Jan. 22, 2021, Lloyd Austin confirmed as Defense Secretary, becomes first Black Pentagon chief
Jan. 20, 2021, Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first Black female vice president
2020, Protests begin across the country following the death of George Floyd while in police custody
2013, Black Lives Matter Movement begins
2008, Barack Obama inaugurated as first African American President
2001, Colin Powell named Secretary of State
1995, Million Man March
1992, Los Angeles riots prompted by beating of Rodney King at the hands of Los Angeles police officers
1988, Jesse Jackson runs for the Democratic presidential nomination again
1986, Oprahís first talk show is aired
1984, Jesse Jackson runs for the Democratic presidential nomination
1972, Shirley Chisholm runs for president
April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn.
April 1968, Fair Housing Act
August 1965, Voting Rights Act of 1965
1965, Selma to Montgomery March
June 1964, Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress
August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. leads historic march on Washington and delivers ìI Have a Dreamî speech
1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, forcibly integrated
1955, Montgomery Bus Boycott follows Rosa Parksí refusal to surrender her seat
1954, Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declares segregation in public schools unlawful
1925-1965, Malcolm X, a leader for civil rights, inspired the Black Power movement. He was murdered while giving a speech Feb. 21, 1965
1909, NAACP founded
1896, Separate but equal segregation or ìJim Crowî laws upheld by Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson
1870, 15th Amendment guarantees a citizenís right to vote regardless race, color, or previous enslavement
1868, 14th Amendment grants equal Constitutional protection to former slaves
1865, 13th Amendment officially abolishes slavery
Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation
1861, Civil War began
Oct. 16, 1859, John Brownís Raid saw roughly 50 men take and hold a federal arsenal in Virginia, with a goal of acquiring enough ammunition to take on slaveholders in the region
March 6 1857, Scott v. Sanford, Supreme Court case in which Dred Scott sued for (but did not win) his freedom
1830-1870, Abolitionist Movement works to end slavery in the United States
1818-1895, Frederick Douglass, escaped slavery to become an activist, author and public speaker.
1793, Cotton became a cash crop in the South, fueling a rise in slave labor
1780s-1830s, Underground Railroad works to aid slaves in escaping to freedom
1619, The year the first enslaved Africans were brought by boat to Virginia
