Historical Timeline for Facing History Study Tour ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Slavery in the Colonies and (1619 - 1865): ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ On the land that would become the United States of America, the legal institution of slavery can be traced to when the first enslaved Africans were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, , in 1619. Slavery in the United States became a brutal legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African-Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1819: Alabama granted statehood and by 1820 the population of enslaved people is 47,449, 37% of the total population. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1860: Alabama’s enslaved population is 435,080 people or 45% of the total population. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1860: 80% of U.S. GDP was tied to slavery. The dollar value of the enslaved was worth more than all other commodities combined. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

January 11, 1861: The Alabama Secession Convention passes an , declaring Alabama a "Sovereign and Independent ​ State” declaring “it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the Slaveholding States of the South, who may approve such purpose, in order to frame a provisional as well as permanent government upon the principles of the Constitution of the U.S.” ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

January 1865: The Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery except as punishment for a crime, is ratified by three fourths of the states, ​ on December 6, 1865. Over 4 million formerly enslaved people live in the South. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

The (1865-1877) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ May 1865: “Presidential Reconstruction” - President 's Presidential Reconstruction plan offers amnesty and restoration of ​ property to most former Confederates. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Fall 1865: Former Confederates are elected to political positions in Southern states and hesitate to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, ​ refuse to give the right to vote, and enact “Black Codes” to establish strict control over freedpeople. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Fall 1866: Republicans win majorities in congressional elections that focus on the 14th Amendment and civil rights. Republicans win ​ greater than two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress assuring enough votes to override any veto by President Johnson. Moderate Republicans are increasingly drawn to the proposals of a minority of the party known as the “.” ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

March 1867: “Radical or Congressional Reconstruction” - A new session of Congress enacts the requiring states to ​ ​ adopt new constitutions, allow blacks to vote and hold office, and ratify the 14th Amendment before they will be readmitted to the Union.

November 1867: Alabama drafts a constitution that includes public schools for black and white children. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1867: Lincoln Normal School founded by freed slaves as a school for African-American children. ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1868: The Republican Party increases their majority in the U.S. Senate, holding an unprecedented number of seats. Across the South, ​ ​ Radical Republicans including African-American men are elected to state and county governments. Republican governments begin to transform parts of the South, including with the establishment of the first public school systems. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

July 13th, 1868: Alabama is readmitted to the Union. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1869: In response to black people’s successes and progress to interracial democracy, a first wave of violent racist backlash against Radical ​ Reconstruction policies intensifies across the South, committed by various armed white supremacists groups including the . ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

February 28, 1870: Hiram Revels of becomes the first African American to serve in the Senate. Between 1865 and 1877, many ​ African Americans served in state and local politics. Fourteen black men served in the House of Representatives between 1869 and 1877, six served as lieutenant governors, and more than 600 served in southern state legislatures. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1873: A campaign of violence and intimidation led by Democratic party paramilitary groups, such as the , known as ​ “Redemption”. Freedpeople and Republicans targeted by white supremacists with the goal resuming control of former Confederate states.

1874: National public opinion continues to shift against “Radical Reconstruction”. Alabama and hold elections amidst violence ​ and intimidation against freedpeople and Republican leaders. Republican state governments are defeated and Democrats resume control claiming to “redeem” the South. Democrats regain the Alabama governor's office, with the election of George S. Houston. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1877: The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church congregation was organized, first known as the Second Colored Baptist Church. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

March 4, 1877: Rutherford Hayes elected President - After a disputed election, Hayes is declared the the winner with a compromise to ​ abandon Reconstruction policies and remove the few remaining federal troops from the South. Reconstruction policies officially end, with the South enforcing and ingraining segregation. Black civil rights will not hold the nation’s attention again until after World War II. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Jim Crow ​ ​ 1870 to 1960: "Jim Crow" - the system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the U.S. which often meant the ​ total exclusion of black people from public facilities, institutions, and opportunities. Any perceived violations of the racial order were met with brutal violence targeted at black Americans. Southern lynching took on a racialized character, and an era of racial terror was born. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1877 to 1950: The “Lynching Era” - at least 4075 lynchings of black people occurred in the former Confederate states and . ​ Lynchings were violent and public acts of torture that traumatized black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

1880 to 1942: “Slavery By Another Name” - The system of convict leasing was fully implemented in much of the South. This system ​ allowed private contractors to purchase the services of convicts, primarily blacks incarcerated on trumped up charges, and was enforced with unimaginable brutality. ​ ​ ​ ​

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Montgomery Bus Boycott ​ ​ ​ ​ December 1955 to December 1956: Montgomery Bus Boycott - campaign against the policy of racial segregation on public transit system ​ of Montgomery from December 5, 1955, the Monday after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, to December 20, 1956, when laws requiring segregated buses were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a leader of the Boycott. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

January 1956 and February 1957: Following the successful bus boycott and and then again in February 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King's ​ home, the parsonage at the Dexter Avenue Church, was bombed by local segregationists. ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Freedom Rides ​ ​ May to November 1961: Freedom Riders - activists rode interstate buses into the segregated south to challenge the non-enforcement of ​ the Supreme Court decisions which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional and which were ignored by Southern states. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

May 1961: Freedom Riders brutally attacked by violent, well-armed, and organized mobs of Klansmen and other terrorists in Anniston and ​ Birmingham, Ala. ​ ​

Selma to Montgomery Marches ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ September 1963: In response to the murder of four young girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Diane Nash Bevel, proposes a ​ massive campaign of nonviolent disobedience to force Governor Wallace from office and win voting rights for all Alabama adults. Over the next year, the plan evolves into the Alabama Project and then inspiration for the Selma Voting Rights Campaign of 1965. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

February 18, 1965: while participating in a peaceful night march that started at the Zion United Methodist Church, Jimmie Lee Jackson ​ dies after being beaten and shot by Alabama State troopers. His death became part of the inspiration for the following Selma to Montgomery marches. ​ ​

March 7, 1965: The first march, organized locally, was attacked by State troopers and county posse men after they passed over the ​ Edmund Pettis Bridge, and in an event that became known as Bloody Sunday. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

March 9, 1965: The second march - troopers, police, and marchers confronted each other at the end of the bridge. Dr. King leads the ​ marchers back to the church obeying a federal injunction while seeking protection from federal court for the march. That night, a white group beat and murdered civil rights activist James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

March 15, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson, whose administration had been working on a voting rights law, holds a historic, nationally ​ televised joint session of Congress to ask for the bill's introduction and passage. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

March 21, 1965: The third march - Governor Wallace refuses to protect the marchers and President Johnson calls up 1,900 members of ​ the Alabama National Guard under federal command, along with FBI agents and Federal Marshals. Civil rights supporters camp each night at various locations along the route, and on the grounds of the City of St. Jude, on the last night before reaching Montgomery. The ​ marchers arrived at the Alabama State Capitol on March 25. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

August 6, 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 - prohibits racial discrimination in voting, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​