The Timeline

The fossil and genetic evidence for the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa. Africa

• about 300,000 years ago Jebel Irhoud Find Proven7 sources
• at least 230,000 years ago Omo Kibish Find Proven5 sources
• about 160,000 to 154,000 years ago Herto Find Proven5 sources
• studies of 1987 and 2009 The Genetic Record Find Proven7 sources

Egypt, Nubia, Kush, Carthage, and the kingdoms of North and East Africa. North and East Africa

• about 3800 BC to about 3100 BC Ta-Seti Kingdom Proven10 sources
• about 3150 BC to 30 BC Ancient Egypt Kingdom Proven17 sources
• about 2450 BC to about 1480 BC Kingdom of Kerma Kingdom Proven23 sources
• about 2450 BC to about 1160 BC Land of Punt Kingdom Proven11 sources
• the late 9th century BC to 146 BC Carthage Kingdom Proven14 sources
• about 800 BC to about 400 BC Kingdom of D'mt Kingdom Proven14 sources
• from the 8th century BC Kingdom of Kush Kingdom Proven9 sources
• ruled 8th century BC Kashta Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven3 sources
• ruled second half of the 8th century BC Piye Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven4 sources
• ruled by about 706 BC Shebitku Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven3 sources
• ruled after Shebitku to 690 BC Shabaka Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven4 sources
• ruled 690 BC to 664 BC Taharqa Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven7 sources
• ruled 664 BC to mid-7th century BC Tantamani Ruler, Kingdom of Kush Proven6 sources
• 202 BC to 46 BC Kingdom of Numidia Kingdom Proven13 sources
• ruled 202 BC to 148 BC Masinissa Ruler, Kingdom of Numidia Proven7 sources
• by the 2nd century BC to 40 AD Kingdom of Mauretania Kingdom Proven11 sources
• ruled 25 BC to 23 AD Juba II Ruler, Kingdom of Mauretania Proven5 sources
• ruled 23 AD to 40 AD Ptolemy of Mauretania Ruler, Kingdom of Mauretania Proven4 sources
• about the 1st century AD to its decline, from the 7th century Kingdom of Aksum Kingdom Proven10 sources
• ruled 4th century AD Ezana Ruler, Kingdom of Aksum Proven4 sources

Discover Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and the networks of trade and scholarship. West Africa

• about 300 AD to about 1200 Ghana Empire Kingdom Proven10 sources
• the 1230s to the 1600s Mali Empire Kingdom Proven10 sources
• ruled 13th century Sundiata Keita Ruler, Mali Empire Proven2 sources
• ruled 1312 to 1337 Mansa Musa Ruler, Mali Empire Proven4 sources
• the 1460s to 1591 Songhai Empire Kingdom Proven8 sources
• ruled 1464 to 1492 Sunni Ali Ruler, Songhai Empire Proven2 sources
• ruled the 1490s Askia Muhammad Ruler, Songhai Empire Proven2 sources

For more than 500 years, a system took people, land and wealth out of Africa, and it never truly left. Africa, Europe and the Americas

• The Atlantic Trade Begins · 1441 to 1618 17 records ShowHide

  This is not a record of hate. It is a record of a system, and this is where it began.

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  • 1441 to 1442 The First Raid Event Proven2 sources
  • 1444 The Division at Lagos Event Proven3 sources
  • 1452 and 1455 The Pope's Orders Event Proven4 sources
  • 1455 Horses for Captives Event Proven2 sources
  • about 1486 Benin and the Oba's Trade Event Proven2 sources
  • 1493 The Pope Divides the World Event Proven1 source
  • 1494 The Treaty of Tordesillas Event Proven3 sources
  • 1495 Columbus and the Taíno Event Proven3 sources
  • 1516 to 1517 The Oba Holds Back the Men Event Proven1 source
  • 1518 to 1521 The 1518 License Event Proven3 sources
  • 1521 to 1522 The Revolt on Hispaniola Event Proven4 sources
  • 1526 King Afonso's Letter Event Proven1 source
  • 1528 Slaves by Contract: the Asiento Event Proven3 sources
  • 1562 to 1568 John Hawkins and the Queen's Ship Event Proven2 sources
  • 1568 to 1570 Kongo's Kings and the Trade Event Proven4 sources
  • 1579 The Runaways of Panama Event Proven2 sources
  • 1595 to 1601 The First Asiento Event Proven2 sources
• Colonial Slavery · 1619 to 1775 20 records ShowHide

  The ships had found their market. Now the colonies wrote it into law.

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  • 1619 Twenty and Odd Event Proven2 sources
  • 1640 John Punch, Servant for Life Event Proven1 source
  • 1655 Anthony Johnson and John Casor Event Proven1 source
  • 1660 The Royal African Company Event Proven4 sources
  • 1661 The Barbados Slave Code Event Proven1 source
  • 1662 to 1669 Born to the Mother's Condition Event Proven3 sources
  • 1672 The Royal African Company Event Proven2 sources
  • 1685 The Code Noir Event Proven1 source
  • 1688 The Germantown Protest Event Proven1 source
  • 1705 The Virginia Codes of 1705 Event Proven1 source
  • 1712 The New York Revolt of 1712 Event Proven2 sources
  • 1727 The Kings of Dahomey and the Trade Event Proven4 sources
  • 1738 The Dutch West India Company Event Proven2 sources
  • 1739 The Stono Rebellion Event Proven1 source
  • 1741 The New York Trials of 1741 Event Proven3 sources
  • 1750 The South Sea Company Event Proven6 sources
  • 1764 to 1765 The Sally Event Proven3 sources
  • 1771 to 1772 The Somerset Case Event Proven5 sources
  • 1773 Phillis Wheatley Event Proven1 source
  • 1774 Aaron Lopez of Newport Event Proven3 sources
• Slavery in the New Nation · 1776 to 1860 25 records ShowHide

  A new nation was born, promising liberty. It wrote slavery into its own law.

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  • 1787 Slavery in the Constitution Event Proven1 source
  • 1793 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 Event Proven1 source
  • 1800 Gabriel's Plan Event Proven1 source
  • 1801 George Washington and Mount Vernon Event Proven4 sources
  • 1807 to 1808 The Ban on Bringing In Africans Event Proven1 source
  • 1822 Denmark Vesey Event Proven1 source
  • 1825 Haiti's Ransom Event Proven5 sources
  • 1827 Thomas Jefferson and Monticello Event Proven3 sources
  • 1828 Franklin and Armfield Event Proven3 sources
  • 1831 The Liberator Event Proven1 source
  • 1831 Nat Turner Event Proven4 sources
  • 1833 Britain Paid the Slaveholders Event Proven3 sources
  • 1838 Georgetown's Sale of 272 People Event Proven2 sources
  • 1838 Frederick Douglass Event Proven1 source
  • 1839 to 1842 The Amistad Event Proven2 sources
  • 1845 Douglass Tells His Own Story Event Proven1 source
  • 1846 to 1848 Life Insurance on Enslaved People Event Proven3 sources
  • 1849 Harriet Tubman Event Proven1 source
  • 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Event Proven1 source
  • 1857 Dred Scott Event Proven4 sources
  • 1859 The Weeping Time Event Proven2 sources
  • 1859 John Brown at Harpers Ferry Event Proven1 source
  • 1860 What a Human Being Was Worth Event Proven2 sources
  • 1860 Sold Down the River Event Proven2 sources
  • 1860 The Clotilda Event Proven2 sources
• The Civil War · 1861 to 1865 29 records ShowHide

  The South went to war to keep us. It said so in its own words.

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  • 1861 Mississippi Leaves the Union Event Proven2 sources
  • 1861 The Cornerstone Speech Event Proven1 source
  • 1861 The Contrabands of Fort Monroe Event Proven2 sources
  • 1862 Washington Pays the Slaveholders Event Proven1 source
  • 1862 Susie King Taylor Event Proven2 sources
  • 1862 Robert Smalls and the Planter Event Proven2 sources
  • 1862 Lincoln Asks Black Americans to Leave Event Proven1 source
  • 1862 "Without Freeing Any Slave" Event Proven1 source
  • 1862 Island Mound Event Proven2 sources
  • 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation Event Proven1 source
  • 1863 Tubman at the Combahee Event Proven1 source
  • 1863 Milliken's Bend Event Proven1 source
  • 1863 The New York Draft Riots Event Proven4 sources
  • 1863 The 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner Event Proven2 sources
  • 1864 Fort Pillow Event Proven2 sources
  • 1864 Less Pay to Die Event Proven1 source
  • 1864 The Crater Event Proven3 sources
  • 1864 Saltville Event Proven1 source
  • 1864 Camp Nelson Event Proven1 source
  • 1864 Ebenezer Creek Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 Forty Acres Event Proven2 sources
  • 1865 The 13th Amendment Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 Martin Delany Event Proven2 sources
  • 1865 The Freedman's Savings Bank Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 The Freedmen's Bureau Event Proven4 sources
  • 1865 Their Families Freed Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 The Confederacy Turns to the Enslaved Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 The U.S. Colored Troops Event Proven1 source
  • 1865 Juneteenth Event Proven1 source
• Reconstruction · 1865 to 1877 22 records ShowHide

  We were free. Then they went to work taking it back.

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  • 1865 The Black Codes Event Proven3 sources
  • 1866 The Memphis Massacre Event Proven2 sources
  • 1866 The Southern Homestead Act Event Proven2 sources
  • 1866 The New Orleans Massacre Event Proven3 sources
  • 1868 Leased Like Slaves Event Proven4 sources
  • 1868 The 14th Amendment Event Proven1 source
  • 1868 The Original 33 Event Proven4 sources
  • 1869 to 1870 The 15th Amendment Event Proven1 source
  • 1870 Hiram Revels Event Proven2 sources
  • 1871 The Ku Klux Klan Act Event Proven2 sources
  • 1871 The Fisk Jubilee Singers Event Proven3 sources
  • 1872 The Freedmen's Bureau Ends Event Proven1 source
  • 1873 The Colfax Massacre Event Proven2 sources
  • 1873 The Slaughterhouse Cases Event Proven1 source
  • 1874 The Freedman's Bank Fails Event Proven1 source
  • 1875 The Civil Rights Act of 1875 Event Proven1 source
  • 1875 Blanche K. Bruce Event Proven1 source
  • 1876 The Homestead Count Event Proven1 source
  • 1876 The Mississippi Plan Event Proven2 sources
  • 1876 The Court Frees the Colfax Killers Event Proven2 sources
  • 1876 The Hamburg Massacre Event Proven3 sources
  • 1876 to 1877 The Deal of 1877 Event Proven2 sources
• Jim Crow · 1877 to 1954 28 records ShowHide

  The troops went home. The South wrote us out of the law, and the Supreme Court signed it.

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  • 1879 to 1880 The Exodusters Event Proven1 source
  • 1883 The Civil Rights Cases Event Proven1 source
  • 1890 Mississippi Writes Us Out Event Proven2 sources
  • 1892 The People's Grocery and Ida B. Wells Event Proven4 sources
  • 1895 Robert Smalls, Lawmaker Event Proven6 sources
  • 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Event Proven1 source
  • 1898 to 1899 The Wilmington Coup Event Proven2 sources
  • 1906 The Atlanta Massacre Event Proven3 sources
  • 1908 Forty Years of the Lease Event Proven3 sources
  • 1908 to 1910 The NAACP and The Crisis Event Proven2 sources
  • 1917 East St. Louis and the Silent Parade Event Proven3 sources
  • 1918 Mary Turner Event Proven1 source
  • 1919 The Elaine Massacre Event Proven3 sources
  • 1921 Greenwood Event Proven2 sources
  • 1923 Rosewood Event Proven1 source
  • 1923 The Court Calls It a Mask Event Proven1 source
  • 1927 Marcus Garvey Event Proven1 source
  • 1931 The Scottsboro Boys Event Proven5 sources
  • 1932 The Court Orders a Real Defense Event Proven2 sources
  • 1935 Social Security Leaves Most of Us Out Event Proven2 sources
  • 1939 Redlining Event Proven2 sources
  • 1941 Randolph's March Event Proven1 source
  • 1945 The Tuskegee Airmen Event Proven2 sources
  • 1946 Isaac Woodard Event Proven2 sources
  • 1947 The GI Bill Event Proven4 sources
  • 1948 Truman Ends Segregation in the Military Event Proven1 source
  • 1950 The Count of the Lynched Event Proven4 sources
  • 1954 to 1955 Brown v. Board of Education Event Proven1 source
• The Civil Rights Movement · 1954 to 1968 25 records ShowHide

  The law said we were equal. We had to walk, sit, ride and bleed to make it true.

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  • 1955 Emmett Till Event Proven2 sources
  • 1955 to 1956 The Montgomery Bus Boycott Event Proven2 sources
  • 1957 to 1958 The Little Rock Nine Event Proven2 sources
  • 1960 The Greensboro Sit-In Event Proven2 sources
  • 1961 The Freedom Rides Event Proven2 sources
  • 1963 The Children's Crusade Event Proven2 sources
  • 1963 Medgar Evers Event Proven1 source
  • 1963 The March on Washington Event Proven1 source
  • 1963 Four Girls in Birmingham Event Proven2 sources
  • 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Event Proven1 source
  • 1964 Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner Event Proven1 source
  • 1964 Fannie Lou Hamer Event Proven1 source
  • 1965 Bloody Sunday Event Proven3 sources
  • 1965 The Voting Rights Act Event Proven1 source
  • 1967 Operation Bedcheck Event Proven1 source
  • 1967 Loving v. Virginia Event Proven2 sources
  • 1967 The FBI Against the Movement Event Proven1 source
  • 1967 Thurgood Marshall Event Proven1 source
  • 1967 The Vote, Counted Event Proven1 source
  • 1968 The Kerner Report Event Proven1 source
  • 1968 Dr. King Is Killed Event Proven3 sources
  • 1968 The Fair Housing Act Event Proven1 source
  • 1968 "I Am a Man" Event Proven3 sources
  • 1968 No Man in the House Event Proven1 source
  • 1970 The Great Migration Event Proven1 source
• The Age of Mass Incarceration · 1968 to 2000 20 records ShowHide

  Every time we moved forward, a new tool pushed us back. The tool changed. The result did not.

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  • 1971 "Public Enemy Number One" Event Proven1 source
  • 1971 Attica Event Proven1 source
  • 1972 Shirley Chisholm Event Proven3 sources
  • 1972 The Tuskegee Study Event Proven1 source
  • 1974 Sterilized by the State Event Proven1 source
  • 1982 Fred Hampton Event Proven4 sources
  • 1983 Harold Washington Event Proven3 sources
  • 1986 One Hundred to One Event Proven1 source
  • 1991 to 1992 Rodney King Event Proven3 sources
  • 1994 Justice, Years Late Event Proven2 sources
  • 1994 Florida Pays for Rosewood Event Proven1 source
  • 1994 Denny's Event Proven2 sources
  • 1994 The Crime Act of 1994 Event Proven1 source
  • 1995 The Million Man March Event Proven3 sources
  • 1996 to 1997 Texaco Event Proven3 sources
  • 1997 Tuskegee: Paid and Apologized Event Proven2 sources
  • 1998 James Byrd Jr. Event Proven3 sources
  • 1999 The Land Taken From Black Farmers Event Proven6 sources
  • 1999 Abner Louima Event Proven4 sources
  • 2000 Amadou Diallo Event Proven3 sources
• Our Time · 2000 to 2026 35 records ShowHide

  This is not the past. It is the record of our own time.

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  • 2001 Oklahoma Calls for Repair Event Proven3 sources
  • 2005 The Senate Apologizes Event Proven1 source
  • 2005 Attica, Settled Event Proven1 source
  • 2005 Justice, Decades Late Event Proven3 sources
  • 2005 Katrina Event Proven4 sources
  • 2008 Barack Obama Event Proven4 sources
  • 2009 The Rockefeller Drug Laws Event Proven3 sources
  • 2010 The Fair Sentencing Act Event Proven1 source
  • 2012 North Carolina Counts the Cost Event Proven1 source
  • 2012 The Banks Steered Us Event Proven1 source
  • 2012 The Prisons Fill Event Proven3 sources
  • 2013 Shelby County Event Proven4 sources
  • 2013 Trayvon Martin Event Proven2 sources
  • 2014 The Central Park Five Event Proven4 sources
  • 2015 Ferguson Event Proven3 sources
  • 2015 Burge's Torture Ring Event Proven3 sources
  • 2016 Freddie Gray Event Proven5 sources
  • 2017 Mother Emanuel Event Proven3 sources
  • 2017 Flint Event Proven4 sources
  • 2017 Georgetown Apologizes Event Proven3 sources
  • 2017 Sandra Bland Event Proven4 sources
  • 2019 The Wealth Gap Event Proven1 source
  • 2020 COVID-19 Event Proven2 sources
  • 2021 Evanston Pays Event Proven3 sources
  • 2021 Juneteenth Event Proven3 sources
  • 2021 Malcolm X Event Proven3 sources
  • 2021 Mothers Who Did Not Come Home Event Proven1 source
  • 2022 George Floyd Event Proven4 sources
  • 2022 Ahmaud Arbery Event Proven4 sources
  • 2023 Buffalo Event Proven3 sources
  • 2023 The Vatican Answers Event Proven3 sources
  • 2023 California Counts the Cost Event Proven3 sources
  • 2024 to 2025 The Last Survivors of Tulsa Event Proven3 sources
  • 2025 Breonna Taylor Event Proven5 sources
  • 2026 Sonya Massey Event Proven5 sources

Trace independence, civil rights, cultural movements, and the African diaspora today. Worldwide

• 1900 The First Pan-African Conference Event Proven3 sources
• 1925 The Harlem Renaissance Event Proven3 sources
• 1935 to 1941 Ethiopia Stands Alone Event Proven4 sources
• 1945 Manchester, 1945 Event Proven4 sources
• 1948 to 1953 Apartheid Event Proven2 sources
• 1957 Ghana Is Free Event Proven1 source
• 1960 Sharpeville Event Proven2 sources
• 1960 The Year of Africa Event Proven3 sources
• 1961 Patrice Lumumba Event Proven3 sources
• 1963 African Unity Event Proven3 sources
• 1964 "Prepared to Die" Event Proven2 sources
• 1973 Apartheid Named a Crime Event Proven2 sources
• 1976 Soweto Event Proven2 sources
• 1977 Steve Biko Event Proven3 sources
• 1980 Zimbabwe Event Proven3 sources
• 1994 South Africa Votes Event Proven3 sources
• 1995 to 1998 Truth and Reconciliation Event Proven3 sources
• 2001 Durban: A Crime Against Humanity Event Proven1 source
• 2013 Mau Mau Event Proven2 sources
• 2014 The Caribbean's Ten Points Event Proven4 sources
• 2015 Britain Finishes Paying Event Proven3 sources
• 2020 Windrush Event Proven3 sources
• 2021 The Herero and Nama Event Proven4 sources
• 2022 The Benin Bronzes Come Home Event Proven2 sources
• 2024 A Decade for People of African Descent Event Proven2 sources
• 2025 to 2026 Africa Demands Repair Event Proven7 sources

The case of the descendants of the enslaved, argued from the record, ending with the Summation.