1619—First African slaves arrive in the American colonies

1780—Pennsylvania becomes the first US state to abolish slavery

1793—Eli Whitney’s cotton gin increases the need for slaves

1831—Nat Turner leads the most successful slave rebellion in U.S. history

1831 – 1861—Approximately 75,000 slaves escape to the North using the Underground Railroad

1843—Pittsburgh based abolitionist Martin Delany begins publishing abolitionist newspaper The Mystery

1847—Ex-slave Frederick Douglass publishes the abolitionist North Star newspaper

1850—Congress passes Fugitive Slave Act, mandating government participation in capture of slaves

1857—Dred Scott v. Sanford case. Slaves are not citizens

1861 – 1865—The American Civil War is fought. Many free blacks and escaped slaves fight for the Union

1863—Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in Confederate states free

1865—Martin Delany becomes the only black officer to receive the rank of major in the Civil War. The 13^th Amendment, prohibiting slavery, is ratified. Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.

1865 – 1877—Reconstruction era

1866—The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Tennessee

1868—14^th Amendment, re-defining citizenship, is ratified.

1870—15^th Amendment, giving African American men the right to vote, is ratified.

1879—Thousands of African Americans migrate out of the South to escape oppression.

1892—The Homestead Steel Strike takes place. Pennsylvania’s first black steelworkers are among the strikebreakers, and racial tensions explode into a massive riot against black families

1895—Booker T. Washington delivers Atlanta Compromise speech, arguing that blacks forgo civil and political rights in favor of economic rights. W.E.B. DuBois becomes first African-American to receive a PhD from Harvard.

1896—Plessy v. Ferguson case. Racial segregation is constitutional. The Jim Crow era begins.

1903—W.E.B. DuBois’ seminal work The Souls of Black Folk is published