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A Brief Timeline of Racism in the United States(Based on Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America)Before 1600300s BCE: Aristotle develops the theory of climate and color-based human hierarchy. Various societies whose ideas shaped Western European thought subscribe to Aristotle’s climate theory, including the Romans0-64 CE: St. Paul develops the “three-tiered hierarchy of slave relations” (17)700-1600: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay empires thrive in West Africa. Meanwhile...Late 1300s: Ibn Khaldun and other North African scholars develop the belief that Africans are inferior and that proximity to Europeans (via enslavement) will make them more like Europeans. Muslim scholars consider distant groups to be inferior so they can enslave them for their society’s financial gain.?1444: Portugal’s first auction of African slaves. At this time, Eastern Europeans (Slavs) are becoming less easily captured and enslaved, so the focus shifts to African slaves.The Portuguese also develop the idea that they are spiritually and socially saving the Africans they enslavedPortuguese and Spanish traders spread racist ideas over the next century or so1481: The word “race” appears in a French poem1492: Columbus’s ships arrive in the Caribbean and Europeans begin enslaving?Native Americans1502: The Portuguese bring African slaves to the Americas. Not long after, the idea spreads that Native Americans are weak and that Africans are stronger and more suited to hard labor1550s: Leo Africanus’s manuscript is translated into Latin and spreads racist ideas1570s: The Curse Theory is developed. “Curse theorists...believed that Black people were naturally and permanently inferior, and totally incapable of becoming White.” (32)?1590: William Perkins, a Puritan, says that the enslaved are spiritually equal to, but externally inferior to, their masters (page 33: “equal souls and unequal bodies”). Around this time, popular language conflates darkness with badness and white with goodThe 16th century is also when capitalism as we know it begins developing. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi writes that “Prince Henry’s Portugal birthed conjoined twins--capitalism and racism--when it initiated the transatlantic slave trade of African people.” (156)1605: First chronicled use of Blackface onstage by Queen Anne. Racist ideas circulate throughout English society during the first half of the 17th century1606: The term “race” first appears in a dictionary, linked to the word “descent,” and is broken into good and bad races?1607-17761607: Jamestown is colonized1619: The first ship bearing African slaves arrives in Jamestown1620: Pilgrims land at Plymouth1627: The Puritan Marrow of Sacred Divinity argues that, while free men and slaves are spiritually equal, “inferiors’ [owed] ‘subjection and obedience’ to their ‘superiors” and that related/like people should be “given more love than strangers.” (page 39)1642-1651: The English Civil War causes parliamentarians to flee England for the colonies1650s-1750s: Puritans found universities that spread the idea of Puritan superiority1657: A short story circulates the idea that Christianity will make slaves more docile?1660s: Multiple colonies enact laws that say that conversion to Christianity does not alter a slave’s status1662: A new Virginia law declares that children’s status comes from their mothers1663: Cotton Mather is born, the grandson of Puritan theologians Richard Mather & John Cotton?1664: A Christian Directory argues that slavery is beneficial when slaves are converted 1675-1676: King Philip’s War kills thousands of Native and colonial New Englanders?1676: During Bacon’s Rebellion, united slaves and poor whites burns down Jamestown1680s:1684: Bernier expresses a hierarchical theory of race that hypersexualizes and dehumanizes Black peopleLate 1680s: Cotton Mather argues that all people have good (“white”) souls, but that Blacks are inferior. He preaches that hierarchies were created by God1688: The Germantown Petition Against Slavery is written1690s: Mather continues publishing and preaching his hierarchy theories1692: The Salem Witch Trials take placeEarly 1700s: Laws across the colonies prioritize White socioeconomic gain at the same time that presses refer to slaves as either criminals or beastlike1728: Cotton Mather dies. Throughout his lifetime, (1663-1728), Cotton Mather preached a series of hierarchies that helped keep people like him in power.1730s-1750s: The Great Awakening promotes Christianity and converting slaves at the same time as the Enlightenment is promoting secular thought.1735: Linnaeus publishes Systema Naturae, which focuses on classifying living things 1743: Thomas Jefferson is born to the family with the second most slaves in Albemarle County. 1749: Buffon argues that all humans are the same species, but that there is a hierarchy. He also rehashes the theory that exposure to Whiteness will make Blacks look and act more White1753: David Hume writes that “there never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white” (95), though he opposes slavery1754: An essay by Quaker John Woolman argues against slavery, but states that Blacks should still be dependent upon Whites. This begins the Quaker shift towards abolitionism, though most Quaker slaveholders do not free their slaves.1756: Voltaire argues that “there was a permanent natural order of the species” and that Whites and Blacks had different origins (polygenesis) BUT he opposes slavery1762: Woolman updates his essay to the antiracist stance that “the Colour of a Man avails nothing” (90)1769: Jefferson briefly joins the Virginia House of Burgesses1770s:1770: Jefferson represents the biracial man Samuel Howell in opposition to the law that “prescribed thirty years of servitude for first-generation biracial children of free parents,” arguing that “under the law of nature, all men are born free” (91)1772: Lord Mansfield declares that “no one could be enslaved in England,” which sparks a fear that this ruling would apply to the colonies (97)1773: Physician Benjamin Rush proposes the racist idea that slavery made Black people inferior and argues that “A Christian slave is a contradiction in terms.” His writing leads to the development of the first White antislavery organization (February)?September: Phillis Wheatley’s poems are published, causing readers to criticize her owners until she is freed December: The Boston Tea Party 1774: Jefferson publishes A Summary View of the Rights of British America, blaming the king for refusing to end slavery in the AmericasMajor philosopher Lord Kames supports the polygenesis theory that there are multiple species of humans, which had different origins1775-1783: The American Revolutionary War1775: Kant argues that whites are the apex of humanity (102)Benjamin Franklin makes the argument that Americans are enslaved to the British. This belief is criticized by prominent author Samuel Johnson?1776:?Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, arguing for market-driven economiesJefferson is tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence. In it, he accuses of the British of arming slaves to keep the Americans in a so-called slavery to England. Language criticizing slavery is cut by other southern delegates during the editing process.1780s-18601780s:1781: Thomas Jefferson writes Notes on the State of Virginia, in which he argues that freed slaves and Whites can never live together in harmony, and that Blacks should be sent to Africa. He also states that Blacks are inherently intellectually inferior to Whites. (It is published?in French in 1786 and in English in 1787)The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union are ratified, naming the United States of America, and functioning as our initial Constitution1783: The American Revolutionary War officially ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris1787: Samuel Stanhope Smith writes about both the climate and society theories of racism, and argues that whiteness is the standard of beauty and behavior, which Blacks can approach with proximity to WhitesAt the Constitutional Convention, delegates try not to discuss slavery. It comes up, however, during discussions of taxation and representation. The group votes that representation will be based “in proportion to the whole number of white & other free Citizens and inhabitants...and three-fifths of all other persons” (116)14 year-old Sally Hemings accompanies Jefferson’s daughter Polly to Paris and is raped by him even though he argues against biracial relationships. 1789: The French Revolution begins. Jefferson helps Lafayette write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and CitizenThe Constitution is ratifiedAround this time, Black men are allowed to vote in 5 states (204)1790s:1790: Jefferson becomes the first Secretary of StateBenjamin Franklin argues for ending slavery (while maintaining racist beliefs)The Naturalization Act gives citizenship only to free White men (121)1791: The Haitian Revolution begins1793: The Fugitive Slave Act allows slaveholders to capture escaped slaves and the prosecution of anyone who assists escapeesProminent doctor Benjamin Rush organizes the first “Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery and Improving the Condition of the African Race” (124)1794: Eli Whitney receives a patent for the cotton gin, which causes the economic prominence (and human costs) of cotton to skyrocket1797: Benjamin Rush argues that all Black people have leprosy, which is caused by climate, behavior, and illness1800: The Prosser attempt at a revolution, which would have been “the largest slave revolt in the history of North America, with as many as 50,000 rebels,”?is foiled (143)Jefferson is elected President1801-1809: The Jefferson presidency. At the same time, the polygenesis theory that the races are different species becomes increasingly popular1802: The news breaks the fact that Jefferson had at least 6 children with Sally HemingsHe tries to see if the U.S. can recolonize Virginia’s free Black population to Sierra Leone, but is rejected1803: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million1804: Jefferson is reelectedThe Haitian Revolution ends with Haiti’s independence1805: Joseph Jekyll coins the term “this extraordinary Negro” (96).?1807: The Slave Trade Act makes the slave trade illegal, but does not create mechanisms to enforce the law1809: Jefferson writes that Black people are approaching “re-establishment of an equal footing with the colors of the human family” (137)1810s:1811: 200-500 free Black people march on New Orleans. 100 are killed, and plantations are given reparations by the state1814: When asked by Madison’s secretary to speak against slavery, Jefferson refuses1816:? The first meeting of the American Colonization Society is held in Washington, with the goal of sending free Black people to Africa1817: Black men in Philadelphia meet to discuss colonization and vote unanimously that they do not want to go to “the savage wilds of Africa” (147)1820s: The Second Great Awakening expands, and there is a push to “create a strong, unified, Jesus-centered national identity.” (153) At the same time, northern states support colonization.1820: The Missouri Compromise is passed. Missouri is entered into the nation as a slaveholding state, while Main is designated a free state1821: The United States claims some land on the coast of West Africa. 154 people move to Liberia by 1830In his autobiography, Jefferson writes that “the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government.” (page 152) and endorses colonization1822: Vesey’s Rebellion in South Carolina is foiled1826: Thomas Jefferson dies on July 4, 1826, after owning nearly 600 slaves in his lifetime. His last visitor is Robert E. Lee’s half-brother. John Adams dies on the same day.1820s and 1830s: Blackface minstrel shows, freak shows, and plantation fiction become popular1828: Benjamin Lundy speaks in favor of ending slavery in front of a young William Lloyd GarrisonThe Senate Foreign Relations Committee refuses to fund colonization because of economic concerns1829: William Lloyd Garrison moves to Baltimore to work with Lundy1830s:1830: William Lloyd Garrison is jailedStarting in 1830, scientific debates about racial equality take place, including arguments based on skull size, reports of insanity, polygenesis, and so forth1831: Nat Turner’s rebellion in Virginia1832: Garrison publishes Thoughts on African Colonization, in which he argues that the colonizationist stance is actually proslavery and that colonizationism would cause economic distressMaria Stewart’s speeches are “the first time an American-born woman addressed a mixed audience of White and Black men and women” (167)1833: The American Anti-Slavery Society is formed, but with an assimilationist stance1835: Alexis de Tocqueville says that racism is more prevalent in states without slavery and argues that uplift suasion won’t work to end racismThe American Anti-Slavery Society conducts a media campaignAround this time, groups of White men begin assaulting Black people, Black neighborhoods, and White women1836: Texas state law bans free Black people from the state1840s:1841: Frederick Douglass begins a speaking tour1845: Garrison publishes The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveTexas is annexed to the U.S. as a slaveholding state1848: Seneca Falls convention attendees write the Declaration of Sentiments, which “pleaded for gender equality and women’s suffrage, desires considered as radical as racial equality and immediate emancipation.” (191)1850s: 1850: John Bachman argues that White people are descended from Noah’s son Shem, while Black people are Ham’s descendantsCalifornia is admitted as a free state, but the Fugitive Slave Act encourages northerners to capture escaped slaves and those who assist them, and “denied Blacks a jury trial” (190)Garrison publishes The Narrative of Sojourner Truth1851: Sojourner Truth declares “ain’t I a woman” at an Ohio women’s convention1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published. It contains an argument that ending slavery will make White people better Christians, but also states that Black people should be taught by Whites and then recolonized to Africa. The novel attracts northerners to the cause of abolitionism.While eulogizing Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln declares support for colonization1853: Types of Mankind and other texts present additional arguments supporting polygenesis and racial hierarchies1854: Frederick Douglass says that “when men oppress their fellow-men, the oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a full justification for his oppression,” but maintains an assimilationist stance that Africa is inferior to Europe (199)The Kansas-Nebraska Act encourages settlers to decide whether these states will be slave states1857: Dred Scott’s request for freedom is rejected by the Supreme Court. This legislation “ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, questioned the constitutionality of northern abolition, stripped Congress of its power to regulate slavery in the territories, and stated that Black people could not be citizens.” (204)Hinton Rowan Harper argues that slavery limits the economic opportunities of non-slaveholders. He is supported by Horace Greeley1858: While campaigning for a Senate seat, Lincoln states that Black and White people have irreconcilable differences1859: White activist John Brown captures the Harpers Ferry armory, but the revolt is put down and he is hangedDarwin’s On the Origin of Species is publishedFrancis Galton incorrectly asserts that certain traits are genetic and unalterable. He will later develop the concept of eugenicsThe Civil War 1860: Jefferson Davis argues for state’s rights and says that “ ‘the inequality of the white and black races’ was ‘stamped from the beginning’” of the U.S.’s historyAbraham Lincoln is elected PresidentSouth Carolina secedes 1861: Other Southern states secede. Jefferson Davis becomes president of the Confederate States of America, and the Confederates attack Fort SumterThe Confiscation Act is passed, declaring that any property used by the Confederate army could be confiscated by the Union, including people1862: Multiple abolitionist laws pass, including a revision of the Confiscation Act declaring that all slaves who escape to Union territory (or whose lands are taken by Union forces) are free In August, Lincoln states his continued support of colonization, and prioritizes maintaining the Union over freeing slavesIn December, Lincoln plans “gradual, compensated emancipation and colonization” by 1900 (220)1863: The Emancipation Proclamation frees some slaves, including 50,000 in “Union-occupied Confederate areas.” But millions of others remain enslaved. (221)1864: Colonization is no longer seen as a possibilityWilliam Lloyd Garrison says that Black people should not have the right to voteSherman takes Atlanta and begins the March to the Sea1865: Sherman meets with Black leaders in Savannah, who say that “there was ‘a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over.’” (231)Sherman gives 40,000 Black families landJanuary 31st: The 13th Amendment officially abolishes slaveryThe Freedmen’s Bureau is establishedApril 9th: The Confederacy surrendersReconstruction (1865-1898)1865: Lincoln proposes allowing some Black people to vote. Three days later, he is killed. Andrew Johnson becomes PresidentWilliam Lloyd Garrison retiresJohnson gives many rights back to most former Confederates and evicts Black people from their plots of landDebates over land and voting rights take placeThe Ku Klux Klan is founded1866: Frederick Douglass meets with Johnson to discuss Black voting rightsThe Civil Rights Act is passed by Congress, but vetoed by JohnsonWhite rioters kill nearly 50 Black people in MemphisThe 14th Amendment is passed, declaring that anyone born in the United States is a citizen and that no state can limit the rights given to U.S. citizensThe American Equal Right Association forms with the goal of gaining Black and women’s suffrageLate 1860s: The first HBCUs are founded1867-1868: Reconstruction Acts pass, establishing guidelines for readmitting states to the Union, including giving suffrage to Black men in the South1868: Andrew Johnson is impeachedUlysses S. Grant is elected PresidentW.E.B. DuBois is born in MassachusettsKlan terrorism spikesConstitutional conventions in southern states create public institutions and bolster Black and women’s rights1870s: Presses in the North and South vilify Black people, blaming economic and political problems on them1870: The 15th Amendment is ratified, preventing the limitation of voting rights based on raceEnforcement Acts are passed to support Black voting and to limit Klan activity, but the laws are barely enforced1871: Darwin publishes Descent of Man, which expresses contradictory beliefs about raceHenry Ward Beecher’s book argues that there is no reason why Jesus would be White, but the book’s images show Jesus as white (page 252)1872: Grant is reelected amidst a spike in violence in the South1873: An economic depression begins, with a disproportionately negative impact on Black people. This pushes more Black people into sharecropping1875: The Civil Rights Act makes public discrimination illegal, but offers limited means of enforcement 1876: The Hamburg, SC militia’s forced disbandment becomes a key issueCesare Lombardo’s Criminal Man declares that criminality is innateRutherford B. Hayes is electedThe Enforcement Acts are nullified by the Supreme Court1877: In the Bargain of 1877, Hayes pulls troops out of the South1878: Henry Morton Stanley publishes Through the Dark Continent, which inspires Joseph Conrad1879: William Lloyd Garrison dies1880s: The concept of the New South spreads support of segregationist and assimilationist thought in popular culture1882: Washington Williams publishes History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880, which illustrates the role Black men had in American history 1883: The Civil Rights Act is declared unconstitutional 1885: Editor Henry Grady proposes “equal accommodations for each race but separate” (265)Around this time, newspapers and popular sources falsely state that discrimination is ending and that it is not the cause of socioeconomic disparitiesAt the Berlin conference, European leaders “partitioned Africa on the dishonest pretext that they were bringing civilization to the continent” (268)1890s: 1890: Senators, including a former Klan Grand Dragon, propose colonization William Vaughan tries to establish pensions for former slaves, sparking the reparations movementMississippi adds literacy tests with an “understanding clause” to voting requirements1892: 255 people are lynched in one year—the most in U.S. history. That same year, Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases1895: Frederick Douglass diesIn his “Atlanta Compromise,” Booker T. Washington “asked southern Whites to stop trying to push Blacks out of the house of America, and to allow them to reside comfortably in the basement—to help them rise up, knowing that when they rose, the whole house would rise” (277)1896: In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court announces that separate accommodations for White and Black people are legalThe National Association of Colored Women is foundedFrederick Hoffman writes that Black people were in a decline after emancipation—a policy that enables insurers to deny them life insurance1897: DuBois presents assimilationist arguments for ending racial tension1899-19391899: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is published, as is DuBois’s The Philadelphia Negro, Early 1900s: Thomas Dixon Jr. publishes the “Reconstruction Trilogy” of racist fiction1901: Booker T. Washington publishes his autobiography, Up from Slavery. President Theodore Roosevelt invites him to the President’s House. In an attempt to appease racists after this event, Roosevelt renames this building the White House.1903: W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Souls of Black Folk and the Talented Tenth essay1909: The NAACP is founded1910s: The Eugenics movement grows1910: Jack Johnson defeats the “Great White Hope,” Jim JeffriesDuBois becomes founding editor of The Crisis1911: The Crisis starts featuring Black firsts, but “the publicity around Black firsts…reinforced racist ideas blaming Blacks and not the remaining discriminatory barriers” (304)1912: Tarzan makes “the association between animals, savages, and Africa permanent in the American mind.” (page 300)Wilson is elected, in large part by misleading Black voters1914-1918: World War One 1915: “Hollywood’s first feature-length studio production” is The Birth of a Nation (305)DuBois publishes The NegroApprox. 1916: The Great Migration begins. “Over the course of six decades, some 6 million Black southerners left their homes.” (309)1916: Marcus Garvey comes to New York from Jamaica and founds the Universal Negro Improvement AssociationMadison Grant publishes The Passing of the Great Race, which inspires HitlerLewis Terman creates an IQ test, ignoring arguments that its questions are subjective1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed with clauses that divide Germany’s former African colonies among other European nations. The League of Nations is formed and rejects “Japan’s proposal that the League’s charter confess a commitment to the equality of all peoples.” (313)The Red Summer: White supremacists murder hundreds of Black peopleEarly 1920s: DuBois and Garvey spar over color politics and segregationism1924: Coolidge signs the Immigration Act, limiting immigration from certain areasDuBois publishes The Gift of Black Folk: The Negro in the Making of America, which advocates for “a multiracial pluralism,” (321), but he still maintains racist ideasThe Harlem Renaissance grows, along with a call for media suasion1926: The antiracist Niggerati movement forms1928: A special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science effectively says that the Great Migration had disproved segregationism, but maintains an assimilationist stance1929: The Great Depression beginsClaude G. Bowers’s book, The Tragic Era: The Revolution after Lincoln “helped the Democratic Party keep the segregationists in power for another generation.” (331)1930s: DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, and others call for the formation of Negro Studies programsBlack workers join unions to combat capitalism and flawed practices of the New DealHousing officials begin redlining1931: The Scottsboro boys are falsely convicted of rape1932: The Tuskegee syphilis study begins (and denies men treatment for 40 years)1933: DuBois shares an account of the evolution of his thinking towards antiracism 1934: DuBois writes in favor of bolstering segregated institutions and argues that assimilation isn’t an effective way to combat racism1935: DuBois publishes Black Reconstruction in America: 1860-1880, which argues that the Reconstruction years were the closest to true democracy that the U.S. ever came1936: Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at the Berlin Olympics1937: Zora Neal Hurston publishes Their Eyes Were Watching God1938: The American Anthropological Association denounces biological racism1939: E. Franklin Frazier’s book criticizes Black families and argues for assimilationThe movie version of Gone with the Wind is released to wild popularity1939-19501939-1945: World War Two1940: Ruth Benedict defines racism as “an unproved assumption of the biological and perpetual superiority of one human group over another” (342)The Clark doll studyRichard Wright’s Native Son is published1944: Gunnar Myrdal publishes An American Dilemna states that ignorance led to racism, and “inspired a cadre…to power up the next generation of racist ideas and the assimilationist wing of the civil rights movement.” (page 351)The GI Bill gives benefits to veterans, but limits benefits for Black veteransAngela Davis is born 1945: Richard Wright publishes Black Boy Members of the Pan-African Congress demand immediate decolonization of AfricaDean Acheson warns Truman that racism in the U.S. negatively impacts foreign relations1947: The Truman Doctrine declares that the U.S. is the leader of the free world. Dobzhansky and Montagu develop the dual-evolution theoryThe Committee on Civil Rights releases To Secure These Rights, naming racism as a moral problem and recommending new legislation1948: Truman uses an executive order to desegregate the military. Sports leagues also desegregateTruman beats Strom Thurmond in the presidential electionThe Supreme Court’s Shelley v. Kramer ruling strikes down discriminatory housing policies, leading to White flight1950: McCarthy drums up the Red Scare1951-19681951: Antiracists release We Charge GenocideThe USIA releases The Negro in American Life, arguing that racial disparities had lessened over the course of American history1953: Eisenhower ends civil rights work, calling racism “a failure of individual feelings” (361)The Brown v. Board of Ed. ruling declares that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” because they limited Black students’ exposure to White culture (362)1955: Emmet Till is killed1956: The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1957: The Civil Rights Act is passed, but has no means of enforcementThe Little Rock Nine are prevented from desegregating a school until Eisenhower sends soldiers to protect themE. Franklin Frazier publishes Black Bourgeoisie 1960: The lunch counter sit-ins beginTo Kill A Mockingbird is publishedBarry Goldwater writes The Conscience of a Conservative, spreading the myth that welfare use creates dependence1961: DuBois goes to Ghana to work on Encyclopedia AfricanaFranz Fanon writes The Wretched of the Earth1963: Alabama governor George Wallace speaks in support of segregationMoynihan and Glazer’s Beyond the Melting Pot presents a hierarchy of ethnic racism and blames African-Americans for the struggles they faceDr. King writes “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” amidst Bull Conner’s violent response to demonstrations in BirminghamPresident Kennedy introduces civil rights legislation, but is motivated by a desire to improve the way other nations see the U.S.The Birmingham church bombingJames Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time is publishedJFK is assassinatedW.E.B. DuBois dies the day before The March on Washington 1964: The only known meeting of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm XThe Civil Rights Act of 1964 “managed to bring on racial progress and progression of racism at the same time.” (386)The Mississippi Freedom Summer1965: Malcolm X is assassinatedThe Voting Rights Act passes. It is “the most effective piece of antiracist legislation ever passed by the Congress of the United States of America” (392)The Watts rebellion begins after a dispute between police and a man pulled over for reckless drivingThe book Dark Ghetto pushes popular language to conflate the concepts of race, poverty, and crime1966: The March Against Fear sparks the Black Power movement1967: Over 100 rebellions take placeCongress approves work requirements for welfare programsDr. King’s Where Do We Go from Here? is published. He is criticized as an anarchist for this and for his work on the Poor People’s CampaignStokely Carmichael publishes Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, contrasting individual and institutional racism1968: Planet of the Apes is releasedThe law and order movement developsCleaver’s Soul on Ice is publishedIn Black Families in White America, Andrew Billingsley says that “to deny the history of a people is to deny their humanity” (403)The Kerner Commission announces that racism caused the 1967 riots, and recommends changing policies and practices of housing, welfare, education, policing, and other social structuresDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.125 urban uprisings take place after Dr. King’s assassinationCharlene Mitchell is the first Black woman to run for president1969-20081969: Then-governor Reagan tries to fire Angela Davis from her teaching positionI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is publishedThe Stonewall uprising1970s:Blaxploitation films become popular. Afros also become simultaneously popular and criticized for being “unprofessional”Klan membership nearly triples1970: Davis is charged with murder in connection to the Soledad Brothers/Jackson case, and flees, but is caughtToni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is published1971: The Griggs v. Duke Power Co. ruling says that companies’ private discrimination is not illegal1972: Angela Davis is acquitted and released from prison1973: Nationwide, black poverty rates are at their lowest levels1973: Roe v. WadeThe National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is formed1974: Nixon resigns1975: Edward Osborne Wilson’s Sociobiology enables racists to use coded language to have racist meanings 1976: Ntzoake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf debutsRocky is the highest-grossing film of the year1977: Roots airs, becoming “the most watched show in US television history” (422) while spreading racist concepts President Carter makes cuts in social programs1978: Regents v. Bakke lets universities “take race into account” in admissions (427)William Julius Williams publishes The Declining Significance of Race1979: Bo Derek wears cornrows, kicking off a flurry of cultural appropriation Angela Davis says that “in a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist.” (429)1980s:1980: Angela Davis joins the Communist Party’s presidential candidate as his running mate. Reagan wins the election“During Reagan’s first year in office, the median income of Black families declined by 5.2 percent, and the number of poor Americans in general increased by 2.2 million.” (431)1981: Davis publishes Women, Race & Class, which “helped forge a new method of study, an integrative race, gender, and class analysis” (page 433)bell hooks publishes Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism1982: Alice Walker publishes The Color PurpleReagan launches the War on Drugs1984: Jesse Jackson runs for president. Angela Davis again runs for vice president on the CPUSA ticketThe Cosby show airs1986: Media campaigns flood the public with scare stories about crack cocaineCongress passes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (which Reagan tries to veto)Coming to America comes outReagan’s Anti-Drug Abuse Act creates significant minimum sentences for drug offenses. This law goes on to disproportionately impact Black people despite equal rates of drug use between Black and White people—and higher rates of drug dealing among Whites. This leads to a popular perception of the “dangerous Black neighborhood” (436)CBS airs The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America1987: The McClesky v. Kemp decision enables racial profiling in the criminal justice system to continueThe Civil Rights Restoration Act passes1988: Molefi Kete Asante coins the term “Afrocentricity”1989: Do the Right Thing airs, with “Fight the Power” on its soundtrackCritical race theory and intersectionalism launchThe 1990s:1991: The Soviet Union dissolvesRodney King is beaten by LAPD officersClarence Thomas is appointed to the Supreme Court despite Anita Hill’s accusations1992: The officers who beat Rodney King are acquitted, sparking demonstrationsSister Souljah releases 360 Degrees of PowerBill Clinton wins the presidential election1994: Angela Davis calls for “a new abolitionism” (page 454)The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act drastically expands law enforcement and creates the 3-strikes laws. “The net effect would be the largest increase of the prison population in US history, mostly on nonviolent drug offenses.”(454)Herrnstein and Murray argue that intelligence is not relativeNewt Gingrich makes the racist term “personal responsibility” mainstream1995: Dinesh D’Souza declares The End of RacismThe Million Man March takes place, but its organizers exhibit gender racism1996: The American Psychological Association Task Force on Intelligence says that it cannot find an explanation for the racial difference in scores on standardized intelligence testsClinton signs the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation ActAffirmative action is banned in CaliforniaThe Oakland Unified School District recognizes Ebonics as a language1997: Clinton’s remarks lead to the popularization of the concept of color-blindnessThe Million Woman March takes place in Philadelphia1998: Angela Davis’s Blues Legacies and Black Feminism “expressed antiracist ideas in the five major analytic categories: gender, race, class, sexuality, and culture” (470)The 2000s:2000: After “the completion of the first survey of the entire human genome,” Clinton announces that “in genetic terms, all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9 percent the same” (474). Segregationists then try to attribute the .1% difference to race.John McWhorter’s Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America states that “Black people’s main obstacle was Black people,” (page 473)George W. Bush wins the presidential election in large part because Black voters in Florida are prevented from voting2001: The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance mobilizes antiracists, but this progress is halted a few days later by the attacks of 9/112003: The Supreme Court upholds affirmative action, but says that it will not be necessary by the year 2028No Child Left Behind is signed into law2004: Bill Cosby blames poor parents for children’s educational differencesBarack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention and Dreams from My Father is republished2005: Hurricane Katrina kills 1,800 people2006: The Supreme Court rules against school desegregation efforts in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1.2007: Obama announces his candidacy for presidentThe NAACP ceremonially buries the N-word2008: Barack Obama is elected president and people falsely declare that America is in a “postracial” era. ................
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