Blacks in America

The first 20 Africans are brought to work as "servants" in Jamestown, Virginia. During the next hundred years thousands more are brought as slaves to work on the tobacco and cotton fields in the South.

Congress passes a law making it illegal to import slaves, but it is generally ignored.

Slavery is declared legal in the South, but illegal in all states north of Missouri.

Abraham Lincoln becomes President of the United States. the number of slaves in

the USA has reached 4 million. Eleven southern "slave" states leave the Union,

afraid that Abraham Lincoln will abolish slavery, which is the basis of their

economy. The Civil War breaks out.

The North defeats the South. Slaves are freed throughout the nation.

Blacks offically become American citizens. But it is made difficult if not impossible

for blacks to vote in the South.

The Supreme Court says any state can have facilities for blacks and whites, as long as

they are "separate, but equal". In some southern states there are separate schools

for blacks and whites, separate theathres, restaurants, hotels, taxis, and seats on buses.

Thousands of blacks move to the cities in the North, looking for work.

The Supreme Court changes its 1896 decision and orders every state to desegregate its schools. Some areas in the South don´t accept this.

Dr Martin Luther King leads 250,000 people to Washington, D.C. in the largest protest march in US history so far. His speech marks a climax of the Civil Rights movement. Civil Roghts leaders meet President Kennedy in the white house.

Congree passes a Civil Rights law, which makes discrimmination illegal in hotels, restaurants and important fields of employment.

Congess ends voting discrimmination, so that all blacks are finally able to vote.

Martin Luther King in assassinated. Riots break out in major American cities.

For the first time, a black becomes mayor of a large city. Thomas Bradley is elected mayor of Los Angeles.

Yvonne Miller becomes Virginia´s first black female senator.

Jesse Jackson is the first black with a serious chance of being chosen as a candidate for President.

Douglas Wilder, grandson of slaves , becomes Governor of Virginia. he is the first black governor in US history.