Jim Crow Stories - Events - The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (PBS)
Essays on many events from the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) through Brown vs. Board of Education decision (1954)
Cotton & Farming -
Dred Scott Decision (1857) - Dred Scott was an African-American slave. He was taken by his master from the slave state of Missouri to the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin, then back to the slave state of Missouri. Scott sued for his freedom and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Emancipation Proclamation (1863) - 1863 presidential decree from Lincoln. It did not actually "free all slaves" - it declared free slaves living in states NOT under Union control. It did allow black soldiers to fight for the Union and tied the issue of slavery directly to the war.
Reconstruction (1865-1877) The period right after the Civil War when the federal government set conditions that would allow the Southern states back into the Union.
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1868) - The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to former slaves.
Sharecropping - After the Civil War, without land of their own, many blacks were drawn into schemes where they worked a portion of the land owned by whites for a share of the profit from the crops.
The Great Depression - 1930s -
Montgomery Bus Boycott - A political and social protest campaign from 1955-1956 in Montgomery, Alabama to oppose racial segregation on its public transit system. One of the pivotal events in the Civil Rights movement.
Children's Crusade (or Children's March) - Students in Birmingham, Alabama marched in May, 1963 in support of desegregation.
March on Washington - On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 demonstrators took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. During this event, Martin Luther King delivered his memorable "I Have a Dream" speech.
Freedom Rides - During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals.
Birmingham Church Bombing - On September 15,1963 a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a church that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four young girls were killed others injured.