2000s
2000–2099A Black president, mass incarceration, and a new movement for Black lives.
Zoom in — decades
Key events
- February 26, 2012The killing of Trayvon Martin
The shooting of an unarmed Black teenager and the later acquittal help spark Black Lives Matter.
- June 25, 2013Shelby County v. Holder guts the Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court strikes down the VRA's preclearance formula, unleashing a wave of voting restrictions.
- July 13, 2013Black Lives Matter is founded
After George Zimmerman's acquittal, three organizers launch a movement and a hashtag.
- August 9, 2014Ferguson and Michael Brown
The police killing of Michael Brown sparks sustained protest and a national reckoning on policing.
- May 25, 2020The murder of George Floyd
A Minneapolis officer kills George Floyd on video, igniting the largest protests in US history.
- August 29, 2005Hurricane Katrina
The storm and the failed response expose deep racial inequities in New Orleans.
- July 17, 2014The killing of Eric Garner
"I can't breathe" becomes a rallying cry after Garner's death in police custody.
- November 22, 2014The killing of Tamir Rice
A 12-year-old is shot by Cleveland police within seconds.
- June 17, 2015The Charleston church massacre
A white supremacist murders nine worshippers at Mother Emanuel AME Church.
- August 26, 2016Colin Kaepernick takes a knee
The quarterback kneels during the anthem to protest police violence.
- February 23, 2020The killing of Ahmaud Arbery
Arbery is chased and murdered while jogging in Georgia.
- March 13, 2020The killing of Breonna Taylor
Taylor is killed by police in a botched raid in Louisville.
- April 20, 2021Derek Chauvin convicted
The officer who murdered George Floyd is convicted on all counts.
- June 17, 2021Juneteenth becomes a federal holiday
The end of slavery is recognized as a national holiday.
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.
Articles·3
Scholarship on the 1619 Point Comfort landing and its contested history.
A landmark essay connecting slavery, redlining, and the wealth gap.
The museum's account of 2020 and the movement that followed.