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Hege Library & Learning Technologies
Hege Library & Learning Technologies
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General African American Time |
Local Quaker & African American Timeline |
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1860 |
Abraham Lincoln is elected president, as a Republican, on November 6. |
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1861 |
Delegates from seven slave states meet and form the Confederate States of America (CSA) or Confederacy prior to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861. Eventually 15 states secede from the Union. |
Six weeks prior to North Carolina joining the Confederacy, Guilford County voted 25-1 against secession from the union. This vote was possibly influence by the Quakers in the county. |
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1861 |
Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, is attacked on April 12, 1861 by Confederates and the Civil War begins as Lincoln asks for volunteers to form an army. |
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1861-1865 |
During the Civil War Friends suffer hardships, deprivation and persecution due to their stance on slavery. The North Carolina Yearly Meeting suffers through the lowest membership in its history. |
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1862 |
Slavery is abolished by Congress in the District of Columbia.
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1863 |
On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln issues an executive order titled the Emancipation Proclamation. It will take effect on January 1, 1863 in all states that do not return to the Union. Slaves in those states were then proclaimed to be free. No states returned to the Union. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation |
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1863 |
The New York City draft riots occur as new draft laws instituted by Congress allow wealthier draftees to hire substitutes for $300 causing resentment among the working class. Fighting broke out and became a race riot of attacks on blacks. Over 100 blacks were killed. |
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1863 |
The 54th Massachusetts Regiment of the Union Army attacks Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. This unit is one of the first African American infantry regiments, and was commissioned after the Emancipation Proclamation. A fight for equal pay becomes part of their mission. At the Fort Wagner battle, half of the men died. Later, Sergeant William H. Carney received a Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery. His courage under fire is the first act by an African-American to gain this recognition. |
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1863 |
Harriet Tubman plans and leads the Raid at Combahee Ferry in South Carolina on June 1 and 2. Over 700 slaves are freed and transported away by Union ships. Many crops and structures were destroyed. |
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1863 |
The Battle of Port Hudson takes place with eight African American infantry regiments fighting on the Union side. |
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1864 |
The Battle of Fort Pillow or the Fort Pillow Massacre takes place in Tennessee. Under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, this Union garrison was attacked, defeated, and most of the surrendering African American soldiers were killed. |
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1864 |
Congress passes a bill granting equal pay to African Americans in the Union armed forces. |
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1864 |
The New Orleans Tribune begins to issue a daily newspaper on October 4. It is one of the first produced by African Americans. |
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1865 |
The Thirteenth Amendment is passed by Congress and ratified by the states. Slavery is abolished in the United States. |
Over half of the population of High Point is African American, and associated with the construction or running of the North Carolina Railroad. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution |
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1865 |
The Civil War ends on April 9 with General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. |
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1865 |
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated on April 14. |
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1865 |
The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Pulaski, Tennessee by six former Confederate soldiers. |
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1865 |
June 19th becomes a commemorated date for the end of slavery when 250,000 slaves in Texas learn that the Civil War has ended and that they are free. |
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1865 |
"40 acres and a mule" becomes a symbol of failed Reconstruction policy when Gen. William T. Sherman's field order allots this acreage to African Americans in Georgia and South Carolina. Some former slaves also received an army mule. The field order was revoked by Andrew Johnson after Lincoln was assassinated. The land was returned to former owners leaving about 10,000 freed slaves without this means of a start. |
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1865 |
The Thirteenth Amendment is adopted on December 6. With its passage, slavery and involuntary servitude are outlawed, except as criminal punishment. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution |
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1865 |
The Freedmen's Bureau is established by Congress on March 3 to provide assistance to emancipated slaves. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen%27s_Bureau |
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1865 |
Abraham Lincoln (Republican) is assassinated on April 15. Vice President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, becomes president. |
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1865 |
Juneteenth (a.k.a. Freedom Day or Emancipation Day) commemorates June 19, 1865 when a delayed announcement of the abolition of slavery was made in Texas. It is recognized and celebrated annually in many states. |
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1865-1866 |
"Black Codes" are passed throughout the former Confederate states by their white legislatures to restrict the rights of former slaves. The effect of these Codes is a virtual re-enslavement. These codes also were detrimental to the free black population who were free before the 13th Amendment... |
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1866 |
Frederick Douglass led an African American delegation to meet with President Andrew Johnson at the White House. Controversy ensues as the president opposes their request for black suffrage. |
Carpetbagger Albion W. Tourgee becomes a spokesperson for African-Americans in North Carolina and Guilford County as a result of their terrible living conditions. |
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1866 |
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is passed by Congress on April 9 overriding President Andrew Johnson's veto. Equal rights of citizenship are conferred on African Americans. |
Leaders of the Ku Klux Klan in Guilford County boast that they have a membership of 800. |
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1866 |
Memphis Riots of 1866 occurs on May 1-3 when white policemen (predominantly Irish) and citizens go on a rampage through black neighborhoods resulting in 46 African Americans being killed, many injured, and much property damaged. In 1862, Memphis had become a center for contraband camps (camps of runaway slaves) after Union forces took the city. At the end of the Civil War, tensions increased when African American Union soldier were placed on patrol. The Freedmen Bureau reported that these soldiers were arrested for minor offenses. Rumors and fear were rampant on both sides. |
Providence Baptist Church and St. Matthews Methodist church are organized and become the first African-American churches in Greensboro. |
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1866 |
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is approved on June 13, 1866 and was adopted on July 9, 1868. Its Citizenship Clause (Privileges or Immunities Clause), Due Process Clause, and Equal Protection Clause guarantee protection for all citizens under the law. African Americans are granted citizenship. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution |
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1866 |
The New Orleans Riot took place on July 30 as the Radical Republicans in Louisiana illegally reconvene the state Constitutional Convention to protest newly enacted Black Codes and also denial of the right to vote for blacks. |
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1866 |
The Ku Klux Klan is founded in Memphis at a meeting in Maxwell House. It is a secret organization with a goal to intimidate and control the newly freed slaves and promote white supremacy. Other similar organizations are founded throughout the South. |
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1867 |
Congress grants the right to vote for African American citizen in the District of Columbia overriding the veto of President Andrew Johnson. |
The first African American school in High Point is opened by Solomon Blair. |
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1867 |
Reconstruction Acts are passed by Congress on March 2, titled: "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States." The legislation laid out acts required for readmission of former Confederate States to the Union. Freed slaves were also granted the right to vote within these Acts. Five governing military districts, commanded by generals, were set up for the South. |
The first African-American churches in High Point are formed from Baptist and Methodist congregations meeting in Blair's two-room schoolhouse. |
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1867 |
Former slaves Willis Hinton and Albert Miller settled in High Point. Among the other first settlers there, they were brothers, who had different owners. |
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1867 |
Former slave Harmon A. Unthank and Quaker Yardley Warner develop 34 acres in South Greensboro that becomes known as Warnersville. |
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1868 |
Fourteenth Amendment is ratified with specific rights of citizenship granted to all people born and naturalized in the United States. The Citizenship Clause overruled the Dred Scott ruling of the Supreme Court, thus granting citizenship to all newly recognized citizens including former slaves. The Due Process Clause is issued to ensure fairness. And the Equal Protection Clause ruled that equal protection under the law has to be provided by each state. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution |
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1868 |
Thaddeus Stevens dies died on August 11. He was a powerful leader of the Radical Republicans during the war and Reconstruction era. |
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1868 |
The Opelousas Massacre takes place in Louisiana on September 28 with a large number of African Americans killed (estimated at 200 to 300 deaths). A white supremacist organization, the Seymour Knights, a local branch of the Knights of the White Camellia in Opelousas, attacked a group of African Americans when they joined a Democratic political party in the neighboring town of Washington. |
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1868 |
General Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, is elected President of the United States on November 3. |
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1869 |
Fifteenth Amendment is approved by Congress on February 26, and later ratified by the States (on March 30, 1870) to grant African Americans the right to vote. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution |
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1869 |
Howard University opens the first African American law school. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_University_School_of_Law |
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1869 |
Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett becomes the first African American diplomat and presidential appointee when he is selected as minister to Haiti. He was an educator, abolitionist, and civil rights activist. |
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