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1619
The first 20 Africans are brought to work as \"servants\" in Jamestown, Virginia. During the next hundred years thousands more are brought as slaves to work on the tobacco and cotton fields in the South.
1808
Congress passes a law making it illegal to import slaves, but it is generally ignored.
1820
Slavery is declared legal in the South, but illegal in all states north of Missouri.
1861
Abraham Lincoln becomes President of the United States. the number of slaves in
the USA has reached 4 million. Eleven southern \"slave\" states leave the Union,
afraid that Abraham Lincoln will abolish slavery, which is the basis of their
economy. The Civil War breaks out.
1865
The North defeats the South. Slaves are freed throughout the nation.
1868
Blacks offically become American citizens. But it is made difficult if not impossible
for blacks to vote in the South.
1896
The Supreme Court says any state can have facilities for blacks and whites, as long as
they are \"separate, but equal\". In some southern states there are separate schools
for blacks and whites, separate theathres, restaurants, hotels, taxis, and seats on buses.
From 1919 on
Thousands of blacks move to the cities in the North, looking for work.
1954
The Supreme Court changes its 1896 decision and orders every state to desegregate its schools. Some areas in the South don´t accept this.
1963
Dr Martin Luther King leads 250,000 people to Washington, D.C. in the largest protest march in US history so far. His speech marks a climax of the Civil Rights movement. Civil Roghts leaders meet President Kennedy in the white house.
1964
Congree passes a Civil Rights law, which makes discrimmination illegal in hotels, restaurants and important fields of employment.
1965
Congess ends voting discrimmination, so that all blacks are finally able to vote.
1968
Martin Luther King in assassinated. Riots break out in major American cities.
1973
For the first time, a black becomes mayor of a large city. Thomas Bradley is elected mayor of Los Angeles.
1987
Yvonne Miller becomes Virginia´s first black female senator.
1988
Jesse Jackson is the first black with a serious chance of being chosen as a candidate for President.
1990
Douglas Wilder, grandson of slaves , becomes Governor of Virginia. he is the first black governor in US history.
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