A Brief History

The 1500s
The colonists first arrived on North American
the Native Americans already inhabited the
area. Conflicts were abundant as colonists tried
1619
to establish settlements in Florida, the
Northeast area bordering Canada, the Virginia The first African slaves arrived in Virginia
colony, and the Southwest (AAA, 2016). Native (Brunner, 2017).
American's were considered savages and the Mid-1670s
colonists worked to try and make the Native The status of the African people began to
American's more civilized (Siddiqui, 2017). change. Those who had a chance for
The 1770s freedom following their servitude period,
now became permanent slaves in the
The English colonists began to colonies (AAA, 2016). For those who were
rebel against England and want free, the governments put laws in place
their own independence. They barring African's from certain privileges in
still denied equal rights to Native society (Siddiqui, 2017).
Americans and Africans. One of
the first casualties in this war was 1787
Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave
Slavery becomes illegal in the Northwest
who had African and Indian
Territory. (Brunner, 2017).
parentage

1794
Eli Whitney patented the Cotton
Gin and slave labor increased
because cotton became such a
1798
huge export. (History.com,
Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act which
(2017).
allowed immigrants to be deported more easily and
made it harder for immigrants to obtain voting rights
(Harris-Perry, 2009).
1849

Harriet Tubman escaped from

slavery and began the Underground
Railroad to help other slaves escape
to freedom (Brunner, 2017).
1852
Harriet Breecher Stowe published
1882
Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book
provided a human view of the
Chinese Exclusion Act was signed
slaves which helped to garner
by President Arthur, excluding
support for the abolitionist
Chinese workers from entering
movement. (AAA, 2016).
the country (Harris-Perry, 2009).

1889-Early 1863
1920s
President Lincoln issued the
Between 50-100 lynchings took place emancipation proclamation, freeing all the
every year (AAA, 2016). slaves (Brunner, 2017).

1954
1942
Brown vs. Board of Education decides that
segregation in public schools is illegal In February, Franklin D.
(Brunner, 2017). Roosevelt authorized Japanese
Internment Camps, following the
attack on Pearl Harbor in
December 1941 (Siddiqui,
2017).

2017
President Trump institutes travel ban 1964
barring all immigrants and refugees
Civil Rights Act Repealed (Harris-Perry, 2009),
from entering the U.S. A federal
ending the segregation that was outlawed in
judge in Seattle, ruled against the
Plessy vs. Ferguson (Brunner, 2017).
travel ban and reopening the country
(Kulish et al, 2017).
References:
American Anthropological Association. (2016). The Story of Race Transcript. Retrieved from: http://www.understandingrace.org/history/history_trans.html
Brunner, B. (2017). Timeline: Key Moments in Black History. Retrieved from: http://www.factmonster.com/spot/bhmtimeline.html#AAH-1700
Harris-Perry, M. (2009). Can We? A Brief History of American Racism. Retrieved from: https://www.thenation.com/article/can-we-brief-history-american-racism/
History.com. (2017). Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney. A+E Networks. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney
Kulish, N., Dickerson, C., & Savage, C. (2017) Court Temporarily Blocks Trump's Travel Ban, and Airlines are Told to Allow Passengers. New York Times, Retrieved from : https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02
/03/us/visa-ban-legal-challenge.html
Siddiqui, S. (2017). A Brief History of Racism in the United States. Retrieved from: https://www.soundvision.com/article/a-brief-history-of-racism-in-the-united-states