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389 years ago, the first slave ship lands in the American colonies.
354 years ago, John Castor becomes the first legally recognized slave, ruled "property for life" by Virginia courts.
320 years ago, Mennonite Quakers sign an anti-slavery resolution.
303 years ago, the slave codes are enacted to regulate the growing slave population. "If any slave resists his master ... correcting such a slave and shall happen to be killed in such correction ... the master shall be free of all punishment ... as if such accident never happened."
296 years ago, a major slave revolt kills 25 whites.
256 years ago, George Washington buys the Mount Vernon estate with 18 slaves. By the time of his death, in 1799, more than 300 slaves resided at Mount Vernon.
233 years ago, Rhode Island becomes the first colony to ban the import of slaves.
218 yeaars ago, the first census is taken. There are 757,000 blacks in the United States. 9% are free.
200 years ago, the importation of slaves is outlawed. Over the next 50 years, 250,000 slaves are illegally imported.
178 years ago, there were more than 2 million black slaves in the United States.
177 years ago, Nat Turner leads a revolt killing 60 whites. A year later, slavery is abolished in Canada.
149 years ago, the last slave ship arrives.
143 years ago, after the Civil War, slavery is abolished in the United States.
138 years ago, black Americans are given the right to vote.
133 years ago, the Civil Rights Act is passed guaranteeing equal rights to black Americans in public accomodations.
127 years ago, public transportation is segregated.
125 years ago, the Civil Rights Act is overturned by the Supreme Court.
112 years ago, Plessy v. Ferguson establishes the doctrine of "seperate but equal."
107 years ago, the last African American Congressman of the Reconstruction Era gives up his seat. No African American would serve in Congress for the next 28 years.
99 years ago, the NAACP is formed.
95 years ago, the federal government is segregated.
87 years ago, race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma leave over 300 African Americans dead.
79 years ago, the first African American is elected to Congress since the Reconstruction.
66 years ago, the first African American is accepted into the Marine Corps.
61 years ago, the first African American is accepted into Major League Baseball.
55 years ago, Hulan Jack becomes the first African American borough president of Manhattan.
54 years ago, the Supreme Court declares public school segregation unconstitutional. That same year, Emmet Till is lynched in Mississippi; he was 14. That same year Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
51 years ago, the Civil Rights Act is passed further protecting the right of African Americans to vote.
45 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had a dream.
43 years ago, Malcolm X is assassinated. The Voting Rights Act is signed into law. The Watts uprising occurs.
42 years ago, Robert Weaver becomes the first African American to hold a cabinet post. The Black Panther Party is formed. Edward Brooke becomes the first African American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate.
41 years ago, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court. Race riots in Detroit; 43 killed, 7,000 arrested.
40 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated. 35,000 are injured in the wake of the uprisings.
38 years ago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit elect their first African American mayor.
33 years ago, WGPR becomes the first black-owned television station.
29 years ago, Frank E. Petersen, Jr becomes the first African American general in the Marine Corps.
26 years ago, Bryant Gumbel becomes the first African American news anchor on a major network.
19 years ago, Ronald H. Brown is elected chair of the Democratic National Committee.
15 years ago, Toni Morrison becomes the first black American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
10 years ago, James Byrd, Jr is lynched by white supremacists in Jasper, Texas.
7 years ago, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice become the first African Americans to hold the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor.
4 years ago, Barack Obama becomes the fifth black Senator in U.S. history.
5 months ago, Barack Obama becomes the first black Democratic Nominee.
and on November 4th, the people of the United States elected their first African American President and his name is Barack Obama. Now that's progress.
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