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1711 John Lawson, Christoph von Graffenried
, two African American slaves and two Native American
s leave on an exploration expedition from New Bern
and travel north by canoe up the Neuse River. This event has also been attributed to September 12, 1711.
1711 Tuscarora natives kill John Lawson. Christoph von Graffenried and one African American slave were known to have been set free. The date of this event is approximate.
1712 The delivering of the infamous William Lynch Speech, which helped exert submissiveness on the African American slaves in Virginia
.
1820 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City
to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
1865 American Civil War: The Confederate States of America
reluctantly agrees to the use of African American troops.
1868 The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is adopted guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States
due process of law.
1870 Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi
, is sworn into the United States Senate
, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress
1877 Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy
.
1886 Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi
.
1893 Colored High becomes the first African American high school in Houston, TX, its name is later changed to Booker T. Washington High School
1895 W.E.B. Du Bois becomes the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University
1900 Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor
(awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War
).
1901 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
invites African American leader Booker T. Washington
to the White House
. The American South reacts angrily to the visit, and racial violence increases in the region.
1940 Booker T. Washington
becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States
postage stamp
.
1947 Jackie Robinson
becomes the first African American to be on a professional baseball diamond.
1951 In Joplin, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
1955 Marian Anderson
is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City
.
1958 Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
1966 Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member, by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1966 Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy
diver, is involved in an accident on a routine mission which amputates his leg.
1966 Former Massachusetts
Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate
since Reconstruction
.
1967 Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall
is nominated as the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
1967 12th Street Riot: In Detroit, Michigan
, one of the worst riot
s in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned).
1967 Thurgood Marshall
is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court
.
1967 Carl B. Stokes is elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio
, becoming the first African American mayor of a major United States city.
1968 Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy
diver, becomes the first amputee certified to make diving missions, after a long battle which started with the accident which amputated his leg in 1966.
1968 The Medal of Honor
is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr. — he is the first African American U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
1972 Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Congresswoman, announces her candidacy for President.
1972 Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
1981 Wayne Williams, a 28-year-old African American, is arrested and charged with the murders of two other African Americans. He will later be suspected of 28 others, in the Atlanta child killings.
1983 Harold Washington is elected the first African American mayor of Chicago
.
1989 Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American
political party
.
1989 Yusef Hawkins is shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn
, New York
, sparking racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans.
1989 Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia
, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States
.
1989 David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City
.
1990 Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond
, Virginia
.
1995 STS-63: Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr. makes history as the first African American astronaut to walk in spa
1999 In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime
. King is later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
1999 White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles (3 km).
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Timeline
