1970s–2010s – Mass Incarceration
Racism Legislation & Resistance Timeline 1452 & 1455 Papal decrees
Legislation and L e g i s L at i o n a n dPolicies PoLicies
Authorize Portugal to reduce non-Christians to perpetual slavery, sanctioned & promoted conquest, colonization, & exploitation of nonChristian territories
1493 – “doctrine of discovery”
Papal bull proclaims land not inhabited by Christians available to be “discovered” & exploited by Christian rulers. Effectively gives New World to Spain
1850 – Fugitive slave act
1787 – Us constitution Ratified
1867– Reconstruction Reconstruction Act act of of 1867 1867 1867–
In reaction reaction to to black black code, code, temporary temporary military military In rule forced forced southern southern states states to to ratify ratify 14th 14th && 15th 15th rule Amendments Amendments
1850 – Foreign Miners’ tax
1793 – Fugitive slave act
$20/month tax on all foreign-born miners in California. By 1852, $3/mo tax exclusively on Chinese miners
Legalized states ability to return escaped slaves to owner, criminalized escaping & grew slave catching industry, which often didn’t distinguish between slaves & free blacks
1868 –– Treaty treaty of of Fort Fort Laramie Laramie 1868
Treaty reserving reserving the the Black Black Hills Hills in in Dakotas Dakotas for for Treaty Native Americans Americans unilaterally unilaterally changed changed when when Native gold discovered discovered gold
1857 – dred scott v. sandford
SCOTUS declares slave & free Africans noncitizens. Denies rights & liberties enjoyed by whites
1807 – congress Bans importation of slaves in1808 Illegal slave smuggling continues for ~52 years
Relocates all Native Americans living east of Mississippi River to west of River
Forces assimilation of Native American children—reeducate in white culture, economy & values. Schools run largely by missionaries
1839 – Pope gregory XVi
1902 – Extension of Chinese Exclusion Act
State or or local local laws laws in in southern southern states states to to control control State labor && behavior behavior of of free free blacks—denies blacks—denies right right to to labor vote, testify testify against against whites, whites, serve serve on on juries, juries, bar bar from from vote, some occupations occupations && acquiring acquiring land. land. Convict Convict leasing leasing some system begins begins system
Bars all immigrants from Asia
1882 –– Chinese chinese Exclusion exclusion Act act 1882
Condemns slavery & slave trade & encouraged development of Indigenous Clergy
Suspends Chinese Chinese immigration immigration && bars bars Chinese Chinese Suspends from citizenship citizenship from
Excludes domestic & agricultural workers— 25% hispanic & 75% black
1944 – Korematsu v. US
MeXicanaMeRican WaR
1450
cotton gin inVented
1800
1825
ciViL WaR
Abolishes the Asiatic Barred Zone Act & relaxes 1948 – Universal suffrage immigration restrictions For Native Americans
1954 – Brown v. Board of Education
SCOTUS declares that segregation in education inherently unequal, opening door to school integration
1957 – Eisenhower Orders Federal Troops to Arkansas
In response to Gov. Orville Faubus barring 9 Black students from integrating Central High School in Little Rock, President sends troops to escort students to school
ReconstRUction eRa
1850
1875
WORLD WAR I
1900
HUndReds oF sLaVe ReBeLLions
DEPRESSION
2020 – Confederate symbols 168 removed from public spaces, 704 statues remaining
2021 – Voter Restriction Laws
• 19 states—already with restrictive voting process—enact 33 laws restricting mail & early voting, increasing likelihood of faulty voter purging & impose harsher voter ID requirements. • 25 states—already with less restrictive voting access—enact 63 laws expanding voting access.
MASS INCARCERATION
WW II
1925
upholds Trump Travel Ban from 5 Muslim majority countries, N. Korea & Venezuela
Provides equal access to housing regardless 2020 – Census of race, religion, or country of origin COVID, shortened innumeration period 1989 – Apology for Japanese- & web-base self-reporting cause American Interment significant undercount of BIPOCs; US government issues a formal ensures they will be underfunded for apology, as well as $20,000 to each the next decade survivor ~60,000
1952 – Immigration & Nationality Act
Forbids communally communally held held tribal tribal land, land, meant meant to to Forbids disrupt tribal tribal culture culture && force force assimilation assimilation disrupt
2018 – SCOTUS
1968 – Civil Rights Act
1944 – Federal Housing Authority Redlining Policies
1887 –– Dawes dawes General general Allotment allotment Act act 1887
SCOTUS declares Preclearance requirement in Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, clearing the way for minority voting restriction laws—voter photo ID requirement, early voting cutbacks, restricted registration & extreme gerrymandering
SCOTUS puts an end to anti-miscegenation laws in the Commonwealth
Low cost mortgage, low interest loan to start business, free tuition, stipend while in school & 1 yr unemployment compensation—all essentially unavailable to 1 million Black GIs
Banks & realtors, map out neighborhoods according to skin color
2013 – Shelby County v. Holder
1967 – Loving v. Virginia
1944 – GI Bill
During the depression, one million people of Mexican descent (60% US citizens) were forced or pressured to leave US
1935 – Social Security Act
Outlaws poll taxes, literacy tests, & other mechanisms of minority disenfranchisement Section 5 (Preclearance) requires states & districts with history of discrimination to get clearance from DOJ before changing election rules
Repeals Chinese Exclusion Act & allows for Chinese immigration but maintains restrictions against property & ownership rights for Chinese until 1965 SCOTUS declares internment of JapaneseAmericans constitutional
1929–1939 – Mexican Repatriation
1865–1866 –– Black Black Codes codes 1865–1866
1965 – Voting Rights Act
1943 – Magnuson Act
Declares Native Americans citizens despite protests from them
Abolishes slavery in the United States
1831–1969 – Residential school system
SCOTUS –– separate separate but but equal equal segregation segregation SCOTUS doctrine enables enables state state && local local doctrine municipalities to to enact enact Jim Jim Crow Crow Laws Laws municipalities
1924 – Indian Citizenship Act
1864 – Ratification of 13th amendment
1830 – indian Removal act
1896 –– Plessy Plessy v. v. Ferguson Ferguson 1896
1870 –– 15th 15th Amendment amendment 1870
Prohibits race-based race-based denial denial of of voting voting rights rights Prohibits
Outlaws discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin, unequal application of voting rights
Executive Order 9066 enacted forces relocation & internment of over 127,000 Japanese-Americans in camps during WWII. ~62% American citizens
1917 – Immigration Act of 1917 (AKA Asian Barred Zone Act)
Citizenship granted granted men men regardless regardless of of race race Citizenship
1964 – Civil Rights Act
1942 – Japanese-American Interment
segregation; justified justified by by Plessy Plessy v.v. Ferguson Ferguson segregation;
1868 –– 14th 14th Amendment amendment 1868
Allots 160 acres of Native land to any US citizen for $1.25. Excludes blacks, Native Americans, & non-European immigrants
SCOTUS rules Doctrine of Discovery rights given to European sovereigns transferred to US
Formalizes Native American US citizenship but ends sovereignty of tribes, trusteeship of reservations & excludes Native Americans from state laws with negative effects on education, healthcare & tribal economy
By reenacting Geary Act of 1892 without an end date, Chinese immigration is effectively made permanently illegal
1862 – Homestead act
1823 - Johnson v. M’intosh
1940s–1960s – Indian Termination Policy
1876–1965 –– Jim Jim Crow crow Laws Laws –– Cadre Cadre of of laws laws && institutions institutions enforces enforces 1876–1965
Strengthens 1793 Act – helping or not arresting runaway slaves subject to fine/ imprisonment
Male slave counts as 3/5s of a man in determining representation in House of Representatives
War on Drugs & tough on crime policies—mandatory minimums, harsher sentences for crack v. cocaine & Three-Strikes Law—along with court fees/bonds imprison people of color at rates 3–6 times more than whites, despite similar offending rates
1950
1975
2000
THE GREAT MIGRATION — BLACKS MOVE NORTH
UndeRgRoUnd RaiLRoad
1712 – 25 slaves armed with guns & clubs set fire to houses in NYC
1863 –– Emancipation emancipation Proclamation Proclamation abolishes abolishes slavery slavery in in confederate confederate states states 1863
1910 – National Urban League helps African Americans moving north find
1992 – Denny’s restaurants in US subject of class action suit for treatment of
whites in homes & on streets
1863 –– 200,000 200,000 free free black black men men enlist enlist && serve serve in in Bureau Bureau of of Colored coloredTroops troops 1863
1915 – “The Birth of a Nation” – Silent movie credited for spreading Klan
1775 – Quakers found world’s first antislavery society, Pennsylvania society for Promoting the abolition of slavery (PAS). Benjamin Franklin & Thomas
2005 – Hurricane Katrina – Thousands outraged by US Government neglect of 9th ward – mostly African Americans
1865 –– Ku Ku Klux Klux Klan Klan formed formed in in Pulaski, Pulaski,TN; TN; reaction reaction to to end end of of slavery slavery 1865
1920s – Tulsa Race Massacre – Fueled by false rumors, whites destroy black business community, “Black Wall Street,” killing ~300 & rendering 8,000 homeless in 18 hours
2013 – Black Lives Matter – Grassroots social justice movement advocates for
R e s i s ta n c e Resistance
1720 – Enslaved Africans of Charleston, SC rise up against masters & attack
Paine become members
but not not in in non-rebelling non-rebelling slave slave states states such such as as DE, DE, MD, MD, KY KY && MO MO but
under white white officers officers under
1865 –– Many Many northern northern states states reject reject referendum referendum to to grant grant black black men men franchise. franchise. 1865
1790s–1810 – Tecumseh & his brother unite all Indian Tribes in effort against westward expansion of settlers
Former confederate confederate states states enact enact“Black “Black Laws” Laws”severely severely limiting limiting rights rights && liberties liberties Former
1811 – Louisiana territory slave insurrection ~125 enslaved men march
No black black senators senators from1881–1967 from1881–1967 No
from sugar plantations toward New Orleans (largest slave revolt in US history)
1824 – American Colonization Society acquires land in Africa (Liberia) to transport freeborn & emancipated blacks to Africa
1850s–1860s – Using Underground Railroad, Harriet tubman helps slaves escape north
1850 – Free blacks form vigilance committees in north to alert black communities & watch for slave hunters
1859 – John Brown raids Harper’s Ferry to free & arm slaves. He is executed
1867–1877 –– 22 22 blacks blacks elected elected to to congress congress during during Reconstruction Reconstruction Era era.. 1867–1877 1876 –– Battle Battle of of Little Little Bighorn Bighorn -- Lakota Lakota && Cheyenne Cheyenne Indians Indians resist resist another another 1876 broken treaty. treaty. (Custers (Custers Last Last Stand) Stand) broken 1890 –– Wounded Wounded Knee Knee Massacre Massacre –– Botched Botched attempt attempt to to disarm disarm Lakota Lakota 1890 Indians results results in in slaughter slaughter of of ~300 ~300 (~50% (~50% women women && children) children) Indians
1892 –– Ida idaWells-Barnett Wells-Barnett campaigns campaigns against against lynching lynching && for for women’s women’s suffrage suffrage 1892 1895 –– Hopi Hopi Resistance Resistance –– 19 19 Hopi Hopi leaders leaders imprisoned imprisoned for for resisting resisting residential residential 1895 schools && moving moving to to government government assigned assigned farming farming plots plots schools
1909 –– Bi-racial Bi-racial activists activists establish establish National national Association association for for Advancement advancement 1909 (NAACP) of Colored colored People People (NAACP) of
jobs, housing & adjust to urban life ideology and resurgence of KKK
1944 – Redlining – Realtors incite fear of people of color moving into white areas. After whites sell & relocate, realtors sell houses at inflated value to black customers. Still occurring, e.g., Long Island 2019
1954 – Operation “Wetback” – Removal of 1.1 million undocumented immigrants through systemic sweep of Mexican-American neighborhoods, random stops & ID checks. Reaction to Bracero Program 1960s–1970s – Cesar Chavez’ civil disobedience won farmworkers (mostly Mexican) the right to unionize
1963 – MLK Jr. Jailed & Writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” – Calls for civil disobedience in face of unjust laws. Leads the March on Washington 1965 – Voting Rights Act enacted. In 4 months, 1 million black voters (1/3 of
population) registered
people of color
end of violence & systemic racism towards black people
2017 – Thousands protest Trump Travel Ban for citizens from 7 muslim majority countries 2020 – George Floyd murdered by white police for a counterfeited $20; Sparks thousands of BLM protest marches in 1,360 counties 2020 – President Biden wins election with the highest voter turnout in more than a century
2021 – January 6th a mob of Trump supporters attempt a coup by interrupting the electoral vote count. Four killed and more including 138 police injured. To date 727 Insurrectionists arrested & charged
2021 – George Floyd’s and Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers are convicted in contrast to >98% of black killings where no officer is held accountable
© 2022 Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center, updated Timeline, original version in open wide our hearts—the enduring call to love