African American History: From Slavery to Civil Rights
Important Figures in African American History
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: Baptist minister and leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s until his assassination.
- Rosa Parks: Civil rights activist.
- Frederick Douglass: Writer and abolitionist.
- Ida B. Wells: Journalist and civil rights activist.
- Booker T. Washington: Writer, educator, philanthropist, and activist.
- Sojourner Truth: Abolitionist and women’s rights activist.
Slave Songs and the Underground Railroad
“Wade in the Water” (Negro Spiritual): This song served as a coded message, teaching younger slaves to escape by following the Ohio River, going North, and evading hound dogs.
The Underground Railroad: A network of people working to help enslaved people escape from the southern United States to freedom in the northern U.S. and Canada.
Slave Ships: Enslaved people were brought to America on slave ships.
The Civil War and Reconstruction
The Civil War (1861-1865): A political and economic war.
Reconstruction (1865-1877): Northern troops protected Black people. In the South, Black people faced intimidation and were subjected to literacy tests if they wanted the right to vote.
Jim Crow Laws and Segregation
Lead Belly, “Jim Crow Blues” (1937):
1890-1960: Jim Crow Laws and Segregation: ‘Black codes’ enforced segregated access to facilities, known as Jim Crow laws, after a dance act called “Jump Jim Crow”.
Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939): A haunting protest song depicting the lynching of Black people.
The Civil Rights Movement
1830-1965: The struggle to end legal segregation.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956): Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. locks arms with his aides as he leads a march of several thousands on March 17, 1965, in Montgomery, Alabama. (AP Photo)
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: August 28, 1963.
Key Moments and Figures
- Oldest Civil Rights Organization: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1909.
- Songs Slaves Sang: “Slave songs,” also known as “spirituals.”
- Harriet Tubman: Nicknamed “the Moses of her people” for her role in leading enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
- Trayvon Martin: A Black man whose death inspired the Black Lives Matter movement.
- Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam”: Refers to the unjust imprisonment of African American school children arrested for participating in civil rights protests.
- Juneteenth: The annual celebration of the abolition of slavery in the United States, commemorating June 19, 1865.
- Start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: December 5, 1955.
- Racial Segregation in US Public Schools Ruled Unconstitutional: May 17, 1954.
- Arrival of the First Enslaved Africans in the United States: 1619.
- The Civil War in the United States: Began on April 12, 1861, and ended on April 9, 1865.
- “Spirituals”: The melancholic folk music invented by African Americans in the United States in the 1860s.
- Rodney King: The man whose beating by four police officers led to the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
- “Strange Fruit”: A haunting and powerful protest song against racial violence and discrimination, depicting the brutal imagery of Black bodies hanging from trees.
- Slavery Officially Abolished: December 6, 1865.
- The Emancipation Proclamation: Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.
- Laws Preventing Black People from Being Equal Citizens: Jim Crow laws.
- Anthem of the Civil Rights Movement: “We Shall Overcome.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech: August 28, 1963.
- Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: April 4, 1968.
- Coded Message to Help Slaves Escape: “Wade in the Water.”
- 1865: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, The Civil War ended.
- The Doctrine of “Separate but Equal”: May 18, 1896.