Pennsylvania abolishes slavery, with the other states north of the Mason Dixon Line doing the same by the turn of the century=1780
Constitutional Convention agrees that no Constitutional amendment concerning slavery will be allowed for 20 years=1787
Congress enacts the first Fugitive Slave Act outlining a legal process for slaveholders to recover escaped slaves=1793
Importing slaves into the United States banned, a decision which had been deferred for 20 years when the Constitution was written in 1787=1808
The American Colonization Society is founded to supporting the migration of free African Americans to what would become Liberia in Africa=1816
Missouri Compromise attempts to balance the number of free states and slave states=1820
Former escaped slave Frederick Douglass' best-selling autobiography draws attention to and inspires the anti-slavery movement=1845
The revised and harsher Fugitive Slave Act outlaws aid to runaway slaves and requires their arrest and return even in free states=1850
Dred Scott Decision, Supreme Court denies citizenship to any slave or ex-slave=1857
Eleven slave states secede from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America and leading to the Civil War=1861
Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln frees slaves in the rebelling states of the Confederacy=1863
13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishes slavery, extending the Emancipation Proclamation which applied only to the Confederacy=1865
14th Amendment to the Constitution nullifies the Dred Scott Decision, recognizing the citizenship and rights of ex-slaves=1868
15th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the denial of voting rights based on race or previous slavery=1870
Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute founding president, supports accepting discrimination in exchange for education and legal protection=1895
Plessy vs. Ferguson, Supreme Court upholds "separate but equal" racial segregation=1896
Booker T. Washington, influential founder of Tuskegee Institute, becomes first African American invited to the White House=1901
W. E. B. DuBois and the Niagara Movement oppose Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise, calling for equal civil rights=1905
NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded by W. E. B. DuBois and others to fight racial discrimination=1909
Marcus Garvey establishes a black nationalist movement that urges a separate African state over integration=1914
The Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of black art and literature over the next decade, attracts wider recognition of African American culture=1920
Jesse Owens wins 4 Gold Medals at the Berlin Olympics, dramatically refuting Hitler's idea of Aryan superiority=1936
Jackie Robinson breaks major league baseball's color barrier when he joins the Brooklyn Dodgers=1947
President Truman's executive order ends official segregation in the U. S. military=1948
In Brown vs. Board of Education, brought by the NAACP, Supreme Court rules "separate but equal" school segregation violates the 14th Amendment=1954
Rosa Parks sparks Birmingham Bus Boycott by refusing to obey the segregated transit rules=1955
Arkansas Governor prevents black students from entering segregated schools. After federal action, schools closed to avoid integration=1957
The Greensboro 4 begin a series of non-violent sit-ins at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter, later leading to an effective boycott=1960
James Farmer and CORE lead the first Freedom Ride challenging segregation on interstate bus systems=1961
Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington civil rights rally=1963
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, banning racial discrimination in education, employment and public facilities=1964
The Voting Rights Act reinforces the 15th Amendment's protection of voting rights, which had been eroded by taxes and other barriers=1965
Thurgood Marshall, former NAACP counsel and U. S. Solicitor General, becomes first African American Supreme Court Justice=1967
Congress passes the Fair Housing Act, prohibiting discrimination in housing based on race, religion or national origin=1968
Shirley Chisolm, the first African American Congresswoman in 1968, becomes the first African American to run for a major party presidential nomination=1972
Andrew Young is appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, the first African-American to serve in the position=1977
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is first celebrated as a national holiday=1986
Colin Powell becomes first African American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff=1989
Carol Moseley Braun becomes the first African American woman U. S. Senator, serving her term as the only African American in the Senate=1992
Colin Powell becomes first African American Secretary of State=2001
Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States=2008
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. is opened to the public=2011
The National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.=2016
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