mississippi River
  Mississippi River
  
  The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
  .

• - The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia
  Savannah, Georgia
  
  Savannah is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Chatham County, Georgia, Georgia , United States. Savannah was established in 1733 and was the first colonial and state capital of Georgia....
   was organized under Andrew Bryan
  Andrew Bryan
  
  Andrew Bryan founded the First African Baptist Church of Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, the first Black people Baptist church to be established in America....
  .

• - Following the Revolution, in the Upper South numerous slaveholders freed
  Manumission
  
  Manumission is the act of freeing individual Slavery, done at the will of the owner....
   their slaves; the percentage of free blacks rose dramatically from less than one to 10 percent. By 1810, 75 percent of all blacks in Delaware
  Delaware
  
  Delaware is a U.S. state located on the East Coast of the United States in the Mid-Atlantic States region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named....
   were free, and 7.2 percent of blacks in Virginia were free.

• February - Major Andrew Ellicott
  Andrew Ellicott
  
  Andrew Ellicott was a United States Surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachian Mountains, surveyed the boundaries of the Washington, D.C., continued and completed Pierre L'Enfant's work on the plan for Washington, D.C., and served as a teacher in survey methods for Meriwether Lewis....
   hires Benjamin Banneker
  Benjamin Banneker
  
  Benjamin Banneker was a Free negro African American astronomer, mathematician, surveying, almanac author and farmer....
   to assist in a survey of the boundaries of the 100-square-mile federal district that would later become the District of Columbia.

• February 12 - The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
  Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
  
  1793 Fugitive Slave Act was written in response to a conflict between Pennsylvania and Virginia. Although the problem of fugitive slaves was addressed at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 , there was an assumption that interstate cooperation would allow this provision to be enforced....
   passed. (See also Fugitive slave laws
  Fugitive slave laws
  
  The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a public territory....
  .)

• March 14 - Eli Whitney
  Eli Whitney
  
  Eli Whitney was an American inventor best known as the inventor of the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the industrial revolution and shaped the economy of the antebellum South....
   is granted a patent on the cotton gin
  Cotton gin
  
  A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds, a job previously done by hand....
  . This enabled the widespread cultivation and processing of short-staple cotton, dramatically increasing the need for enslaved labor, and leading to development of King Cotton
  King Cotton
  
  King Cotton was a phrase used in the Southern United States mainly by Southern politicians and authors who wanted to illustrate the importance of the cotton agriculture to the Confederate States of America economy during the American Civil War....
   in the Deep South
  Deep South
  
  The Deep South is a descriptive category of cultural and geographic subregions in the Southern United States. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period....
  . It led to the forced migration
  Forced migration
  
  Forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region. It often connotes violent coercion, and is used interchangeably with the terms "displacement" or forced displacement....
   of one million slaves to the area in the antebellum
  Antebellum
  
  "Antebellum" is an expression derived from Latin that means "before war" .In United States history and historiography, "antebellum" is commonly used, in lieu of "pre-Civil War," in reference to the period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American Civil War....
   period, mostly by internal slave trade.
• July - Two independent black churches opened in Philadelphia, PA: the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, with Absalom Jones
  Absalom Jones
  
  Absalom Jones , was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman. After founding a black congregation in 1794, in 1804 he was the first African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America of the United States....
  , and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
  Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
  
  Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church or Bethel AME Church, or variations, may refer to:in the United States* Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church ...
  , with Richard Allen
  Richard Allen
  
  Richard, Rick, or Dick Allen may refer to:*Dick Allen , American baseball player*Dick Allen , American poet, literary critic and academic...
  , the first church of what would become a new black denomination in 1816.

1800 – 1859

• unknown - first Black Codes enacted.

• August 30 - Gabriel Prosser
  Gabriel Prosser
  
  Gabriel , today commonly if incorrectly known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate Slavery in the United States blacksmith who planned and led a large slave rebellion in the Richmond, Virginia area in the summer of 1800....
  's attempt to lead a slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia
  Richmond, Virginia
  
  Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
   was suppressed.

• unknown - The first separate black denomination of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
  African Methodist Episcopal Church
  
  The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the "AME Church", is a Christian denomination founded by Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists....
   (AME) is founded by Richard Allen
  Richard Allen
  
  Richard, Rick, or Dick Allen may refer to:*Dick Allen , American baseball player*Dick Allen , American poet, literary critic and academic...
  , who was elected its first bishop.
• unknown - The American Colonization Society
  American Colonization Society
  
  The American Colonization Society was an organization that helped in founding Liberia, a colony on the coast of West Africa. In 1821 Black Americans traveled there from the United States....
   is begun by Robert Finley
  Robert Finley
  
  Robert Finley was briefly the president of the University of Georgia. Finley was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton University at the age of 15....
  , to send free African Americans to what is to become Liberia
  Liberia
  
  Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, C?te d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean....
   in Africa.

• March 6 - The Missouri Compromise
  Missouri Compromise
  
  The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the slave state and free state factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the Historic regions of the United States....
   allowed for the entry as states of Maine and Missouri, and decided which future states slavery would be allowed in.
• unknown - The British West Africa Squadron
  West Africa Squadron
  
  The West Africa Squadron, established in 1808 after the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807 in 1807, was a unit of the Royal Navy that was involved in the suppression of the slavery in West Africa....
  's slave trade suppression activities were assisted by forces from the United States Navy
  United States Navy
  
  The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
  , starting in 1820 with the USS Cyane
  USS Cyane (1796)
  
  Cyane was a Royal Navy sailing frigate built in 1806 at Plymouth, England. She was ordered in January 1805 as HMS Columbine and was renamed Cyane in December of that year....
  . With the Webster-Ashburton Treaty
  Webster-Ashburton Treaty
  
  The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the Canada under British Imperial control , particularly a dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border....
   of 1842, the relationship was formalised and they jointly ran the Africa Squadron
  Africa Squadron
  
  The Africa Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy that operated from 1843 to 1861 to suppress the slave trade along the coast of West Africa....
  .

• unknown - African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
  African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
  
  The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or AME Zion Church, was officially formed in 1821, but operated for a number years before then....
   officially formed.

• July 14 - Denmark Vesey
  Denmark Vesey
  
  Denmark Vesey was an African American slavery brought to the United States. After purchasing his freedom, he planned what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States....
  's slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina
  Charleston, South Carolina
  
  Charleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County....
   was suppressed.

• September - David Walker
  David Walker (abolitionist)
  
  File:walkerappeal.gifDavid Walker was an United States black people abolitionist, most famous for his pamphlet Walker's Appeal, which called for black pride, demanded the immediate and universal emancipation of the slavery, and defended violent rebellion as a means for the slaves to gain their freedom....
   begins publication of the abolitionist pamphlet Walker's Appeal.

• unknown - William Lloyd Garrison
  William Lloyd Garrison
  
  William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent United States abolitionism, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the radical abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States....
   begins publication of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator
  The Liberator
  
  The Liberator was an Abolitionism newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831. Garrison published weekly issues of The Liberator from Boston, Massachusetts continuously for 35 years, from January 1, 1831, to the final issue of January 1, 1866....
  .
• August - Nat Turner
  Nat Turner
  
  Nat Turner was an United States Slavery who led the Nat Turner's slave rebellion that resulted in 60 dead, the most fatalities in one uprising in the antebellum southern United States....
   leads the most successful slave rebellion in U.S. history. The rebellion is suppressed, but only after many deaths.

• unknown - The American Anti-Slavery Society
  American Anti-Slavery Society
  
  The American Anti-Slavery Society was an Abolitionism society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of the society and often spoke at its meetings....
  . an abolitionist
  Abolitionism
  
  File:BLAKE10.JPGAbolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and emancipate slaves in western Europe and the Americas. The slave system aroused little protest until the 18th century, when rationalist thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man, and Quaker and other evangelical religious groups con...
   society, is founded by William Lloyd Garrison
  William Lloyd Garrison
  
  William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent United States abolitionism, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the radical abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States....
   and Arthur Tappan
  Arthur Tappan
  
  Arthur Tappan was an United States abolitionist. He was the brother of United States Senate Benjamin Tappan and abolitionist Lewis Tappan....
  . Frederick Douglass
  Frederick Douglass
  
  Frederick Douglass was an American Abolitionism, History of women's suffrage in the United States, editing, orator, author, statesman and Reform movement....
   becomes a key leader of the society.

• July 2 - Slaves revolt on the La Amistad
  La Amistad
  
  La Amistad was a 19th-century two-Mast schooner built in the United States but owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. The ship was notable as the scene of a revolt by African captives being transported from Havana....
  , resulting in a Supreme Court case (see Amistad
  Amistad
  
  Amistad* La Amistad, a 19th century Spanish schooner on which enslaved Africans rebelled and took control.** Amistad , United States Supreme Court case deciding the fate of the slaves who mutinied on the ship Amistad...
  ).

• unknown - The Liberty Party
  Liberty Party
  
  Liberty Party may refer to:* Liberty Party * Liberty Party , United States* Liberty Party * Liberty of United Kingdom * Liberty Party , United States...
   broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society
  American Anti-Slavery Society
  
  The American Anti-Slavery Society was an Abolitionism society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of the society and often spoke at its meetings....
   due to grievances with William Lloyd Garrison
  William Lloyd Garrison
  
  William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent United States abolitionism, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the radical abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States....
  's leadership.

• unknown - The U.S. Supreme Court
  Supreme Court of the United States
  
  The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
   ruled, in Prigg v. Pennsylvania
  Prigg v. Pennsylvania
  
  Prigg v. Pennsylvania, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the court held that Federal law is superior to State law, and overturned the conviction of Edward Prigg as a result....
   (1842), that states did not have to offer aid in the hunting or recapture of slaves, greatly weakening the fugitive slave law of 1793.

• June 1 - Isabella Baumfree, a former slave, changes her name to Sojourner Truth
  Sojourner Truth
  
  Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843, of Isabella Baumfree, an American slave, Abolitionism and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, New York....
   and begins to preach for the abolition of slavery.
• August - Henry Highland Garnet
  Henry Highland Garnet
  
  Henry Highland Garnet was an African American abolitionist and orator. An advocate of militant abolitionism, Garnet was a prominent member of the abolition movement that led against moral suasion toward more political action....
   delivers his famous speech Call to Rebellion.

• unknown - Frederick Douglass
  Frederick Douglass
  
  Frederick Douglass was an American Abolitionism, History of women's suffrage in the United States, editing, orator, author, statesman and Reform movement....
   begins publication of the abolitionist newspaper the North Star
  North Star (newspaper)
  
  this sucks buttDouglass published the North Star until June of 1851, when Douglass and Gerrit Smith agreed to merge the North Star with the Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass's Paper....
  .
• unknown - Joseph Jenkins Roberts
  Joseph Jenkins Roberts
  
  Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first and seventh President of Liberia of Liberia. Roberts was born in Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia, USA, and emigrated to Liberia in 1829....
   of Virginia becomes the first president of Liberia.

• unknown - Roberts v. Boston
  Roberts v. Boston
  
  Roberts v. Boston, Case citation , was a lawsuit seeking to end racial discrimination in Boston public schools. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of Boston, finding no constitutional basis for the suit....
   seeks to end racial discrimination in Boston
  Boston, Massachusetts
  
  Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
   public schools.
• unknown - Harriet Tubman
  Harriet Tubman
  
  Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from Slavery in the United States, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad....
   escapes from slavery to Philadelphia, and begins helping other slaves to escape via the Underground Railroad
  Underground Railroad
  
  The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century African American Slavery in the United States in the United States to escape to free state and Canada with the aid of Abolitionism who were sympathetic to their cause....
  .

• September 18 - As part of the Compromise of 1850
  Compromise of 1850
  
  The Compromise of 1850 was a series of bills aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War ....
  , Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
  Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
  
  The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern United States slavery interests and northern United States United States Free Soil Party....
   which requires any federal official to arrest anyone suspected of being a runaway slave.

• March 20 - Uncle Tom's Cabin
  Uncle Tom's Cabin
  
  Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and History of slavery in the United States, so much in the latter case that the novel intensified the Origins of the American Civil War lea...
   by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  Harriet Beecher Stowe
  
  Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist, whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin depicted life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the U.S....
   is published.

• December - Clotel; or, The President's Daughter
  Clotel
  
  Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is a novel by William Wells Brown , a fugitive from slavery and abolitionist and was published in London, England in December 1853 in literature....
   is the first novel published by an African-American.

• unknown - John Mercer Langston
  John Mercer Langston
  
  John Mercer Langston was an American abolitionist, attorney, educator, and political activist. He was the first graduate of the law school at Howard University and the first president of now Virginia State University....
   is one of the first African Americans elected to public office when elected as a town clerk in Ohio

• May 21 - The Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas
  Sacking of Lawrence
  
  In the summer of 1856, the Sacking of Lawrence helped ratchet up the guerrilla warfare in Kansas Territory that became known as "Bleeding Kansas."...
   in Bleeding Kansas
  Bleeding Kansas
  
  Bleeding Kansas, sometimes referred to in history of Kansas as Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving Free-Stater s and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S....
  .
• May 25 - John Brown
  John Brown (abolitionist)
  
  John Brown was an United States abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to end all slavery. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859....
  , whom Abraham Lincoln called a "misguided fanatic", retaliates for Lawrence's sacking in the Pottawatomie Massacre
  Pottawatomie Massacre
  
  The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred during the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-Slavery in the United States forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionism settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas....
  .
• unknown - Wilberforce University
  Wilberforce University
  
  Wilberforce University is a private, Mixed-sex education, liberal arts Historically black colleges and universities university located in Wilberforce, Ohio, that is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church and participates in the United Negro College Fund....
   was founded by collaboration between Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal representatives.

• March 6 - In Dred Scott v. Sandford
  Dred Scott v. Sandford
  
  Dred Scott v. Sandford, , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent Slavery in the United States and held as History of slavery in the United States, or their descendants?whether or not they were slaves?were not legal persons and could never be citizens of the United States, and that the U...
  , the Supreme Court
  Supreme Court of the United States
  
  The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
   upholds slavery
  Slavery
  
  Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
  . This decision is regarded as a key cause of the American Civil War
  American Civil War
  
  The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
  .

• unknown - Harriet E. Wilson
  Harriet E. Wilson
  
  Harriet E. Wilson is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent....
   writes the autobiographical novel Our Nig.
• unknown - in Ableman v. Booth
  Ableman v. Booth
  
  Ableman v. Booth, Case citation , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts....
   the Supreme Court of the United States held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts, thus upholding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

1860 – 1874

• April 12 - The American Civil War
  American Civil War
  
  The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
   begins (secessions began in December, 1860), and lasts until April 9, 1865. Tens of thousands of enslaved African Americans of all ages escaped to Union lines for freedom. Contraband camps were set up in some areas, where blacks started learning to read and write. Others traveled with the Union Army. By the end of the war, more than 180,000 African Americans, mostly from the South, fought with the Union Army and Navy as members of the US Colored Troops and sailors.
• August 6 - The first of the Confiscation Acts
  Confiscation Acts
  
  The Confiscation Acts were laws passed by the United States government during the American Civil War with the intention of freeing the American slavery still held by the Confederate States of America forces in the South....
   authorized the confiscation of any Confederate property, including all slaves who fought or worked for the Confederate military. The second act in mid-1862 extended this.

• March 13 - Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves
  Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves
  
  The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was a law passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War forbidding the military to return escaped slaves to their owners....
  
• September 22 - Announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation
  Emancipation Proclamation
  
  The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two Executive order s issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War....
  , after the Battle of Antietam
  Battle of Antietam
  
  The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern United States soil....
  , to go into effect January 1, 1863.

• January 1 - The Emancipation Proclamation
  Emancipation Proclamation
  
  The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two Executive order s issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War....
   goes into effect.
• May 22 - U.S. Army recruits United States Colored Troops
  United States Colored Troops
  
  The United States Colored Troops were regiments of the United States Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African-American soldiers....
  . (The 54th Massachusetts would be featured in the critically acclaimed late 20th c. movie Glory
  Glory (film)
  
  Glory is a 1989 in film drama film war film based on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as told from the point of view of its commanding officer, Robert Gould Shaw during the American Civil War....
  .
• July - Irish ethnic protests against the draft in New York City
  New York City
  
  The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
   turned into riots against blacks - the so-called Draft Riots.

• April 12 - The Battle of Fort Pillow
  Battle of Fort Pillow
  
  The Battle of Fort Pillow, known as the Fort Pillow Massacre, particularly in the North, was fought on April 12 1864, at Fort Pillow State Park on the Mississippi River in Henning, Tennessee, during the American Civil War....
  , which resulted in controversy about whether a massacre of surrendered African-American troops was conducted or condoned.

• March 3 - Congress passes the bill that forms the Freedman's Bureau
  Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
  
  The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was a U.S. federal government Government agency that aided distressed refugees of the American Civil War....
  .
• December 18 - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  
  The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime....
   abolishes slavery
  Slavery
  
  Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
   in the U.S.
• unknown - Shaw Institute
  Shaw University
  
  Shaw University is a private Historically black colleges and universities located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States with its College of Adult Professional Education campuses located throughout the state of North Carolina....
   was founded in Raleigh, NC, as the first historically black college
  Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  
  Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
   (HBCU) in the South.
• unknown - Atlanta College
  Clark Atlanta University
  
  Clark Atlanta University is a Private school, Historically Black colleges and universities in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia . It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University....
   founded.
• unknown - Every southern state passed Black Codes that restricted the Freedmen, who were emancipated but not yet full citizens.

• April 9 - Civil Rights Act of 1866
  Civil Rights Act of 1866
  
  The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is a piece of United States legislation that gave further rights to the freed slavery after the end of the American Civil War....
   passed by Congress over Johnson's presidential veto. All persons born in the United States
  United States
  
  The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
   are now citizens.
• unknown - Ku Klux Klan
  Ku Klux Klan
  
  Ku Klux Klan is the name of several past and present secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes....
   is formed in Pulaski, Tennessee
  Pulaski, Tennessee
  
  Pulaski is a city in Giles County, Tennessee, Tennessee, United States. The population was 7,871 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Giles County, Tennessee....
  , made up of white Confederate veterans; it became a paramilitary insurgent group to enforce white supremacy.
• July - New Orleans white Citizens riot against blacks.
• September 21 - The U.S. Army regiment of Buffalo Soldier
  Buffalo Soldier
  
  Buffalo Soldiers is a nickname originally applied to the members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army by the Native Americans in the United States tribes they Indian Wars....
  s (African Americans) formed.
• unknown - The Second Freedmen's Bureau Act
  Second Freedmen's Bureau Act
  
  The Second Freedmen?s Bureau Act is an US act passed in 1866 that provided many additional rights to ex-slaves, including the distribution of land, schools for their children, and military courts to ensure these rights....
   would have provided longer enforcement of rights for freedmen, but it is vetoed by President Andrew Johnson
  Andrew Johnson
  
  Andrew Johnson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , succeeding to the Presidency upon Abraham Lincoln assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
  .

• March 2 - Howard University
  Howard University
  
  Howard University is a private university, coeducational, nonsectarian, Historically black colleges and universities university located in Washington, D.C., United States....
   founded in Washington, D.C. and becomes known as "the Black Harvard".

• April 1 - Hampton Institute
  Hampton University
  
  Hampton University is a Historically clever colleges and universities located in Hampton, Virginia, United States....
  , an HBCU, founded in Hampton, Virginia
  Hampton, Virginia
  
  Hampton is an independent city in Virginia, and therefore not part of any Virginia county. One of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, it is on the southeast end of the Virginia Peninsula, bordering on Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay....
  .
• July 9 - The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  
  The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the post-American Civil War Reconstruction Amendments that was first intended to secure the rights of former Slavery in the United States....
  's Section 1 requires due process
  Due process
  
  Due process is the principle that the government must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person according to the law of the land, instead of respecting merely some or most of those legal rights....
   and equal protection.
• unknown - Through 1877, whites attacked black and white Republicans to suppress voting. Every election cycle was accompanied by violence, increasing in the 1870s.
• unknown - Elizabeth Keckly
  Elizabeth Keckly
  
  Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly was a former slave turned successful seamstress who is most notably known as being Mary Todd Lincoln's personal modiste and confidante, and the author of her autobiography, Behind the Scenes Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Mrs....
   publishes Behind the Scenes (or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House).

• February 3 - The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  
  The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, colored or previous condition of servitude" ....
   guarantees the right of male citizens of the United States to vote regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
• February 25 - Hiram Rhodes Revels
  Hiram Rhodes Revels
  
  Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. Since he preceded any African American in the United States House of Representatives, he was the first African American in the U.S....
   becomes the first black member of the Senate
  United States Senate
  
  The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
   (see African Americans in the United States Congress
  African Americans in the United States Congress
  
  Since 1870, 123 African Americans have served in the United States Congress. This figure includes five non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives who represented the District of Columbia and the U.S....
  ).
• unknown - Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
  Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
  
  The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is a historically African American religious denomination within the broader context of Methodism. The group was organized in 1870 when several black ministers, with the full support of their whites counterparts in the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met to form an organization that would all...
   founded.

• October 10 - Octavius Catto
  Octavius Catto
  
  Octavius Valentine Catto was an African American educator, intellectual, civil rights activist. He was also known for being a cricket and baseball player in 19th-century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
  , a civil rights activist, was murdered during harassment of blacks on Election Day in Philadelphia.
• unknown - US Civil Rights Act of 1871
  Civil Rights Act of 1871
  
  The 'Civil Rights Act of 1871', also known as the 'Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871', is an important federal statute in force in the United States. Several of its provisions still exist today as codified statutes, but the most important still-existing provision is ....
   passed, also known as the Klan Act.

• December 11 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Disputed gubernatorial election in Louisiana caused political violence for more than two years. Both Republican and Democratic governors held inaugurations and certified local officials.

• April 14 - In the Slaughterhouse Cases
  Slaughterhouse Cases
  
  The Slaughter-House Cases, Case citation , were a series of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States....
   the Supreme Court votes 5-4 for a narrow reading of the Fourteenth Amendment
  Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  
  The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the post-American Civil War Reconstruction Amendments that was first intended to secure the rights of former Slavery in the United States....
  . The court also discusses dual citizenship: State Citizens and U.S. Citizens.
• Easter, the Colfax Massacre
  Colfax massacre
  
  The Colfax Massacre or Colfax Riot occurred on April 13, 1873, in Colfax, Louisiana, the seat of Grant Parish, Louisiana.In the wake of a contested election for Governor and local offices, whites armed with rifles and a small cannon overpowered freedmen and state militia trying to control the parish courthouse....
   - More than 100 blacks in Red River
  Red River
  
  Red River may refer to the following:...
   area of Louisiana were killed when attacked by white militia after defending Republicans in local office - continuing controversy from gubernatorial election.
• Coushatta Massacre
  Coushatta massacre
  
  The Coushatta Massacre was the result of an attack by the White League, a paramilitary organization organized by white Southern Democrats, on Republican officeholders and freedmen in Coushatta, the parish seat of Red River Parish, Louisiana....
   - Republican officeholders were run out of town and murdered by white militia before leaving the state - four of six were relatives of a Louisiana state Senator, a northerner who had settled in the South, married into a local family and established a plantation. Five to twenty black witnesses were also killed.

• Founding of paramilitary
  Paramilitary
  
  A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
   groups that acted as the "military arm of the Democratic Party": the White League
  White League
  
  The White League was a white paramilitary group which was established in 1874 in Louisiana and operated during Reconstruction era of the United States....
   in Louisiana and the Red Shirts in Mississippi, and North and South Carolina. They terrorized blacks and Republicans, turning them out of office, killing some, disrupting rallies, and suppressing voting.
• September - In New Orleans, continuing political violence erupted related to the still-contested gubernatorial election of 1872. Thousands of the White League armed militia marched into New Orleans, then the seat of government, where they outnumbered the integrated city police and black state militia forces. They defeated Republican forces and demanded that Gov. Kellogg leave office. The Democratic candidate McEnery was installed and White Leaguers occupied the capitol, state house and arsenal. This was called the "Battle of Liberty Place". The White League and McEnery withdrew after three days in advance of federal troops arriving to reinforce the Republican state government.

1875 – 1899

• March 1 - Civil Rights Act of 1875
  Civil Rights Act of 1875
  
  The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was a United States federal law proposed by Republican Senator Charles Sumner and Republican Congressman Benjamin Franklin Butler in 1870....
   signed.
• unknown - The Mississippi Plan
  Mississippi Plan
  
  The Mississippi Plan of 1875 was devised by the Demofatic Party to overthrow the Republican Party by organized violence, suppression of the black vote and disruption of elections, in order to regain political control of the legislature and governor's office....
   to intimidate Blacks and suppress black voter registration and voting.

• July 8 - The Hamburg Massacre
  Hamburg Massacre
  
  The Hamburg Massacre was a key event of History of South Carolina Reconstruction era of the United States. Beginning with a dispute over free passage on a public road, this racially motivated incident concluded with the death of seven men....
   occurs when local people riot against African Americans who were trying to celebrate the Fourth of July.
• varied - White Democrats regained power in many southern state legislatures and passed the first Jim Crow laws.

• unknown - With the Compromise of 1877
  Compromise of 1877
  
  The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed U.S. presidential election, 1876. Through it, Republican Party Rutherford B....
  , Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
  Rutherford B. Hayes
  
  Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an Politics of the United States, Law of the United States, Military of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
   withdrew federal troops from the South in exchange for being elected President of the United States, causing the collapse of the last three remaining Republican state governments. The compromise formally ended the Reconstruction era of the United States.

• spring - Thousands of African Americans refused to live under segregation in the South and migrated to Kansas
  Kansas
  
  The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
  . They became known as Exodusters
  Exodusters
  
  Exodusters was a name given to African Americans who fled the Southern United States for Kansas in 1879 and 1880. After the end of Reconstruction era of the United States, racial oppression and rumors of the reinstitution of slavery led many freedmen to seek a new place to live....
  .

• unknown - In Strauder v. West Virginia
  Strauder v. West Virginia
  
  Strauder v. West Virginia, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case about racial discrimination.At the time, West Virginia excluded African-Americans from jury....
  , the Supreme Court
  Supreme court
  
  A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some jurisdictions the highest court within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court....
   rules that African Americans could not be excluded from juries.
• During the 1880s, African Americans in the South reached a peak of numbers in being elected and holding local offices, even while white Democrats were working to assert control at state level.

• April 11 - Spelman Seminary founded as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary.
• July 4 - Booker T. Washington
  Booker T. Washington
  
  Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death....
   opens the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
  Tuskegee University
  
  Tuskegee University is a private university, Historically black colleges and universities university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, Alabama, United States....
   (HBCU) in Tuskegee, Alabama
  Tuskegee, Alabama
  
  Tuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 11,846 and is designated a Micropolitan Statistical Area....
  .

• unknown - In Civil Rights Cases
  Civil Rights Cases
  
  The Civil Rights Cases, Case citation , were a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue for the Supreme Court of the United States to review....
  , the United States Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as unconstitutional.

• unknown - Mark Twain
  Mark Twain
  
  Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
  's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain and published in 1884. It is commonly regarded one of the Great American Novels, and is one of the first major American novels written in the vernacular, characterized by regionalism ....
   was published, featuring the admirable African-American character Jim.
• unknown - Judy W. Reed, of Washington, DC, and Sarah E. Goode, of Chicago
  Chicago
  
  Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
  , were the first African-American women inventors to receive patents. Signed with an "X", Reed's patent no. 305,474, granted September 23, 1884, is for a dough kneader and roller. Goode's patent for a cabinet bed, patent no. 322,177, was issued on July 14, 1885. Goode, the owner of a Chicago furniture store, invented a folding bed that could be formed into a desk when not in use.
• unknown - Ida B. Wells
  Ida B. Wells
  
  Ida B Wells was an African American sociologist, civil rights leader and a women's rights leader active in the History of women's suffrage in the United States|Woman Suffrage Movement....
   sued the Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad Company for its use of segregated "Jim Crow" cars.

• A biracial populist coalition achieved power in Virginia (briefly). The legislature founded the first public college for African Americans, Virginia Central State University (as it is now known), as well as the first mental hospital for African Americans, both near Petersburg, Virginia
  Petersburg, Virginia
  
  Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and 23 miles south of Richmond, Virginia. The population was 33,740 as of the United States Census 2000....
  .

• October 3 - The State Normal School for Colored Students, which would become Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, is founded.

• Mississippi, with a white Democrat-dominated legislature, passed a new constitution that effectively disfranchised most blacks through voter registration and electoral requirements, e.g., poll taxes, residency and literacy tests. This shut them out of the political process, including service on juries and in local offices.
• By 1900 two-thirds of the farmers in the bottomlands of the Mississippi Delta
  Mississippi Delta
  
  The Mississippi Delta is the distinct northwest section of the state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi River and Yazoo Rivers. Technically not a River delta but part of an alluvial plain, it has been said that the Delta "begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg, Mississippi" ...
   were African Americans who cleared and bought land after the Civil War.

• unknown - Ida B. Wells
  Ida B. Wells
  
  Ida B Wells was an African American sociologist, civil rights leader and a women's rights leader active in the History of women's suffrage in the United States|Woman Suffrage Movement....
   published her pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.

• September 18 - Booker T. Washington
  Booker T. Washington
  
  Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death....
   delivered his Atlanta Compromise
  Atlanta Compromise
  
  The Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition Speech was an Speech on the topic of race relations given by black leader Booker T. Washington on September 11, 1895....
   address at the Cotton States and International Exposition
  Cotton States and International Exposition (1895)
  
  The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. It is most remembered for the Atlanta Compromise speech given by Booker T....
   in Atlanta, Georgia
  Atlanta, Georgia
  
  Atlanta is the Capital and most populous city in Georgia , as well as the 33rd largest city in the United States of America with a population of 519,145....
  .

• May 18 - In Plessy v. Ferguson
  Plessy v. Ferguson
  
  Plessy v. Ferguson, Case citation , is a landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision in the case law of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations , under the doctrine of "separate but equal"....
  , the Supreme Court
  Supreme Court of the United States
  
  The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
   upheld de jure
  De jure
  
  De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".The terms de jure and de facto are used instead of "in principle" and "in practice", respectively, when one is describing politics or legal situations....
   racial segregation
  Racial segregation
  
  File:Segregated cinema entrance3.jpgRacial segregation is the separation of different Race s in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a drinking fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home....
   of "separate but equal" facilities. (see Jim Crow laws
  Jim Crow laws
  
  The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure Racial segregation in the United States in all public facilities, with a "separate but equal" status for black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups....
   for historical discussion).
• unknown - The National Association of Colored Women
  National Association of Colored Women
  
  The National Association of Colored Women was established in Washington, D.C., USA, by the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, the Women's Era Club of Boston, and the National League of Colored Women of Washington, DC, as well as smaller organizations that had arisen from the African-American women's club move...
   is formed by the merger of smaller groups.
• unknown - As one of the earliest Black Hebrew Israelites
  Black Hebrew Israelites
  
  Black Hebrew Israelites are groups of people mostly of Black people ancestry situated mainly in the United States who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites....
   in the United States, William Saunders Crowdy
  William Saunders Crowdy
  
  William Saunders Crowdy was an American soldier, preacher, entrepreneur, theologian, and pastor. As one of the earliest Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States, he re-established the Church of God and Saints of Christ in 1896....
   re-establishes the Church of God and Saints of Christ
  Church of God and Saints of Christ
  
  The Church of God and Saints of Christ is a Black Hebrew Israelite religious group established in Lawrence, Kansas, Kansas by William Saunders Crowdy in 1896....
  .
• unknown - George Washington Carver
  George Washington Carver
  
  George Washington Carver , was an United States scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the Southern United States....
   is invited by Booker T. Washington to head the Agricultural Department at what would become Tuskegee University. His work would revolutionize farming - he found about 300 uses for peanuts.

• unknown - Louisiana
  Louisiana
  
  The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
   enacted the first state-wide grandfather clause
  Grandfather clause
  
  A grandfather clause is an exception that allows an old rule to continue to apply to some existing situations, when a new rule will apply to all future situations....
   that provided exemption for white illiterates to voter registration based on literacy test requirements.
• unknown - In Williams v. Mississippi
  Williams v. Mississippi
  
  Williams v. Mississippi, Case citation is a United States Supreme Court case that reviewed provisions of the state constitution that set requirements for voter registration....
   the Supreme Court
  Supreme court
  
  A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some jurisdictions the highest court within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court....
   upheld the voter registration and election provisions of Mississippi's constitution because they applied to all citizens. Effectively, however, they disfranchised blacks and poor whites. The result was that other southern states copied these provisions in their new constitutions and amendments through 1908, disfranchising most African Americans and tens of thousands of poor whites until the 1960s.

• September 18 - The Maple Leaf Rag
  Maple Leaf Rag
  
  The "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime composition for piano by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces, becoming the first instrumental piece to sell over one million copies....
   is an early ragtime
  Ragtime
  
  Ragtime is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Ragtime was the first truly American musical genre, predating jazz....
   composition for piano by Scott Joplin
  Scott Joplin
  
  Scott Joplin was an United States musician and composer of ragtime music. He remains the best-known ragtime figure and is regarded as one of the three most important composers of Classic Rag, along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb....
  .

1900 – 1924

• Since the Civil War, 30,000 African-American teachers had been trained and put to work in the South. The majority of blacks had become literate.

• unknown - Booker T. Washington
  Booker T. Washington
  
  Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death....
  's autobiography Up From Slavery
  Up From Slavery
  
  Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the American Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools?most notably the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama...
   is published.
• unknown - Benjamin Tillman
  Benjamin Tillman
  
  Benjamin Ryan Tillman was an United States politician who served as governor of South Carolina, from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senate, from 1895 until his death....
  , Senator of South Carolina, commented on Theodore Roosevelt
  Theodore Roosevelt
  
  Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
  's dining with Booker T. Washington
  Booker T. Washington
  
  Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide from the 1890s to his death....
  : “The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they learn their place again.”

• September - W.E.B. Du Bois
  W.E.B. Du Bois
  
  'William Edward Burghardt Du Bois' was an American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanism, sociologist, historian, author, and editor. At the age of 95, in 1963, he became a naturalized citizen of Ghana....
  's article The Talented Tenth
  The Talented Tenth
  
  The Talented Tenth was an influential article written by W. E. B. Du Bois and published in September 1903. It appeared as the second chapter of The Negro Problem, a collection of articles by African Americans ....
   published.
• unknown - W.E.B. Du Bois's seminal work The Souls of Black Folk
  The Souls of Black Folk
  
  The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W.E.B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology, and a cornerstone of African-American literature....
   is published.

• May 15 - Sigma Pi Phi
  Sigma Pi Phi
  
  Sigma Pi Phi is generally considered to be the first African-American Greek-lettered organization. Sigma Pi Phi was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 1904....
  , the first African-American Greek-letter organization, was founded by African-American men as a professional organization, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  
  Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
  .
• unknown - Orlando, Florida
  Orlando, Florida
  
  Orlando is a major city in Central Florida, United States and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Florida. It is also the principal city of Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
   hires its first black postman.

• July 11 - First meeting of the Niagara Movement
  Niagara Movement
  
  The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, which was near where the first meeting took place in July 1905....
  , an interracial group to work for civil rights.

• unknown - The Brownsville Affair
  Brownsville Affair
  
  The Brownsville Affair rose out of racial tensions between black soldiers and white citizens in Brownsville, Texas in 1906....
  , which eventually involves President Roosevelt.
• unknown - African-American men founded Alpha Phi Alpha
  Alpha Phi Alpha
  
  Alpha Phi Alpha is the first intercollegiate Fraternities and sororities established by African Americans. Founded on December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha has initiated over 185,000 men into the organization and has been open to men of all races since 1940....
   at Cornell University
  Cornell University
  
  Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
  , the first intercollegiate fraternity for African-American men.

• unknown - National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.
  National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.
  
  The National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA is a group of Black Primitive Baptists that has adopted progressive methods and policies not in keeping with the historical and theological background of Primitive Baptists in general....
   formed.

• December 26 - Jack Johnson
  Jack Johnson (boxer)
  
  John Arthur Johnson , better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the ?Galveston Giant?, was an United States boxing and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation....
   won the World Heavyweight Title.
• Alpha Kappa Alpha
  Alpha Kappa Alpha
  
  Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek alphabet sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle....
   - At Howard University, African-American college women founded the first sorority for African-American women.

• February 12 - First meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  
  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP and pronounced N-double-A-C-P, is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States....
   (NAACP), an interracial group devoted to civil rights.

• September 29 - Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes formed; the next year it will merge with other groups to form the National Urban League
  National Urban League
  
  The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League of black men and women, is a civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States....
  .
• unknown - The NAACP begins publishing The Crisis
  The Crisis
  
  The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , and was founded by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1910....
  .

• unknown - The Moorish Science Temple of America
  Moorish Science Temple of America
  
  File:Moorish Science Temple 1928 Convention.jpgThe Moorish Science Temple of America is a religious organization which states that African Americans were descended from the Moors and thus were originally Islamic....
  , a religious organization, is founded by Noble Drew Ali (Timothy Drew).

• Newly elected president Woodrow Wilson
  Woodrow Wilson
  
  Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
   ordered physical re-segregation of Federal workplaces and employment after nearly 50 years of integrated facilities.

• February 8 - The Birth of a Nation
  The Birth of a Nation
  
  The Birth of a Nation , is a 1915 in film silent film directed by D. W. Griffith; one of the most innovative of Cinema of the United States....
   is released to movie theaters. The NAACP protested in cities across the country, convincing some not to show the film.
• June 21 - In Guinn v. United States
  Guinn v. United States
  
  Guinn v. United States, Case citation , was an important Supreme Court of the United States decision that dealt with provisions of state constitutions that set qualifications for voters....
  , the Supreme Court
  Supreme Court of the United States
  
  The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
   rules against grandfather clause
  Grandfather clause
  
  A grandfather clause is an exception that allows an old rule to continue to apply to some existing situations, when a new rule will apply to all future situations....
  s used to deny Blacks the vote.
• September 9 - Professor Carter Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
  Association for the Study of African American Life and History
  
  The Association for the Study of African American Life and History is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 1915 and incorporated in Washington, D.C....
   in Chicago, Illinois.
• unknown - A schism forms the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
  National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
  
  The National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. is an African-American Baptist body organized in 1915 as the result of a struggle to keep the National Baptist Publishing Board of Nashville, Tennessee independent....
  .

• January - Professor Carter Woodson and The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History begins publishing the Journal of Negro History, the first academic journal devoted to the study of African-American history.
• March 23 - Marcus Garvey
  Marcus Garvey
  
  Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., Order of National Hero , was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist, and orator. Marcus Garvey was founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League ....
   arrives in the U.S. (see Garveyism
  Garveyism
  
  Garveyism is an aspect of Black Nationalism which takes its source from the works, words and deeds of UNIA-ACL founder Marcus Garvey. The fundamental focus of Garveyism is the complete, total and never ending redemption of the continent of Africa by people of African ancestry, at home and abroad....
  ).
• unknown - Los Angeles, California
  Los Angeles, California
  
  Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
   hires country's first black female police officer.
• unknown - Great Migration
  Great Migration (African American)
  
  The Great Migration was the movement of 1.3 million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the Northern United States, Midwestern United States and Western United States from 1916 to 1930....
   begins and lasts until 1940. Approximately one and a half million African-Americans move from the Southern United States
  Southern United States
  
  The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
   to the North
  Northern United States
  
  The Northern United States is a large geographic region of the United States of America. Most Americans refer to the region simply as "the North"....
   and Midwest
  Midwestern United States
  
  The Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
  . More than five million migrated in the Second Great Migration from 1940-1970, which included more destinations in California and the West
  Western United States
  
  The Western United States—commonly referred to as the American West or simply The West—traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost U.S....
  .

• May-June - East St. Louis Riot
  East St. Louis Riot
  
  The East St. Louis Riot was an outbreak of labor and race riot against blacks that caused an estimated 100 deaths and extensive property damage in the United States industrial city of East St....
  

• unknown - Orlando
  Orlando, Florida
  
  Orlando is a major city in Central Florida, United States and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Florida. It is also the principal city of Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
  's first black doctor open practice

• summer - Red Summer of 1919
  Red Summer of 1919
  
  Red Summer, coined by author James Weldon Johnson, is used to describe the bloody race riots that occurred during the summer and autumn of 1919....
   riots: Chicago
  Chicago
  
  Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
  , Washington, DC; Knoxville, Tennessee
  Knoxville, Tennessee
  
  Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, behind Memphis, Tennessee and Nashville, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee....
  , Indianapolis, Indiana
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  
  Indianapolis is the Capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. The United States Census estimated the city's population, Indianapolis , Indiana the Unigov, at 795,458 in 2006....
  , etc.
• September 28 - Omaha Race Riot of 1919
  Omaha Race Riot of 1919
  
  The Omaha Race Riot occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, Nebraska, on 28-September 29, 1919. The race riot resulted in the brutal lynching of Will Brown, a black worker; the death of two white men; the attempted hanging of the List of mayors of Omaha Edward Parsons Smith; and a public rampage by thousands of whites who set fire to the Douglas County...
  , Nebraska
  Nebraska
  
  Nebraska is a U.S. state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States.Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language words ?? Br?sge or the Omaha-Ponca language N? Bth?ska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state....
  .
• October 1-5 - Elaine Race Riot
  Elaine Race Riot
  
  File:AR elaine riot.jpgThe Elaine Race Riot, also called the Elaine Massacre, occurred September 30, 1919 in the town of Elaine, Arkansas in Phillips County, Arkansas in the Mississippi Delta where share cropping by African American farmers was prevalent on plantations of white landowners....
  , Phillips County, Arkansas
  Phillips County, Arkansas
  
  Phillips County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2000, the population was 26,445. The county seat is Helena-West Helena, Arkansas....
  . Numerous blacks were convicted by an all-white jury or pleaded guilty. In Moore v. Dempsey
  Moore v. Dempsey
  
  Moore et al. v. Dempsey, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled 6-2 that the defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and reversed the district court's decision declining the petitioners...
   (1923), the Supreme Court
  Supreme court
  
  A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some jurisdictions the highest court within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court....
   overturned six convictions for denial of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment
  Fourteenth Amendment
  
  The "Fourteenth Amendment" may refer to the:*Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - made important decisions about civil rights, immigration, and personal liberties....
  .

• February 13 - Negro National League (1920–1931) established.
• unknown - Fritz Pollard
  Fritz Pollard
  
  Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was the first African American head coach in the National Football League . Pollard along with Bobby Marshall were the first two African American players in the NFL in 1920....
   and Bobby Marshall
  Bobby Marshall
  
  Bobby Marshall was an United States sports player. He was best known for playing American football, however he also competed in baseball, Athletics , boxing and ice hockey....
   are the first two African-American players in the National Football League
  National Football League
  
  The National Football League is the Major North American professional sports leagues American football Sports league in the United States. It is an unincorporated 501#501.28c.29.286.29 association controlled by its members....
   (NFL). Pollard goes on to become the first African-American coach in the NFL.

• May 23 - Shuffle Along
  Shuffle Along
  
  Shuffle Along was the first major African American hit musical theatre. Written by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on 23 May 1921 on Broadway theatre and ran for 504 performances....
   was the first major African American hit musical on Broadway.
• May 31 - Tulsa Race Riot
  Tulsa Race Riot
  
  The Tulsa race riot, also known as the 1921 race riot, The night that Tulsa died, the Tulsa Race War, or the Greenwood riot, was a massacre during a large-scale civil disorder confined mainly to the Racial segregation Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States on May 31, 1921....
  , Oklahoma
• unknown - Bessie Coleman
  Bessie Coleman
  
  Elizabeth ?Bessie? Coleman was an American civil aviator. Popularly known as "Queen Bess", she was the first African American to become an fixed-wing aircraft pilot, and the first American of any race or gender to hold an Pilot licensing and certification....
   became the first African American to earn a pilot's license.

• February 19 - In Moore v. Dempsey
  Moore v. Dempsey
  
  Moore et al. v. Dempsey, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled 6-2 that the defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and reversed the district court's decision declining the petitioners...
  , the Supreme Court holds that mob-dominated trials violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
  Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
  
  The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the post-American Civil War Reconstruction Amendments that was first intended to secure the rights of former Slavery in the United States....
  .
• unknown - Jean Toomer
  Jean Toomer
  
  Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance....
  's novel Cane
  Cane (novel)
  
  Cane is a 1923 novel by noted Harlem Renaissance figure and author Jean Toomer. The novel is structured as a series of Vignette revolving around the origins and experiences of African Americans in the United States....
   is published.

• unknown - Spelman Seminary becomes Spelman College
  Spelman College
  
  Spelman College is a four-year Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States located in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia , United States....
  .

1925 – 1949

• spring - American Negro Labor Congress
  American Negro Labor Congress
  
  The American Negro Labor Congress was established in 1925 by the Communist Party USA as a vehicle for advancing the rights of African-Americans, propagandizing for communism among the black community and recruiting African-American members for the party....
   founded.
• August 8 - 35,000 Ku Klux Klan
  Ku Klux Klan
  
  Ku Klux Klan is the name of several past and present secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes....
   members march in Washington, D.C. (see List of protest marches on Washington, D.C.).
• unknown - Countee Cullen
  Countee Cullen
  
  Countee Cullen was an United States Romanticism poet. Cullen was one of the leading African American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets of the Harlem Renaissance....
   publishes his first collection of poems in Color.
• unknown - Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  
  The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was a labor union in the United States organized by the predominantly African-American Pullmans Porters....
   organized.
• unknown - The Harlem Renaissance
  Harlem Renaissance
  
  The Harlem Renaissance, or the New Negro Movement, was named after the term used in the anthology The New Negro, edited by Alain LeRoy Locke and published in 1925....
   was named after the anthology The New Negro
  The New Negro
  
  The New Negro: An Interpretation is an anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African American art and literature edited by Alain Locke, who lived in Washington, DC and taught at Howard University during the Harlem Renaissance....
  , edited by Alain Locke
  Alain LeRoy Locke
  
  Alain LeRoy Locke was an United States writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. He is best known for his writings on and about the Harlem Renaissance....
   (also known as the New Negro Movement).

• unknown - The Harlem Globetrotters
  Harlem Globetrotters
  
  The Harlem Globetrotters are an Exhibition game basketball team that combines wikt:athleticism and comedy.Created by Abe Saperstein in 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name Harlem because of its connotations as a major African-American community....
   founded.

• unknown - Claude McKay
  Claude McKay
  
  Claude McKay was a Jamaican writer and poet. He was a communist in his early life, but after a visit to the Soviet Union, decided that communism was too disciplined and confining....
  's Home to Harlem wins the Harmon Gold Award for Literature.

• unknown - The League of United Latin American Citizens
  League of United Latin American Citizens
  
  The League of United Latin American Citizens is a Advocacy group for Latinos in the United States. Founded in 1929 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Texas, LULAC is the nation's oldest Hispanic advocacy organization....
  , the first organization to fight for the civil rights of Hispanic
  Hispanic
  
  Hispanic is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania . During the Modern Era, it took on a more limited meaning relating to the contemporary nation of Spain....
   Americans, is founded in Corpus Christi, Texas
  Corpus Christi, Texas
  
  Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, Texas, it also extends into Aransas County, Texas, Kleberg County, Texas, and San Patricio County, Texas counties....
  .
• unknown - John Hope
  John Hope (educator)
  
  John Hope , born in Augusta, Georgia, was an African-American educator and political activist. He was the son of a white father, who was a farmer, and a black mother....
   becomes president of Atlanta University
  Clark Atlanta University
  
  Clark Atlanta University is a Private school, Historically Black colleges and universities in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia . It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University....
  . Graduate classes are offered in liberal arts subjects, making Atlanta University the first predominately black university to offer graduate education.

• unknown - The League of Struggle for Negro Rights
  League of Struggle for Negro Rights
  
  The League of Struggle for Negro Rights was organized by the Communist Party USA in 1930 as the successor to the American Negro Labor Congress. The League was particularly active in organizing support for the "Scottsboro Boys", nine black men sentenced to death in 1931 for crimes they had not committed....
   was founded in New York City.
• unknown - Jessie Daniel Ames
  Jessie Daniel Ames
  
  Jessie Daniel Ames was a United States Southern civil rights activist. She was one of the first Southern white women to speak out and work publicly against lynching....
   formed the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching. She got 40,000 white women to sign a pledge against lynching and for change in the South.

• March 25 - Scottsboro Boys
  Scottsboro Boys
  
  The Scottsboro Boys case was among the most important in the history of American jurisprudence. It went to the United States Supreme Court twice and established the principles that, in the United States, criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel and that people may not be de facto excluded from juries due to the...
   arrested. All are later freed, pardoned or paroled. The film Heaven's Fall was made about the incident.
• unknown - Walter Francis White
  Walter Francis White
  
  For the football player of the same name see Walter White .Walter Francis White was a spokesman for blacks in the United States for almost a quarter of a century as executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People....
   becomes the executive secretary of the NAACP.

• unknown - The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male begins.

• unknown - Wallace D. Fard
  Wallace Fard Muhammad
  
  Wallace Fard Muhammad was a preacher and founder of the Nation of Islam . He established the Nation of Islam's first mosque in Detroit, Michigan in 1930 and preached his distinctive religion there for three years before mysteriously disappearing in June 1934....
  , leader of the Nation of Islam
  Nation of Islam
  
  The Nation of Islam is a religious group founded in Detroit, Michigan, Michigan, United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in July 1930 with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the spiritual, mind, society, and economics condition of the Black people of America....
  , mysteriously disappears. He is succeeded by Elijah Muhammad
  Elijah Muhammad
  
  Elijah Muhammad , leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975, is buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Thornton, Illinois....
  .

• June 18 - In Murray v. Pearson
  Murray v. Pearson
  
  Murray v. Pearson was a Maryland Court of Appeals decision which found "the state has undertaken the function of education in the law, but has omitted students of one race from the only adequate provision made for it, and omitted them solely because of their color." On January 15, 1936, the court Affirmation#Affirmation in law the lower...
  , Thurgood Marshall
  Thurgood Marshall
  
  'Thurgood Marshall' was an United States jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v....
   and Charles Hamilton Houston
  Charles Hamilton Houston
  
  Charles Hamilton Houston was an African American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP Litigation Director who helped play a role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and helped train future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall....
    of the NAACP successfully argued the landmark case in Maryland to open admissions to the University of Maryland School of Law
  University of Maryland School of Law
  
  The University of Maryland School of Law is the third-oldest law school in the United States by date of first classes and second-oldest by date of establishment, but its programs and community make it one of the most innovative and dynamic today....
   on the basis of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment
  Fourteenth Amendment
  
  The "Fourteenth Amendment" may refer to the:*Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - made important decisions about civil rights, immigration, and personal liberties....
  .

• August - Sprinter Jesse Owens
  Jesse Owens
  
  James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an United States Athletics athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 metres relay team....
   wins four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics
  1936 Summer Olympics
  
  The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Nazi Germany....
   in Berlin
  Berlin
  
  Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
  .

• unknown - Zora Neale Hurston
  Zora Neale Hurston
  
  Zora Neale Hurston was an United States folkloristics and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God....
  , authors the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God
  Their Eyes Were Watching God
  
  Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 in literature novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication, and has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African American...
  

• Easter Sunday - Marian Anderson
  Marian Anderson
  
  Marian Anderson was an United States Contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. She possessed a rich and vibrant voice with an intrinsic quality of beauty....
   performs on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
  Lincoln Memorial
  
  The Lincoln Memorial is a Presidential memorials in the United States built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C....
   in Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C.
  
  Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
   at the instigation of First Lady
  First Lady
  
  First Lady is a term used in the United States to describe the wife of an elected male head of state. It originated in 1849, when President of the United States Zachary Taylor called Dolley Madison "First Lady" at her state funeral while reciting a eulogy written by himself....
   Eleanor Roosevelt
  Eleanor Roosevelt
  
  Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, President Franklin D....
   after the Daughters of the American Revolution
  Daughters of the American Revolution
  
  The Daughters of the American Revolution is a Genealogy-based membership organization of women dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism....
   (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall and the District of Columbia Board of Education declined a request to use the auditorium of a white public high school.
• unknown - Billie Holiday
  Billie Holiday
  
  Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter.Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing....
   first performs Strange Fruit
  Strange Fruit
  
  "Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the Southern United States but also in all regions of the United States....
   in New York City. The song, a protest against lynching written by Abel Meeropol
  Abel Meeropol
  
  Abel Meeropol was an United States writer,and inadvertent song-writer, best known under his pseudonym Lewis Allan and as the adoptive father of the young sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg....
   under the pen name Lewis Allan, became a signature song for Holiday.
• The Little League
  Little League
  
  Little League Baseball is the name of a non-profit organization in the United States which organizes local children's leagues of Amateur baseball in the United States and softball throughout the USA and the rest of the world....
   is formed, becoming the nation's first non-segregated youth sport.

• Second Great Migration
  Great Migration
  
  Great Migration can refer to any one of several different historical migrations of people, including:* The Migration Period in the Roman Empire and parts of Europe, also called the "Barbarian Invasions," between 300 and 700 A.D....
   - In multiple acts of resistance, more than 5 million African Americans left the violence and segregation of the South for jobs, education, and the chance to vote in northern, midwestern and California cities.

• February 12 - In Chambers v. Florida
  Chambers v. Florida
  
  Chambers v. Florida, Case citation , was an important Supreme Court of the United States case that dealt with the extent that police pressure resulting in a criminal defendants confession violate the Due Process clause....
  , the Supreme Court frees three Black men who were coerced into confessing to a murder.
• October 25 - Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.
  Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.
  
  Brigadier General Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr. was an United States general and the father of Benjamin O. Davis Jr. He was the first African-American general in the United States Army....
   promoted to be the first African-American general in the U.S. Army.
• unknown - Richard Wright
  Richard Wright
  
  Richard Wright may refer to:* Richard Wright , also known as Rick Wright, founding member of Pink Floyd* Richard B. Wright , Canadian novelist...
   authors Native Son
  Native Son
  
  Native Son is a novel by United States author Richard Wright . The novel tells the story of 20-year old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty....
  
• unknown - NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  
  The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a leading United States civil rights organization based in New York City. The organization began as the legal wing of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People under the leadership of Charles Hamilton Houston....
   is formed.

• early 1941 - U.S. Army forms African-American air combat units, the Tuskegee Airmen
  Tuskegee Airmen
  
  The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces....
  .
• June 25 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802
  Executive Order 8802
  
  Executive Order 8802 was signed by President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941 to prohibit racism in the national Military-industrial complex....
  , the "Fair Employment Act", to require equal treatment and training of all employees by defense contractors.

• Six non-violence activists in the Fellowship of Reconciliation
  Fellowship of Reconciliation
  
  The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries....
   — Bernice Fisher
  Bernice Fisher
  
  Bernice Fisher was a civil rights activist and union organizer. She was one of the original founders of the Congress of Racial Equality. Her birth name was Elsie Bernice Fisher, but she did not use the name Elsie....
  , James Russell Robinson, George Houser
  George Houser
  
  Born in 1916, George M. Houser was the son of missionaries, and spent portions of his early life in the Far East. He served on the staff of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the 1940s and '50s....
  , James Farmer, Jr., Joe Guinn and Homer Jack — found the Committee on Racial Equality, which becomes Congress of Racial Equality
  Congress of Racial Equality
  
  The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE is a United States civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the African-American Civil Rights Movement from its foundation in 1942 to the mid-1960s....
  .

• unknown - Doctor Charles R. Drew
  Charles R. Drew
  
  Charles Richard Drew was an American physician and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge in developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II, saving thousands of Allies of World War II lives....
  's achievements were recognized when he became the first African-American surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery
  American Board of Surgery
  
  The American Board of Surgery is an independent, non-profit organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania founded for the purpose of certifying surgeons who have met a defined standard of education, training and knowledge....
  .
• unknown - Lena Horne
  Lena Horne
  
  Lena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter, and Billy Eckstine....
   stars in the all African-American film Stormy Weather
  Stormy Weather (1943 film)
  
  Stormy Weather is the title of an United States musical film motion picture produced and released by 20th Century Fox in 1943 in film.The film is one of two major Hollywood musicals produced in 1943 in film with primarily African-American casts, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and is considered a time capsule showcasing some...
  

• April 3 - In Smith vs. Allwright, the Supreme Court ruled the whites-only Democratic Party primary in Texas was unconstitutional.
• April 25 - United Negro College Fund
  United Negro College Fund
  
  The United Negro College Fund is an USA philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities....
   was incorporated.
• July 17 - Port Chicago disaster
  Port Chicago disaster
  
  The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly explosion that took place on July 17, 1944 at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California....
  , which led to the Port Chicago mutiny.
• November 7 - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
  Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
  
  Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was an United States politician and pastor who represented the Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City in the United States House of Representatives between 1945 and 1971....
   was elected to U.S. House of Representatives from Harlem, New York.
• unknown - Miami, Florida
  Miami, Florida
  
  Miami is a global city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, the most populous county in Florida....
   hires its first black police officers.

• August - Ebony (magazine)
  Ebony (magazine)
  
  Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the Autumn of 1945....
  s first issue.
• unknown - Freeman Field Mutiny
  Freeman Field Mutiny
  
  The Freeman Field Mutiny was a series of incidents at a United States Army Air Forces base near Seymour, Indiana, in 1945 in which African American members of the 477th Bombardment Group attempted to Racial integration an all-white officers' club....
  , where Black officers attempt to desegregate an all-white officers club.

1955

• January 7 - Marian Anderson (of 1939 fame) became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
• January 15 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower
  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  
  Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
   signs Executive Order 10590, establishing the President's Committee on Government Policy to enforce a nondiscrimination policy in Federal employment.

*May 7 - NAACP activist Reverend George W. Lee

George W. Lee

George W. Lee was an African American civil rights leader, Minister of religion, and entrepreneur. He was a vice president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership and head of the Belzoni, Mississippi branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People....
 is killed in Belzoni

Belzoni, Mississippi

Belzoni is a city in Humphreys County, Mississippi, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region, on the Yazoo River. The population was 2,663 at the 2000 census....
, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson, Mississippi is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Anishinaabe language word misi-ziibi ....
.