The following are short descriptions of major events which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
The lawsuit filed by Robin and Polly Holmes against Nathaniel Ford in 1852 is often cited as the legal event that ended slavery in Oregon. This is not accurate. Legally, Oregon was anti-slavery throughout the antebellum period. The provisional government prohibited slavery in 1843; the … Read MoreHolmes v. Ford (1853)
The 1830s saw an unprecedented wave of mob violence in the Northern states. The Pennsylvania Hall fire is one such case of violence spurred by racial/gender tensions. The hall had several rooms and a large auditorium that seated three hundred people. A Board of Managers … Read MorePennsylvania Hall Fire (1838)
After a faction of the Creek tribe had negotiated and signed a treaty with the Confederacy in July 1861, a group of Upper Creek chiefs led by Opothleyohola repudiated the treaty and declared their neutrality. Opothleyohola’s followers and their families gathered together on Opothleyohola’s plantation/ranch … Read MoreOpothleyohola’s Exodus to Kansas (Nov. 1861-Jan. 1862)
On Thursday March 31 and Friday April 1, 1966, thousands of Seattle Public School students boycotted schools in the Central District, Seattle Washington’s African American community, to protest the de facto segregation that they believed was racially discriminatory. The students and their leaders felt that … Read MoreSeattle School Boycott (1966)
On August 14, 1944, African American soldiers “rioted” against Italian prisoners of war (POW) at Seattle’s Fort Lawton, an Army staging area for combat in the Pacific. American officers and POW’s under their guard were severely beaten. The next morning, one of the POW’s, Guglielmo … Read MoreFort Lawton (Seattle) “Riot” and POW Lynching, 1944
On August 4, 1865, the Loyal Creek Council formally declared that African Creeks would be considered full citizens of the Creek Nation. African Creeks soon designated August 4th “Emancipation Day” and organized celebrations, including picnics, parades and speakers beginning as early as 1867, which continued … Read MoreEmancipation Day (August 4th)
It is ironic that the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France was instigated by one of the few successful slave rebellions. Toussaint L’Overture on St. Dominique (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) so bedeviled the French that Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the … Read MoreLouisiana Purchase and African Americans (1803)
Wysinger v. Crookshank is the first case that rendered school segregation of African Americans in California contrary to the law. On October 1, 1888, 58-year-old Edmond Wysinger, a former slave who bought his freedom working in the California mines, moved to Visalia, California. When he … Read MoreWysinger v. Crookshank, 1888
Image Ownership: Public Domain By the time the U.S. entered World War I, black soldiers and white Texas civilians had a history of hostile relations dating back more than fifty years. At Camp Logan, men with the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth U.S. Infantry … Read MoreHouston Mutiny of 1917
In early 1915, a Spanish document appeared in the south Texas town of San Diego calling for Chicanos in the U.S. Southwest to start a race war at 2 a.m. on February 20. The document called for the recapture of all lands stolen from Mexico … Read MorePlan of San Diego, 1915
