American Timeline

Discover key milestones in African American history since the 1800s, highlighting the triumphs, challenges, and contributions that have shaped the nation's story.

Antebellum Period

1800-1860s

Slavery. Plantation System. Abolitionism. Manifest Destiny. Missouri Compromise. Underground Railroad. Dred Scott. Harper’s Ferry. Nat Turner. Trial of Tears.

Civil War & Reconstruction

1861 - 1877

Abraham Lincoln. Emancipation Proclamation. Confederacy. Black Codes. Civil Rights. Black Soldiers. Union Army. Sharecropping.

The Rise of Jim Crow & Dawn of Segregation

1877-1900s

Lynchings. Separate But Equal. Racial Violence. Emergence of Black intellectuals. Plessy v Ferguson. Poll taxes. Convict leasing. Journalism.

The Great Migration & The Harlem Renaissance

1910s-1930s

Culture. Jazz. New Negro Movement. NAACP. Black Belt. Chicago. Detroit. Philadelphia. Negrophilia. The Talented Tenth. The Negro Motorist Green Book. The Cotton club.

World War II Era

1939-1945

WAAC. 6888th. Double Victory Campaign. Tuskegee Airmen. March on Washington. Red Ball Express. Executive Order 9981.

The Civil Rights Movement

1950s-1970s

Black Power. Black Panthers. Boycott. Brown v Board of Ed. Civil Rights Act. March on Washington. Affirmative Action. Boycotts. Sit-Ins. Voting.

Post Civil Rights Era

Late 1970s-1990s

Hip Hop. Gangsta Rap. War On Drugs. AIDS. Jesse Jackson. Crack. Riots. Rodney King. Cosby Show. Spike Lee. Anita Hill. Police Brutality. Congressional Black Caucus. BET. Internet.

The Digital Age

Late 1990s-Present

Tupac and Biggie. Barack Hussein Obama. WiFi. Katrina. Colin Powell. Eric Holder. War on Terror. Afrofuturism. Gender. Pronouns. Social Media. Kamala Harris.