1492 African servants, slaves, and explorers come to the Western Hemispherer with the first Spanish and French Explorers.
1517 Atlantic Slave trade begins in the Americas.
1623 Willam Tucker, of Jamestown, VA, is the first black child born in English Colonies.
1649 By this year, 300 African slaves are in Virginia.
1675 There are now 100,000 African slaves in the West Indies, 5,000 in the North American colonies.
1688 Germantown, PA. Quakers have first official protest against slavery in North America.
1695 First know school for blacks in U.S.,Goose Creek Parish, Charleston, SC.
1698 Slave trade opens to any ship flying the British flag. A Massachusetts act provides that all slaves be considered "real estate".
Harley, Sharon. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
1709 Slave market is erected at the foot of Wall Street, NYC
1831 On Aug 22, Nat Turner and five other slaves begin an uprising in Virginia
1851 Sojourner Truth delivers speech "Aint I A Woman" at the Women's Rights Conference in Akron OH
1861 Robert Smalls sails armed Confederate steamer, the Planter, out of Charleston, SC, and presents it to the Union Navy
1863 Sgt William H. Carney wins the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery
1868 Alexander T. Augusta (d 1890), the former head of what comes to be known as Freedman's Hospital, becomes the first black faculty member at a US medical school, Howard University Medical College
Harley, Sharon. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.