1800s
1800–1899The domestic slave trade, civil war, emancipation, and the betrayal of Reconstruction.
Zoom in — decades
Key events
- May 1845Frederick Douglass publishes his Narrative
Douglass's autobiography becomes a landmark of American letters and the abolitionist cause.
- April 9, 1816The AME Church is founded
Richard Allen founds the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent Black denomination.
- March 16, 1827Freedom's Journal, the first Black newspaper
The first Black-owned and operated newspaper in the US begins publication in New York.
- May 29, 1851· debatedSojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?"
The formerly enslaved abolitionist delivers her famous address on race and gender in Akron, Ohio.
- March 1864Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first Black woman physician
Crumpler becomes the first African American woman to earn a US medical degree.
- March 2, 1867Howard University founded
A flagship HBCU is chartered in Washington, D.C.
- December 9, 1872P.B.S. Pinchback becomes governor
Pinchback serves as Louisiana governor — the first Black governor in US history.
- 1876Edward Bouchet earns a PhD
Bouchet becomes the first African American to earn a doctorate in the US (physics, Yale).
- 1821The African Grove Theatre
The first known Black theatre company opens in New York City.
- 1853William Wells Brown publishes "Clotel"
The first novel published by an African American.
- April 29, 1854Lincoln University founded
One of the first degree-granting historically Black colleges.
- April 11, 1881Spelman College founded
A leading college for Black women is established in Atlanta.
Resources from this period
Primary sources·4
Citizenship and equal protection, 1868.
The full text of Lincoln's 1863 proclamation.
The 1857 Supreme Court decision.
~7,400 items: correspondence, speeches, and writings of Frederick Douglass.