2000s
2000–2099A Black president, mass incarceration, and a new movement for Black lives.
Zoom in — decades
Key events
- November 4, 2008· debatedBarack Obama elected president
The descendant of an immigrant father and white mother becomes the first Black US president — a milestone amid ongoing debate.
- January 20, 2021Kamala Harris becomes Vice President
Harris becomes the first Black and first woman US Vice President.
- January 20, 2001Colin Powell, first Black Secretary of State
Powell becomes the highest-ranking Black official in US history to that point.
- March 24, 2002Denzel Washington and Halle Berry win Oscars
A historic night for Black actors at the Academy Awards.
- January 26, 2005Condoleezza Rice, first Black woman Secretary of State
Rice becomes the second Black Secretary of State and the first Black woman in the role.
- August 16, 2016Simone Biles dominates the Rio Olympics
Biles wins four golds and cements herself as one of the greatest gymnasts ever.
- September 24, 2016The National Museum of African American History opens
The Smithsonian opens its landmark museum on the National Mall.
- February 26, 2017"Moonlight" wins Best Picture
Barry Jenkins's film becomes the first with an all-Black cast to win Best Picture.
- February 16, 2018Black Panther
Ryan Coogler's film becomes a global cultural phenomenon and box-office landmark.
- April 16, 2018Kendrick Lamar wins the Pulitzer
"DAMN." becomes the first non-classical, non-jazz work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- January 20, 2021Amanda Gorman at the inauguration
The young poet's "The Hill We Climb" captivates a national audience.
Resources from this period
Books·7
America's racial order analyzed as a caste system.
Reframing US history around the consequences of slavery.
A National Book Award history of racist ideas in America.
Slavery and the making of American capitalism.
The definitive narrative history of the Great Migration.
Mass incarceration as a system of racial control.
Pulitzer-winning history of convict leasing and re-enslavement after the Civil War.