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View the Full Chronology (PDF, 548KB) CHRONOLOGY POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS 0 Portuguese bring 0 5 African captives to 1 . Europe as slaves c 8 First African captives 1 5 shipped directly from 1 . c Africa to America Start of large-scale s slavetrading by 0 4 British slavers and 6 1 sugar cultivation in British Caribbean 0 4 7 1 Jamaica’s First – 5 Maroon War 6 6 1 5 Olaudah Equiano 4 7 born in what is now 1 . c Nigeria (West Africa) Ottobah Cugoano 7 5 born near Ajumako, 7 1 modern Ghana 3 8 – American War of 5 7 Independence 7 1 Ottobah Cugoano Freed black settlers publishes Thoughts 7 from England, Nova 8 and Sentiments on 7 1 Scotia and Jamaica the Evil of Slavery and arrive in Sierra Leone Commerce of the Human Species 9 9 – 9 French Revolution 8 7 1 4 0 8 1 – Haitian Revolution 1 9 7 1 Olaudah Equiano publishes The 9 Interesting Narrative of 8 7 the Life of Olaudah 1 Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS 1 January, 4 Haiti declared a 0 8 free republic 1 5 2 Wars for – 6 independence 0 8 in South America 1 25 March, Act for the Abolition of the Slave 7 0 Trade declares the 8 1 slave trade illegal in the British Empire Sierra Leone becomes a British colony, in which 8 0 Christian missionaries 8 1 settle and educate slaves rescued from slave ships 1 Chile gains 1 8 1 independence 8 1 8 1 14 February, r o Frederick Douglass 7 born (as slave) 1 8 1 9 About 8000 9 – Afro-Brazilian former 0 2 slaves return to West 8 1 Africa to settle Liberia founded as a 2 colony by the African 2 – Colonization Society 1 2 as a settlement for 8 1 freed American slaves 2 Brazil, Bolivia and 2 8 Ecuador gain 1 independence Slavery Abolition Act 3 abolishes slavery 3 8 throughout most of 1 the British Empire Major uprising of 5 3 Muslim slaves in 8 1 Bahia, Brazil Frederick Douglass 8 successfully escapes 3 8 1 from his owner Mr Freeman POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS s Rise of Yoruba orisha 0 4 worship in Trinidad 8 1 and Guyana Frederick Douglass publishes his 5 autobiography, 4 8 1 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Abolition of slavery 8 4 in France and all its 8 1 colonies Martiano Eliseu do 9 5 Bonfim born in Bahia, 8 1 Brazil 1 British annexation 6 8 of Lagos 1 5 6 – 1 American Civil War 6 8 1 Emancipation 3 6 Proclamation issued 8 1 by Abraham Lincoln 13th Amendment to 5 the US Constitution 6 8 prohibits slavery 1 throughout the USA William Edward 8 6 Burghardt Du Bois 8 1 born 4 1 9 ‘Scramble for Africa’ 1 – (European colonial 0 8 conquest) 8 1 Martiniano Eliseu do Bonfim travels to 5 Lagos, Nigeria for 7 8 education,and is 1 initiated as a babalawo (Ifa diviner) 7 Wallace D. Fard 7 8 Muhammad born 1 W.E.B. Du Bois 5 attends Fisk 8 8 University, Nashville, 1 Tennessee POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS Fisk University s 0 Jubilee Singers tour 7 8 the UK and offer 1 black music as popular culture 5 Berlin Conference 8 – establishes rules 4 8 for European 8 1 colonisation of Africa 17 August, Marcus Edward Wilmot 7 Garvey born in Blyden publishes 8 8 St Anne’s Bay, 1 Christianity, Islam Jamaica and the Negro Race Martiniano Eliseu do Bonfim returns to 8 Brazil and promotes 8 8 1 Yoruba culture there. Abolition of slavery in Brazil 1 Frederick Douglass 9 – minister-resident and 9 8 consul-general to the 8 1 Republic of Haiti Oswald de Andrade 0 born. One in seven 9 8 Lagosians has lived in 1 Cuba or Brazil 20 February, 5 9 Frederick Douglass 8 1 dies British ‘punitive Elijah Muhammad expedition’ against born. W.E.B. Du Bois 7 9 Benin, during which helps found the 8 1 artworks (the Benin American Negro bronzes) are stolen Academy 9 26 May, 9 8 Aaron Douglas, born 1 Henry Sylvester Williams organises 0 first Pan-African 0 9 Conference in London. 1 Ronald Moody born in Jamaica 2 Norman Lewis born. 0 9 Wifredo Lam born 1 3 W.E.B. Du Bois 0 9 publishes The Souls 1 of Black Folk. 6 0 9 Josephine Baker born 1 POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS Picasso paints 7 0 Les Demoiselles 9 1 d’Avignon Marcus Garvey travels 2 1 in South and Central – 0 America, and 1 9 London; returns to 1 Jamaica 1 1 Romare Bearden 9 1 born African National 2 1 Congress founded 9 1 in South Africa Marcus Garvey 4 founds Universal 1 9 Negro Improvement 1 Association (UNIA) 8 1 – 4 World War I 1 9 1 4 3 – United States’ 5 1 occupation of Haiti 9 1 Marcus Garvey moves 6 1 to Harlem, New York 9 1 City 7 1 Jacob Lawrence born 9 1 5 3 – Harlem Renaissance 9 1 9 1 W.E.B. Du Bois organises the First Pan-African Congress in Paris with delegates from America, the 9 Caribbean, Europe 1 9 1 and Africa. Marcus Garvey founds the Black Star Line to aid transportation and the return from America to African homeland POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS W.E.B. Du Bois August, First publishes a collection International of essays and fiction, Convention of the 0 Darkwater: Voices from 2 Negro Peoples of the 9 within the Veil, and a 1 World, organised by monthly magazine for UNIA and Marcus black children, Garvey, Harlem The Brownies’ Book Exhibition by Negro Second Pan-African 1 artists, 135th Street 2 Congress in London, 9 Branch of the New 1 Brussels and Paris York Public Library Marcus Garvey Exhibition of visual arrestedfor fraud in arts and literature by connection with the 2 Negroes, Boston Public 2 failed Black Star Line; 9 Library. August Savage 1 is sent to prison and makes a bust of later deported to Marcus Garvey Jamaica 3 Third Pan-African 2 9 Congress, Lisbon 1 James Van Der Zee starts photographic 4 2 series of Marcus 9 1 Garvey and UNIA activities Special issue of US publication Survey Graphic entitled Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro. Alain Malcolm X born. Locke publishes Frantz Fanon born. The New Negro: 5 Josephine Baker first An Interpretation, 2 9 arrives in Paris and collection of essays, 1 opens at the Théatre short stories, and des Champs-Élysées photographs, including an essay by W.E.B. Du Bois; partly illustrated and designed by Aaron Douglas Aaron Douglas, Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, John P. Davis, Richard Bruce Nugent, 6 W.E.B. Du Bois travels Gwendolyn Bennett 2 9 to the Soviet Union and Langston Hughes 1 produce FIRE!! A Quarterly Journal Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists; Douglas designs cover POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS Paul Colin creates Le Tumulte Noir, portfolio about Josephine Baker and jazz movement in Paris. Jacob Epstein arrives in New York for 7 2 three months; meets 9 1 Carl Van Vechten, Albert Barnes, Frank Crowninshield and Paul Robeson (who sits for portrait bust). Josephine Baker’s performance at Folies Bergère is filmed ‘Manifesto Antropófago’ (Cannibal Manifesto), by Oswald de 8 2 Andrade, published 9 1 in the first issue of the Revista de Antropofagia (São Paulo) Wall Street Crash in 9 Martin Luther King, Jr, 2 New York, start of 9 born 1 Great Depression Coup d’état in Brazil. Nation of Islam founded Aaron Douglas starts Beginning of the so- 0 by Wallace D. Fard working on murals at 3 called Second 9 Muhammad, Detroit, Fisk University as an 1 Republic; Getúlio Michigan artist-in-residence Vargas in power Jacob Lawrence moves to Harlem, New York. September, Exposition Coloniale Aaron Douglas sails Internationale, Paris. 1 The Commonwealth to Paris; studies at Museum of African 3 9 founded L’Académie Scandinave. and Oceanic Arts 1 May (to February opens at the same 1933), Dakar-Djibouti time expedition, led by Marcel Griaule Dakar-Djibouti 3 11 May, 3 Minister Louis exhibition, Trocadéro, 9 1 Farrakhan born Paris Zou Zou, starring Josephine Baker (directed by Marc 4 Wallace D. Fard Allegret), released in 3 9 Muhammad dies France. Publication of 1 Negro: An Anthology, collected and edited by Nancy Cunard 4 4 – Italian occupation of 5 3 Ethiopia 9 1 POLITICAL KEY POLITICAL ATLANTIC ART AND ART BACKGROUND EVENTS AND PEOPLE THOUGHT LITERARY EVENTS MOVEMENTS African Negro Art Riot in Harlem exhibition, Museum following protest of Modern Art, against employer New York (477 works 5 3 discrimination by photographed by 9 1 white-owned stores. Walker Evans, Marcus Garvey moves commissioned by to London James Johnson Sweeney) W.E.B. Du Bois travels through Poland, Ronald Moody exhibits 6 3 the Soviet Union, at the Walker Art 9 1 Manchuria, China Gallery, Liverpool and Japan Josephine Baker Négritude movement Cedric Dover publishes returns to Paris and founded by Senegalese Half-Caste, ‘a study becomes French President Léopold tracing the cultural 7 3 citizen.
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