African Americans - Key Dates, Figures/Groups, Stats, Acts and Case Studies:
1776 - Declaration of Independence stated ‘They are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights’
1861 - 4 million AA slaves in the USA
1865 - Civil War Ends
Black Codes passed by State Assemblies in the South
Lincoln Assassinated - Andrew Johnson President
Freedmen’s Bureau founded to help emancipated slaves with food, education and hospitals.
Set up 2 unis.
Sharecropping becomes practical solution for many AAs.
1866 - Civil Rights Act (Asserted that all races excluding NAs were full citizens of the US)
1867 - Military Reconstruction Act (Split South into Military districts)
Congressional Reconstruction
KKK coordinated in Nashville by ‘Grand Wizard’ Nathan Forest. Aimed to undermine
Republican domination of the South
Radical Republicans (led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner) advocated for change and
helped create the Freedmen’s Bureau.
1868 - Presidential election saw 2000 deaths in Louisiana due to racial violence. Habeus Corpus
almost suspended.
1870 - 15th Amendment (Rights of Citizens shall not be denied by any State on account of race)
1871 - Third Enforcement Act (KKK Act)
1875 - Civil Rights Act (All citizens entitled to full and equal enjoyment of places of Public
Amusement)
Gilded Age (1875-96):
- Sharecropping involved renting land and tools. Cost around 2/3 of produce.
- Saw the end of reconstruction. Ergo more racial violence and discrimination.
- Up to a quarter of ‘cowboys’ on Western Ranches were AAs, including Deadwood Dick
- Bass Reeves (AA Deputy Marshal) known for arresting thousands of criminals and shooting
14 outlaws.
- Mary Fields was a stagecoach driver earned a formidable reputation.
- 22 blacks elected to Congress during the 70s. (20 Representatives, 2 Senators)
- By 1890, 65% of black Americans couldn’t write. Only 15% of white Americans
- Vision of 40 acres and a mule never implemented.
- Freedmen’s Bureau closed in 1872.
- 1876 Case of US v. Cruikshank ruled that the 14 th Amendment didn’t apply to violations of
civil rights by individual citizens.
- Boll Weevil caused many sharecroppers to lose out on their produce as cotton was
damaged.
- Social Darwinism saw ideas of hierarchies in races. Increase in racism.
1877 - Haynes-Tilden Compromise
Kansas State Official Edwin McCabe tried to set up separate AA community in Kansas and
was the first sign of separatism.
1881 – Tuskegee Institute set up (All black university)
1883 - US v. Harris (SC rule 1875 Civil Rights Act Unconstitutional)
1887 - South Carolina elected 8 black Congressmen in the last 20 years
1890s - Increase in Jim Crow Laws
1895 - Booker T. Washington (famous educator know for gaining white confidence) performed
famous speech encouraging AAs to ‘cast down your bucket’ (to take responsibility for
progress and accept white supremacy)
1896 - Plessy vs Ferguson (SC ruled ‘separate but equal’ and laid out precedent for segregation)
1898 - Williams v. Mississippi (Declared discriminatory voter registration laws like grandfather
1776 - Declaration of Independence stated ‘They are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights’
1861 - 4 million AA slaves in the USA
1865 - Civil War Ends
Black Codes passed by State Assemblies in the South
Lincoln Assassinated - Andrew Johnson President
Freedmen’s Bureau founded to help emancipated slaves with food, education and hospitals.
Set up 2 unis.
Sharecropping becomes practical solution for many AAs.
1866 - Civil Rights Act (Asserted that all races excluding NAs were full citizens of the US)
1867 - Military Reconstruction Act (Split South into Military districts)
Congressional Reconstruction
KKK coordinated in Nashville by ‘Grand Wizard’ Nathan Forest. Aimed to undermine
Republican domination of the South
Radical Republicans (led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner) advocated for change and
helped create the Freedmen’s Bureau.
1868 - Presidential election saw 2000 deaths in Louisiana due to racial violence. Habeus Corpus
almost suspended.
1870 - 15th Amendment (Rights of Citizens shall not be denied by any State on account of race)
1871 - Third Enforcement Act (KKK Act)
1875 - Civil Rights Act (All citizens entitled to full and equal enjoyment of places of Public
Amusement)
Gilded Age (1875-96):
- Sharecropping involved renting land and tools. Cost around 2/3 of produce.
- Saw the end of reconstruction. Ergo more racial violence and discrimination.
- Up to a quarter of ‘cowboys’ on Western Ranches were AAs, including Deadwood Dick
- Bass Reeves (AA Deputy Marshal) known for arresting thousands of criminals and shooting
14 outlaws.
- Mary Fields was a stagecoach driver earned a formidable reputation.
- 22 blacks elected to Congress during the 70s. (20 Representatives, 2 Senators)
- By 1890, 65% of black Americans couldn’t write. Only 15% of white Americans
- Vision of 40 acres and a mule never implemented.
- Freedmen’s Bureau closed in 1872.
- 1876 Case of US v. Cruikshank ruled that the 14 th Amendment didn’t apply to violations of
civil rights by individual citizens.
- Boll Weevil caused many sharecroppers to lose out on their produce as cotton was
damaged.
- Social Darwinism saw ideas of hierarchies in races. Increase in racism.
1877 - Haynes-Tilden Compromise
Kansas State Official Edwin McCabe tried to set up separate AA community in Kansas and
was the first sign of separatism.
1881 – Tuskegee Institute set up (All black university)
1883 - US v. Harris (SC rule 1875 Civil Rights Act Unconstitutional)
1887 - South Carolina elected 8 black Congressmen in the last 20 years
1890s - Increase in Jim Crow Laws
1895 - Booker T. Washington (famous educator know for gaining white confidence) performed
famous speech encouraging AAs to ‘cast down your bucket’ (to take responsibility for
progress and accept white supremacy)
1896 - Plessy vs Ferguson (SC ruled ‘separate but equal’ and laid out precedent for segregation)
1898 - Williams v. Mississippi (Declared discriminatory voter registration laws like grandfather
