Milestones Of Blacks In America

1607: English colonists settled in Virginia. Slavery began and spread to all other colonies

1776: Declaration of Independence by American states triggered a reappraisal of slavery and gradual abolition in the north

1860: Census showed four million slaves, most of them in southern states

1861-1865: Civil war between north and south

1865: Slavery abolished by 13th amendment to the US Constitution

1870: 15th amendment guarantees voting rights of black majorities in southern states, but white backlash introduces segregation in public places

1896: Supreme Court endorsed segregation

1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) to fight for black rights was formed by multiracial activists

1954: Supreme Court declared segregated education illegal

1955: Rosa Parks, secretary of the NAACP in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, galvanising the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s

1963: Reverend Martin Luther King made his "I have a dream" speech, predicting racial integration

1964: Congress passed Civil Rights Act prohibiting segregation

1965: Congress passed Voting Rights Act to protect the black electorate

1968: Martin Luther King assassinated

1987: General Colin Powell became first black National Security Adviser to President

2004: Mr Obama elected to US Senate, becoming the sole black senator and only the third popularly elected since the 1870s

2008: Mr Obama is the first black American to be nominated by a major party for the presidency, and he wins it

Source: thesundaytimes Nov 9, 2008