The New York Public Library African American Desk Reference

\ \ \ \ \ Chapter One\ \ \ TIME LINE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY\ \ \ \ \ c. 1200 B.C.-700 B.C.\ According to a number of scholars, black Africans from Egypt and Nubia sail west across the Atlantic Ocean and have extensive contact with native peoples of the Americas. (This theory is based on studies of ocean currents and navigation, reports of later European explorers, botanical research, oral traditions, Native American sculptures resembling black Africans, and other evidence—however, the subject of pre-Columbian contact has been extensively debated by historians and archeologists and remains highly controversial.)\ \ \ c. 300 B.C.\ Iron Age begins in sub-Saharan Africa; Nok culture flourishes in present-day Nigeria, producing works of art that rival the works of ancient Greece and Rome.\ \ \ c. A.D. 750\ Ancient Ghana (located in present-day Mali and Mauretania) emerges as the first great kingdom of sub-Saharan Africa and prospers by regulating the North African gold trade; West Africans begin to adopt Islam through contacts with Muslim traders.\ \ \ c. 850\ The Sefawa dynasty begins its thousand-year reign in the West African kingdom of Kanem.\ \ \ c. 1000\ Ancient Ghana reaches the height of its power; fortified city-states begin to emerge in Hausaland.\ \ \ c. 1100\ Feudal kingdoms arise in Ethiopia.\ \ \ c. 1200\ Swahili civilization, sustained by Indian Ocean trade, flourishes in East Africa.\ \ \ 1240\ Sundiata Keita creates the unified kingdom of Mali in West Africa; Mali replaces ancient Ghana as the region's great power.\ \ \ c. 1300\ According to a 14th-century Arabic chronicle, African mariners from Mali cross the Atlantic Ocean in a fleet of 2,000 ships, seeking the mouth of the Amazon River in South America.\ \ \ 1312-1337\ Mali attains the height of its power and wealth under Mansa Musa, whose fame spreads throughout the Middle East and Europe; Mali's immense gold supplies facilitate the economic development of Europe.\ \ \ c. 1350\ The great Zimbabwe culture thrives in the central grasslands, where African builders erect immense stone structures; Wolof kingdoms emerge in Senegambia; Yoruba artists in Ile Ife (central Nigeria) produce magnificent bronze sculptures.\ \ \ 1440s\ Portuguese take the first captives from sub-Saharan Africa, transporting them to Portugal and Spain.\ \ \ 1464-1528\ Under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad, the kingdom of Songhai emerges as the dominant power in West Africa, controlling most of the Niger River.\ \ \ 1492\ Afro-Spaniard named Pedro Alonzo Niño accompanies Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the Americas.\ \ \ 1502\ Several Afro-Spaniards accompany Nicolás de Ovando when he becomes, the first Spanish governor of Hispaniola; Portuguese bring enslaved Africans to the Americas for the first time.\ \ \ 1517\ The first enslaved Africans reach the Caribbean islands on Spanish ships.\ \ \ 1522\ Africans in Santo Domingo stage the first known slave revolt.\ \ \ 1526\ First enslaved Africans arrive in continental United States in present-day South Carolina.\ \ \ 1520s-1530s\ Africans take part in numerous Spanish expeditions in the New World, ranging from Florida to California.\ \ \ 1542\ The Spanish monarchy outlaws the enslavement of Native Americans; as a result, the African slave trade increases in intensity.\ \ \ 1565\ Africans take part in founding of St. Augustine, Florida, the first permanent city in present-day United States built by nonnative Americans.\ \ \ c. 1590\ Portuguese begin large-scale slave trade to Brazil, taking Africans mainly from Angola and coastal regions of the Congo.\ \ \ 1605\ Rebellious slaves in northeastern Brazil found the kingdom of Palmares, which eventually contains 20,000 inhabitants. (See 1694.)\ \ \ 1606\ The first recorded birth of a black child in North America occurs at St. Augustine, Florida.\ \ \ 1619\ Twenty Africans having the status of indentured servants arrive in the English settlement of Jamestown aboard a Dutch ship—they are probably the first black people brought to the British North American colonies.\ \ \ 1623\ The first known African child born in the English colonies—William Tucker of Jamestown, the son of indentured servants.\ \ \ 1624\ Dutch bring enslaved Africans into New Amsterdam (later New York) for the first time.\ \ \ 1634\ Enslaved Africans are brought to Massachusetts and Maryland for the first time.\ \ \ 1644\ Eleven blacks in New Amsterdam successfully petition for their freedom.\ \ \ 1652\ Rhode Island enacts the first antislavery law in the colonies, limiting the term of servitude to 10 years, for both blacks and whites.\ \ \ c. 1660\ The British and the Dutch begin to supplant the Spanish as the major colonial powers in the Caribbean and the leading slave traders; there are about 100,000 slaves in the West Indies and only about 5,000 in the American colonies.\ \ \ 1663\ The first major slave conspiracy in the British North American colonies is uncovered in Virginia.\ \ \ 1688\ Pennsylvania Quakers publish the first manifesto condemning slavery in the colonies.\ \ \ 1694\ The Brazilian kingdom of Palmares, composed of escaped slaves, falls to Portuguese troops after repeated assaults—inhabitants are reenslaved and branded to show that they are escapees. (See 1605.)\ \ \ 1695\ Reverend Samuel Thomas, a white cleric in Charleston, South Carolina, establishes the first known school for African Americans in the colonies.\ \ \ 1700\ The enslaved population in the American colonies reaches 28,000 (23,000 in the South); Boston merchant Samuel Sewall and the Boston Committee of Massachusetts formally oppose the slave trade.\ \ \ 1708\ Enslaved Africans outnumber European colonists in the Carolinas for the first time.\ \ \ 1712\ Enslaved Africans revolt in New York City, burning buildings and killing 9 European colonists; 20 Africans involved in the revolt are killed or commit suicide.\ \ \ c. 1725\ The Fon kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) becomes the dominant state in the area of West Africa the British call the "Slave Coast."\ \ \ 1730s\ The First Maroon War in Jamaica leads to a treaty between British authorities and rebellious blacks, allowing many of the Maroon communities to exist free of enslavement.\ \ \ 1738\ Africans escaping from bondage in the American colonies set up the first-black settlement in North America, at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mosé, in Florida. (The settlement is disbanded in 1763, when the Spanish cede Florida to Britain.)\ \ \ 1739\ The Stono Uprising takes place in South Carolina as more than a hundred slaves revolt--all the rebels were either killed in battle or hanged.\ \ \ 1746\ Lucy Terry writes "Bar's Fight" (a ballad about the conflict between Massachusetts colonists and Native Americans), the first known writing in English by an African American--the poem is not published until 1855.\ \ \ 1750\ The enslaved African population in the American colonies reaches 236,000; the gold-rich Asante (Ashanti) Empire rises in West Africa.\ \ \ 1754\ Self-taught scientist Benjamin Banneker constructs the first clock made entirely of American parts.\ \ \ 1770\ Crispus Attucks, a black seafarer, is the first colonist killed in the Boston Massacre.\ \ \ 1772\ Britain's highest court frees all slaves living in the United Kingdom.\ \ \ 1773\ Phillis Wheatley becomes the first African American to publish a book (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral); the first black church (Baptist) is founded in Silver Bluff, South Carolina, by George Liele, then a slave of Henry Sharp, a Baptist deacon. (Liele was later freed by Sharp and moved to Jamaica, where he founded that island's first black Baptist church, as well as a free school.)\ \ \ 1774\ Massachusetts is the first colony to pass a law forbidding the importation of slaves.\ \ \ 1775\ Pennsylvania Quakers organize the first abolition society in the United States, the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery; African American minutemen engage in combat at Lexington and Concord.\ \ \ 1776\ The Second Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, severing ties between the American colonies and Great Britain; a passage condemning slavery authored by slave owner Thomas Jefferson is dropped from the document at the insistence of Georgia and South Carolina delegates.\ \ \ 1777\ In a petition to the Massachusetts legislature, enslaved Africans argue that slavery is in conflict with the principles of the American Revolution; Vermont is the first state to abolish slavery.\ \ \ 1778\ Virginia abolishes the slave trade, although slavery itself is not outlawed; Jupiter Hammons publishes his poem "To Miss Phyllis Wheatley."\ \ \ 1778-1781\ Five thousand African Americans serve as regular soldiers in the patriot armies during the American Revolution.\ \ \ 1779\ Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a black Canadian fur trader born in the West Indies, establishes a trading post that will eventually become the city of Chicago; George Liele begins preaching to blacks in British-occupied Savannah, Georgia.\ \ \ 1780\ Pennsylvania adopts a policy of gradual emancipation; George Derham becomes the first black licensed to practice medicine in the United States.\ \ \ 1781\ Twenty-six blacks are among the 44 settlers founding the city of Los Angeles.\ \ \ 1783\ Massachusetts abolishes slavery.\ \ \ 1784\ Rhode Island and Connecticut enact laws to gradually emancipate slaves.\ \ \ 1787\ Delegates in Philadelphia approve the new U.S. Constitution, which contains three clauses protecting the institution of slavery; a colony for liberated slaves is established in Sierra Leone, Africa, with 377 settlers; Richard Allen and Absalom Jones form the Free African Society, the first U.S. civil rights organization; Richard Allen founds Bethel Church in Philadelphia, the first African American church in the North; the African Free School opens in New York.\ \ \ 1789\ Olaudah Equiano publishes his autobiography, detailing his experiences under slavery.\ \ \ 1790\ The first U.S. Census places the black population at 757,208 (19.3% of the total population), of whom 59,557 are free; slavery has been abolished in all the New England colonies.\ \ \ 1791\ François-Dominique Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, leads a successful slave revolt on the French-held Caribbean island of St. Domingue (the western half of which later becomes the nation of Haiti); Benjamin Banneker takes part in surveying the land chosen for the new national capital in the District of Columbia.\ \ \ 1792\ Banneker publishes his first almanac, which proves remarkably accurate in calculating astronomical events; 1,200 African Americans living in Nova Scotia resettle in Sierra Leone.\ \ \ 1793\ The invention of the cotton gin increases the size of the Southern cotton industry and creates a greater demand for slave labor; the first fugitive slave law is enacted by the U.S. Congress, making it a crime to harbor an escaped slave.\ \ \ 1794\ Congress bans the exportation of slaves from the United States to any foreign country.\ \ \ 1795\ The Second Maroon War erupts in Jamaica—many rebellious Maroons are deported to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone after being tricked into laying down their arms; Richard Allen organizes a school for African American children in Philadelphia.\ \ \ 1796\ African Americans in Boston establish the Boston African Society, a mutual aid organization; Joshua Johnson, the first widely recognized African American painter, opens a studio in Baltimore.\ \ \ 1800\ The U.S. African American population tops 1 million; U.S. citizens are barred from taking part in the foreign slave trade; a planned rebellion by a thousand slaves in Virginia is thwarted by violent rainstorms.\ \ \ 1801\ A new constitution outlaws slavery and declares independence for the whole island of St. Domingue; Toussaint-Louverture becomes St. Domingue's president.\ \ \ 1803\ South Carolina reopens its ports to the slave trade from Latin America to satisfy the demand for labor in the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase; escaped slaves and members of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and other southeastern U.S. tribes that have been defeated by U.S. government troops begin moving into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).\ \ \ 1804\ Haiti, on the western part of St. Domingue, becomes an independent republic under Jean-Jacques Dessalines; Muslim reformers launch a series of holy wars in West Africa.\ \ \ 1808\ Importation of slaves into the United States is officially outlawed, effective January 1, though illegal slaving continues; Britain abolishes the slave trade in Jamaica and other Caribbean colonies.\ \ \ 1810\ Tom Molineaux achieves prominence as a boxer.\ \ \ 1812-1815\ African Americans serve as sailors and militia members in the War of 1812 against Great Britain—they distinguish themselves in the battles of Lake Erie and New Orleans.\ \ \ 1813\ Argentina adopts a gradual emancipation law.\ \ \ 1814\ Colombia begins the emancipation process.\ \ \ 1815\ France abolishes importation of slaves to its American colonies; Paul Cuffe transports 38 free blacks from the United States to Sierra Leone.\ \ \ 1816\ Richard Allen and associates found the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.\ \ \ 1820\ The American Colonization Society launches efforts to resettle liberated slaves in Liberia on the coast of West Africa; 86 blacks sail to Africa on the Mayflower of Liberia; the Missouri Compromise goes into effect, banning slavery in the territories north of latitude 36°30'; the British Navy begins measures to suppress the slave trade.\ \ \ 1821\ The first black acting troupe, the African Grove Theater, is established in New York City; Thomas L. Jennings is the first African American to obtain a patent (for a dry-cleaning process).\ \ \ 1822\ Denmark Vesey organizes a plan to seize Charleston, South Carolina, for the purpose of freeing slaves—he and 47 others are executed after the plot is betrayed.\ \ \ 1823\ Alexander Lucius Twilight earns a B.A. degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, becoming the first African American college graduate; Chile abolishes slavery; the African Grove Theater performs Brown's Drama of King Shotaway, the first produced play written by an African American author.\ \ \ 1824\ Slavery is abolished throughout Central America; Ira Aldridge begins his triumphant acting career in Europe.\ \ \ 1827\ Slavery is abolished in New York State, fleeing 10,000 people; the first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, is published in New York City.\ \ \ 1829\ African Americans are attacked by white mobs in Cincinnati, Ohio, during threeday race riot—1,000 flee the city and resettle in Canada; Mexico abolishes slavery; Sister Elizabeth Lange, a Haitian nun, founds the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore, the first black women's religious order in the United States; David Walker's Appeal calls on enslaved blacks to rise up against their oppressors.\ \ \ 1830\ The First National Negro Convention meets in Philadelphia—38 delegates from eight states agree on self-help measures.\ \ \ 1831\ Nat Turner's rebellion erupts in Virginia, leading to repressive measures throughout the South; the Female Literary Association of Philadelphia, the first society of its sort for African American women, is organized—the association seeks the education of its members and challenges racism and prejudice; Bolivia abolishes slavery; the Emancipation Rebellion erupts in Jamaica.\ \ \ 1832\ Abolitionists led by William Lloyd Garrison form the New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston.\ \ \ 1833\ Black and white abolitionists organize the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia; Ira Idridge debuts as Othello in London.\ \ \ 1834\ Slavery is abolished in the British Empire, freeing more than 700,000 people; David Ruggles opens the first African American bookstore in the United States in New York City—he carries general and abolitionist literature, including his own abolitionist tract Extinguisher.... which he publishes on his own press, another African American first.\ \ \ 1835\ New York City African Americans form a vigilance committee to assist fugitive slaves.\ \ \ 1836\ Congress adopts a "gag rule" that prevents debate on any antislavery legislation (the rule remains in effect until 1845); Alexander Lucius Twilight wins a seat in the Vermont legislature, becoming the first African American elected to public office.\ \ \ 1837\ The first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women (membership 10% black) meets in New York City.\ \ \ 1838\ The first African American periodical, Mirror of Liberty, is published in New York City.\ \ \ 1839\ The Liberty Party (first U.S. antislavery party) organizes in Warsaw, New York.\ \ \ 1840\ The U.S. African American population reaches 2,873,648.\ \ \ 1841\ Frederick Douglass makes his first antislavery speech, in Nantucket, Massachusetts.\ \ \ 1843\ Sojourner Truth begins abolition work; at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York, Henry Highland Garnet advocates armed rebellion against slavery; blacks take part in a national political convention for the first time at a meeting of the Liberty Party in Buffalo; Norbert Rillieux patents an evaporator that eventually revolutionizes the sugar industry.\ \ \ 1844\ William Henry Lane begins to achieve prominence as a tap dancer under the name Master Juba.\ \ \ 1845\ Frederick Douglass lectures in Britain on the abolition of slavery and publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the first of his three autobiographies; Macon B. Allen, the first African American admitted to the bar, begins practicing law in Massachusetts.\ \ \ 1847\ Douglass is elected president of the New England Anti-Slavery Society and begins publishing the North Star; William Wells Brown publishes Narrative of William Wells Brown, A Fugitive Slave; Liberia declares itself an independent republic; David J. Peck is the first African American graduate of a U.S. medical school.\ \ \ 1848\ Antislavery politicians organize the Free Soil Party, opposing the extension of slavery into western territories; democratic revolutions sweep Europe; slavery is ended in all French and Danish colonies; Robert Duncanson achieves recognition as a painter; Lewis Temple invents an improved harpoon, which revolutionizes the whaling industry.\ \ \ 1849\ Harriet Tubman escapes slavery in Maryland and begins her legendary career as a conductor on the Underground Railroad; Benjamin Roberts, a black man, unsuccessfully files the first integration lawsuit after his daughter is denied admission to Boston public schools.\ \ \ 1850\ The U.S. African American population stands at 3,636,808 (15.7% of the total); Congress enacts the Compromise of 1850, admitting California as a free state and decreeing that the status of Utah and New Mexico will be decided by local residents; the federal Fugitive Slave Law goes into effect, giving slave catchers broad powers and imposing harsh penalties on anyone aiding escapees; African American mountaineer Jim Beckwourth discovers a pass through the Sierra Nevada, which later bears his name; Lucy Ann Stanton is the first African American woman to graduate from a four-year college, earning a bachelor of literature degree from Oberlin College in Ohio.\ \ \ 1851\ Brazil outlaws the slave trade.\ \ \ 1852\ Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is published, arousing wide sympathy for the abolitionist cause.\ \ \ 1854\ Boston abolitionists storm the federal courthouse in a futile attempt to rescue captured fugitive Anthony Burns; the Kansas-Nebraska Act nullifies the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing residents of Kansas and Nebraska to determine the status of slavery in their territories; the newly formed Republican Party opposes the extension of slavery into the territories; Peru and Venezuela abolish slavery; James A. Healy becomes the first African American Catholic priest; Edward M. Bannister produces his first commissioned painting, The Ship Outward Bound; the Ashmun Institute (later renamed Lincoln University), the first historically African American college, is founded in Oxford, Pennsylvania.\ \ \ 1857\ The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sanford that escaped slaves cannot sue for freedom and that Congress has no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories—this ruling makes further compromise on slavery impossible.\ \ \ 1858\ Abraham Lincoln gains national recognition as an antislavery candidate during his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate.\ \ \ 1859\ White abolitionist John Brown and a band of 23, including 5 African Americans, raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to capture arms and start a slave insurrection in the South—Lewis Leary and Dangerfield Newby are killed in the raid, while Brown, John Copeland, and Shields Green are captured, found guilty of murder and treason, and then hanged. Survivor Osborne Anderson writes A Voice from Harper's Ferry. Harriet E. Wilson publishes the first African American novel, Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black.\ \ \ 1860\ Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States; South Carolina secedes from the Union in protest, followed by several other states; the U.S. African American population stands at 4,441,830 (14.1%), 4 million remain enslaved.\ \ \ 1861\ Civil War begins on April 12 when Confederates fire on Union forces at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.\ \ \ 1862\ Congress bans slavery in Washington, D.C., and the territories; enlistment of freed blacks into the Union armies begins; black troops see the first combat of the war in Missouri and South Carolina; the United States officially recognizes Liberia; Wilberforce University in Ohio (founded in 1856) becomes the first college run by African American educators; Cuba ends the slave trade.\ \ \ 1863\ The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect on January 1, freeing all slaves in Confederate-held territories; black troops of the 54th Massachusetts regiment make a heroic charge on Fort Wagner in South Carolina; all-black 9th and 11th Louisiana regiments defeat Confederate forces at Milliken's Bend.\ \ \ 1864\ Congress repeals the Fugitive Slave Laws and grants black Union troops equal pay with whites; the National Convention of Colored Citizens meets in Syracuse, New York, and issues an appeal for voting rights; Congress authorizes public schools for African Americans in Washington, D.C.; Georgia Minstrels, the first all-black minstrel troupe, is formed.\ \ \ 1865\ Civil War ends with the defeat of the South—250,000 African Americans served in Union armies, 38,000 died; Congress ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States; Congress creates the Freedman's Bank and the Freedmen's Bureau to aid former slaves; Lincoln is assassinated; President Andrew Johnson announces plans for Reconstruction in the South; Southern legislatures enact Black Codes, laws restricting the rights of former slaves; John S. Rock of Boston is the first African American admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, although he dies in 1866, before he has a chance to argue a case.\ \ \ 1866-1904\ During the 35 years following the end of the Civil War, a number of colleges and universities for African Americans are founded in the South to educate successive generations of black leaders; among these are Howard University in Washington, D.C. (1866); Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (1867); Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia (1869); Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, and LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee (1870); Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Meharry Medical College (the first all-black medical school) in Nashville, Tennessee (1876); Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C., and Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia (1877); Selma University in Selma, Alabama (1878); Spelman College for Women in Atlanta, Georgia, Tuskegee Institute (founded by Booker T. Washington) in Tuskegee, Alabama, Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bishop College in Dallas, Texas (1881); Shorter College in Little Rock, Arkansas (1884); Kentucky State University in Frankfort and University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne (1886); North Carolina A&T in Greensboro (1891); Texas College in Tyler, Texas (1894); and Daytona Normal Industrial School (founded by Mary McLeod Bethune and later renamed Bethune-Cookman College) in Daytona, Florida (1904).\ \ \ 1866\ The Civil Rights Act decrees that all African Americans are full U.S. citizens; the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups begin a campaign of terror against emancipated blacks in the South; racial violence in Memphis, Tennessee, results in the death of 46 African Americans; African American jockey Abe Hawkins rides winners at Belmont and Saratoga.\ \ \ 1867\ Congress passes the First Reconstruction Act, which includes voting rights for all citizens, and the Peonage Abolition Act, outlawing forced labor for discharge of debt; William Wells Brown publishes Clotel.\ \ \ 1868\ The Fourteenth Amendment, granting African Americans full civil rights, wins approval in Congress; black candidates are elected to state legislatures in the South and fill other government posts, beginning a series of political advancements that continue until the end of Reconstruction in 1877; Edmonia Lewis completes her sculpture Forever Free, celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation.\ \ \ 1869\ The Fifteenth Amendment forbids denial of the vote on the basis of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"; four African American regiments are incorporated into the regular U.S. Army; Joseph Rainey of South Carolina is the first African American to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.\ \ \ 1870\ Hiram Rhoades Revels of Mississippi is the first African American to win election to the U.S. Senate; Congress passes the first of a series of measures to combat the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups; Lewis Latimer makes technical drawings of Bell's newly invented telephone.\ \ \ 1871\ Brazil begins gradual emancipation of slaves; Fisk Jubilee Singers tour the United States and Europe, popularizing black spirituals.\ \ \ 1872\ Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback is appointed interim governor of Louisiana and is the first African American to serve as a state governor; the Ku Klux Klan temporarily disbands (it will be resurrected in 1915); John Conyers is the first African American admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy; Elijah McCoy patents an automatic lubricating device for steam engines.\ \ \ 1873\ Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico.\ \ \ 1875\ The 44th U.S. Congress convenes with eight African American members, the greatest number to have served at that time; the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment and establishes the right of African Americans to serve on juries; jockey Oliver Lewis, riding Aristide, wins the first Kentucky Derby, beginning an era when black jockeys dominate the Derby and other races.\ \ \ 1876\ John Knowles Paine is the first African American to compose a symphonic work; Edward Alexander Bouchet is the first African American to obtain a doctorate (in physics).\ \ \ 1877\ The U.S. government removes all federal troops from the South as Reconstruction comes to an end; Henry Ossian Flipper is the first African American to graduate from a U.S. military academy.\ \ \ 1878\ Exodusters begin migrating from Southern states to Kansas to escape intensified oppression in the South—50,000 resettle by 1881; J. R. Winters patents a fire-escape ladder.\ \ \ 1881\ Frederick Douglass becomes a recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C.; Henry Highland Garnet becomes U.S. minister to Liberia; Tennessee enacts its first Jim Crow law, enforcing segregation in railroad cars; William Wells Brown publishes My Southern Home.\ \ \ 1882\ Lewis Latimer patents carbon filament for electric lamp.\ \ \ 1883\ George Washington Williams publishes History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880; Jan E. Matzeliger patents a shoe-lasting machine; Lewis Latimer begins working with Thomas Edison; Eatonville, Florida, is the first all-black incorporated town.\ \ \ 1884\ Granville Woods founds the Woods Electric Company, which produces 35 patented devices over the next 20 years; Moses Fleetwood Walker, a catcher with the Toledo, Ohio, team of the American Association, is the first African American to play major league baseball (black players are squeezed out of the major leagues during the 1890s); T. Thomas Fortune founds the New York Age.\ \ \ 1884-1885\ European powers delineate colonial spheres of influence in Africa and press all-out military assault on African societies.\ \ \ 1885\ Granville Woods patents a telegraphy device; the Cuban Giants, the first African American professional baseball team, is formed.\ \ \ 1886\ Slavery is abolished in Cuba.\ \ \ 1888\ Brazil abolishes slavery; transatlantic slave trade comes to an end.\ \ \ 1889\ Frederick Douglass becomes U.S. minister to Haiti; 10,000 African Americans stake claims to land in the newly opened territory of Oklahoma.\ \ \ 1891\ Provident Hospital, the first to be operated by African Americans, is founded in Chicago.\ \ \ 1892-1924\ About 170,000 West Indians migrate to the United States.\ \ \ 1892\ The first black college football game is played (Biddle vs. Livingstone); William Henry Lewis of Amherst becomes the first black all-American in football.\ \ \ 1893\ African American surgeon Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful heart operation at Chicago's Provident Hospital; Paul Laurence Dunbar publishes his first poetry collection, Oak and Ivy; Henry Ossawa Tanner begins painting scenes of black life.\ \ \ 1894\ Congress repeals the Enforcement Act, making it easier for states to disfranchise black voters; the Church of God in Christ is founded in Memphis.\ \ \ 1895\ Lynchings claim the lives of 113 African Americans in the South; Booker T. Washington delivers his Atlanta Compromise speech, accepting segregation in return for economic advancement; the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., is organized in Atlanta; Bert Williams and George Walker form their legendary show business team.\ \ \ 1896\ The National Federation of Afro-American Women is formed to help combat racism; in Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Tennessee's "separate but equal" facilities on railroad cars are constitutional, paving the way for additional Jim Crow laws throughout the South; Richard Henry Boyd founds the National Baptist Publishing Board in Nashville; Oriental America is the first African American play produced on Broadway.\ \ \ 1897\ The Lott Carey Baptist Mission begins operations in Liberia.\ \ \ 1898\ African American troops fight in the Spanish-American War; John Merrick and associates found the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, anchoring an African American business boom in Durham; A Trip to Coontown opens—the first musical comedy created and performed by African Americans.\ \ \ 1899\ Scott Joplin publishes "Maple Leaf Rag."\ \ \ 1900\ European colonization of Africa is virtually complete; the first Pan-African Congress is held in London, with its stated aim to promote the liberation of colonized people—W. E. B. Du Bois is elected vice president; Booker T. Washington publishes Up from Slavery; brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson write "Lift Every Voice and Sing"; Henry Ossawa Tanner wins the French Medal of Honor for his paintings at the Paris Exposition.\ \ \ 1901\ The Johnson brothers and Bob Cole are the first African Americans to sign a songwriting contract for the Broadway stage; Booker T. Washington organizes the National Negro Business League and dines at the White House with President Theodore Roosevelt.\ \ \ 1903\ W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk; Maggie Lena Walker founds the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank.\ \ \ 1905\ Full-scale construction begins on the Panama Canal—in the course of the project, 30,000 black workers from the West Indies contribute their labor, and 4,500 lose their lives; the Chicago Defender begins publication as a champion of African American rights; the Niagara Movement begins to shape a more radical alternative to Booker T. Washington's policies.\ \ \ 1906\ Black soldiers are accused of raiding Brownsville, Texas—167 men are court-martialed, deprived of a fair hearing, and dishonorably discharged (this ruling is reversed in 1962); race riots break out in Atlanta, Georgia; Madame C. J. Walker begins her successful business career by establishing a hair-care company in Denver; the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (1906-1909) inspires the creation of Holiness/Pentecostal/Apostolic churches.\ \ \ 1907\ Alain Locke is the first African American to earn a Rhodes Scholarship.\ \ \ 1908\ Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first African American sorority, is founded at Howard University; Jack Johnson becomes the first black heavyweight boxing champion in the United States; Vertner Tandy is the first African American architect licensed in New York State.\ \ \ 1909\ W. E. B. Du Bois and others plan the creation of a new civil rights organization that will become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Amsterdam News begins publication in New York City.\ \ \ 1910\ The NAACP is formally established and begins publishing Crisis magazine.\ \ \ 1911\ The National Urban League is founded to assist African Americans newly resettled in northern cities; John E. Bruce, Arthur Schomburg, David Fulton, and William E. Braxton found the Negro Society for Historical Research; Scott Joplin's Treemonisha is performed for the first time.\ \ \ 1912\ James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is published; W. C. Handy publishes the first blues composition ("Memphis Blues").\ \ \ 1913\ Noble Drew Ali founds the Moorish Holy Temple of Science in Newark, New Jersey.\ \ \ 1914\ The NAACP institutes the Spingarn Medal to honor outstanding achievements by African Americans; Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, Jamaica; World War I breaks out in Europe.\ \ \ 1915\ The Great Migration begins as Southern blacks move to the North—1.5 million relocate by 1930; the Ku Klux Klan is reborn in Georgia; Carter G. Woodson founds the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; Father Divine (George Baker) establishes his first church in New York City.\ \ \ 1916\ The first issue of Journal of Negro History appears, edited by Carter G. Woodson; Marcus Garvey relocates to New York with the UNIA; James Van Der Zee opens his photo studio in Harlem; the American Tennis Association is created to promote tennis among African Americans.\ \ \ 1917\ United States enters World War I—300,000 African Americans serve in the armed forces during the war; 100 blacks are killed in a race riot in East St. Louis, Missouri; 10,000 blacks protest lynching and other violence against blacks in a silent march down New York City's Fifth Avenue.\ \ \ 1919\ Race riots occur in many U.S. cities during Red Summer; Garvey establishes the Black Star (steamship) Line to link New World blacks with Africa; W. E. B. Du Bois organizes the second Pan-African Congress in Paris (see 1900); Oscar Micheaux releases his first film, The Homesteader; the Negro National Baseball League begins operation.\ \ \ 1920\ The Harlem Renaissance begins a period of unprecedented artistic creative output by African Americans; Charles Gilpin stars in The Emperor Jones; Marcus Garvey holds the first International Convention of Negro Peoples at Madison Square Garden.\ \ \ 1921\ Pace Phonograph Company is the first record company owned and operated by African Americans (Ethel Waters's "Down Home Blues/Oh Daddy," issued on the Black Swan label, is the company's first hit); Jesse Binga founds a successful bank in Chicago.\ \ \ 1922\ The Black Star Line goes bankrupt as Garvey and three associates are indicted for mail fraud—many believe that Garvey was framed by opponents who feared his influence; Congress fails to pass the Dyer antilynching bill; William Leo Hansberry of Howard University offers the first course in African history at a U.S. university; Blake and Sissle's Shuffle Along, the first musical created entirely by African Americans, opens on Broadway; major publications include Claude McKay's Harlem Shadows and James Weldon Johnson's Book of American Negro Poetry.\ \ \ 1923\ Bessie Smith's "Downhearted Blues/Gulf Coast Blues" is the first million-selling record by a black artist; the National Urban League begins publishing Opportunity magazine; Jean Toomer's novel Cane is published; Paul Robeson stars in The Emperor Jones; the Harlem Renaissance (Rens) basketball team is formed.\ \ \ 1924\ The Immigration Act limits number of blacks and other ethnic groups allowed to enter the United States; important novels include Jesse Redmon Fauset's There Is Confusion and Walter White's Fire in the Flint.\ \ \ 1925\ A. Philip Randolph founds the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; immigration from the West Indies drops to 308 (from 10,000 in 1924), primarily as a result of the 1924 Immigration Act; Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. is the first African American to enter the U.S. Foreign Service; Countee Cullen publishes first volume of poetry, Color; the first Opportunity Awards banquet is held, honoring outstanding writers; singer Josephine Baker achieves stardom in Paris.\ \ \ 1926\ Negro History Week, which later becomes Black History Month (February) (see Chapter 5), is celebrated for the first time; the personal collection of distinguished black scholar Arthur A. Schomburg is added to the New York Public Library Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints at the 135th Street Branch—it would be renamed in his honor in 1940 and designated the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1972; with Harlem Renaissance at its height, notable publications include Alain Locke's anthology The New Negro; Langston Hughes's first collection of poetry, The Weary Blues; and Eric Walrond's Tropic Death; Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace Thurman establish the literary magazine Fire!; Paul Revere Williams is the first African American fellow of the American Institute of Architects.\ \ \ 1927\ Major poetry collections include Hughes's Fine Clothes to the Jew, Cullen's Copper Sun, and James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones; the Harmon Foundation begins efforts to promote African American artists; the Harlem Globetrotters team is founded.\ \ \ 1928\ Oscar DePriest is the first African American elected to Congress since Reconstruction; major novels include Nella Larsen's Quicksand and Claude McKay's Home to Harlem; Bill "Bojangles" Robinson stars on Broadway.\ \ \ 1929\ A. Philip Randolph's Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters receives a charter from the American Federation of Labor; publications include Nella Larsen's Passing, Claude McKay's Banjo, and Countee Cullen's Black Christ; Augusta Savage creates award-winning sculpture Gamin; circulation of Chicago Defender reaches 250,000.\ \ \ 1930\ The world enters the Great Depression, the effects of which are felt acutely by African Americans; James Weldon Johnson publishes Black Manhattan; Josh Gibson begins his legendary baseball career in the Negro Leagues.\ \ \ 1931\ Nine young African Americans, soon to be known as the Scottsboro Boys, are falsely accused and convicted of rape in a controversial Alabama trial; Katherine Dunham founds her Negro Dance group in Chicago; Oscar Michaux's film The Exile is the first talkie released by a black-owned company; Duke Ellington records "Creole Rhapsody."\ \ \ 1932\ The New York Rens defeat the Boston Celtics, becoming the first black sports team to win a world championship; publications include Rudolph Fisher's Conjure Man Dies, considered the first African American detective novel.\ \ \ 1933\ Franklin D. Roosevelt takes office as president of the United States and institutes social programs of the New Deal; Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, and other black artists participate in federal arts projects; prominent African American officials form Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet," advising the president on social issues; NAACP begins to attack segregation through a series of lawsuits.\ \ \ 1934\ Arthur Mitchell of Illinois is the first African American Democrat elected to the U.S. Congress; major publications include Hurston's Jonah's Gourd Vine and Hughes's Ways of White Folks; Aaron Douglas completes his mural series Aspects of Negro Life; Augusta Savage is the first black member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.\ \ \ 1935\ A Harlem riot marks the symbolic end of the Harlem Renaissance; Italy invades Ethiopia, spurring protests by African Americans; numerous African Americans take part in the Federal Theater Project; Mary McLeod Bethune is named to head a division of the National Youth Administration, becoming the first African American woman to head a U.S. government office; chemist Percy Julian synthe-\ \ \ (Continues...)

The Saga of African American History.Slavery and Freedom.Politics and Civil Rights.The Diaspora.Family and Heritage.Religion.Education.Health.Business and Entrepreneurship.Science and Technology.The Military.The Law.Literature and Language.Music.Performing Arts.Fine and Applied Arts.The Media.Sports.Resources.Illustration Credits.Index.

\ From Barnes & NobleThe Schomburg Center Presents \ The Schomburg, as it is commonly known, houses more than five million items relating to the history and culture of the African in America and throughout the Diaspora. It seems prudent and logical that so renowned an institution would offer a ready reference to the treasures found within its walls. Promoted as "the Ultimate Source for Essential Information about History, Culture, and Contemporary Life", The African American Desk Reference joins the five-volume Encyclopedia of the African American Culture (Macmillan) and the three-volume African American Almanac (Gale Research) as a concise and thorough one-volume compass to Africana culture.\ The Desk Reference, divided into 18 category headings (chapters), offers a full scope of cultural history, expression, and experience: insights on Slavery and Freedom; Family Heritage; Science and Technology; Health; Religion; Literature and Language, and more. Family and Heritage, as example, offers an entertaining array of things we want to know, those nuggets of information that either support you efficiently in your research, or make you the Trivial Pursuit partner everybody wants.\ Did you know that the black divorce rate has increased from 8.4 percent to 11.5 percent since 1980? Can you still sing "Miss Mary Mack"? Would you like a sweet potato pie?\ As credit to the Schomburg, the Public Library, and the editors, the Desk Reference maintains an uncompromisingly positive tone. "In Toronto, West Indian newcomers (along with immigrants from Asia and Latin America) have helped to transform a staid, predominantly Anglo-Saxon city into a vibrant cosmopolitan center."\ Under "What Africa Lost," the rape of Africa is identified as the European foothold to the domination of Africa. "Because most of the captives were males ages 14 to 30, who would have normally have been starting families...in some areas, sex ratio fell to a level of 60 men to each 100 women...Africa's relative weakness led to the onset of European colonialism." Used most recently by Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, depopulation has long been a tactic perquisite to occupation. Was slavery simply a profitable byproduct of a more heinous ulterior plan for Africa?\ For those wanting to pursue study further, a valuable listing of sources for additional information anchors each chapter. The Schomburg continues to meet its mission.\ —Max Rodriguez\ \ \ \ \ \ Cornel WestIndispensable...We have no better source for quick and reliable information.\ — American Legacy\ \ \ Library JournalThese two volumes, both sponsored by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, concentrate on the black experience in America. In Black New Yorkers, Dodson, director of the Schomburg, and his coauthors trace the history of blacks in New York from 1613 to 1998, detailing the various voices, religions, and cultures that existed, then and now. The Desk Reference offers valuable information on topics such as civil rights, business, religion, and health, presenting it with charts, tables, time lines, and numerous other visual aids. (LJ 9/15/99) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.\ \