Most of American history has the beginning of slavery when a Dutch ship brings 20 Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, to the English colony in Jamestown, VA.

Maryland passed a law that banned interracial marriage. This meant that people from different races were not allowed to marry each other. It was a discriminatory law that treated people unfairly based on their race.

One of the earliest slave revolts takes happened in Stono, South Carolina, not far from Charleston.

Crispus Attacks, 1st American and African Amrican killed in Revolutionary War.

Although Paine was not the first to advocate the aboliton of slavery in Amerca, he was certainly one of the earliest and most influential.

Blacks fought for both the British and the American side during the Revolutionary War, depending on who was offering freedom for doing so.

African American soldier Prince Whipple, a black man, crossed the Delaware with General Washington on December 25, 1779, on the eve of the Revolutionary War`s famous Battle of Trenton

In 1780, Massachusetts granted African Americans the right to vote. This was a significant step towards equality. Captain Paul Cuffe and six other African-American residents of Massachusetts petitioned the state legislature for this right. It was a milestone in the journey towards equal rights for all.

In addition to laying out the procedure for future states to be created in western territories, the Northwest Ordinace forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory, where the future state of Michigan would be created.

The U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1789, but unfortunately, it counted slaves as only three-fifths of a person for representation purposes. This meant that slaves were not given the same rights and recognition as free individuals.

Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act, which makes it a crime to harbor an escaped slave.

On August 30, 1800, a tremendous storm dropped heavy rain on central Virginia, swelling creeks and turning Richmond`s dirt streets into quagmires.

More than a century before the civil rights marches we know today, a slave revolt took place in Louisiana in 1811. Enslaved people bravely stood up against their oppressors, demanding their rights and freedom.

In 1845 publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, one of the enduring classics of American literature.

This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation.

In response to the closure of their church in Charleston, Denmark Vesey and others planned a rebellion in 1822. They aimed to fight against slavery and gain their freedom, but unfortunately, their plans were discovered before they could be put into action.

Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm publish Freedom`s Journal, the first African American newspaper in America.

In late summer 1831 a free man of color named Billy Artis, a celebrated slave known as Gen.

Slaves being transported aboard the Spanish ship Amistad take it over and sail it to Long Island.

In 1846 a slave named Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, sued for their freedom in a St Louis city court.

The Compromise of 1850 was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to slavery.

Electrifies Women`s Rights Conference, 1851.

Angered by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the first of 41 installments of Uncle Tom`s Cabin.

August 22, 1859, Captain Foster guided the slaver Clotilde into Mobile, Alabama, under a veil of secrecy.

First African-American Soldier Wounded in Civil War.

Union Gen John C Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free, countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln.

Commandeers Confederate Ship, and Delivers It to the Union, May 13, 1862.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emanicipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War.

Near the end of the Civil War, this bill created a framework for Reconstruction and the readmittance of the Confederate states to the Union.

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States.