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Period: 1492 to
Colonization
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The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
The 1680 Pueblo Revolt stands as North America's most successful Indigenous resistance movement (Knaut, 1995). Led by Popé, coordinated Pueblo peoples across present-day New Mexico expelled Spanish colonizers for twelve years, challenging European dominance narratives.
Reference: Knaut, A. M. (1995). The Pueblo revolt of 1680: Conquest and resistance in seventeenth-century New Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press. -
Period: to
Revolution
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Shay's Rebellion
Debt-ridden farmers led by Daniel Shays exposed class tensions in the new republic, challenging economic policies favoring wealthy creditors. This uprising influenced Constitutional Convention creation and established tension between democracy and elite control (Richards, 2002; Holton, 2007).
Holton, W. (2007). Unruly Americans and the origins of the Constitution. Hill and Wang.
Richards, L. L. (2002). Shays's Rebellion: The American revolution's final battle. University of Pennsylvania Press. -
The Second Great Awakening
This Protestant revival democratized Christianity and sparked reform movements including abolition, women's rights, and education (Hatch, 1989). The movement's emphasis on perfectibility and social justice became embedded in American culture, creating moral frameworks for later civil rights movements (Butler, 1990; McLoughlin, 1978). -
Period: to
Early 19th Century
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The Underground Railroad Network: Peak
The largest organized resistance to slavery involved thousands in coordinated freedom efforts, creating unprecedented interracial cooperation (Still, 1872/1968; Bordewich, 2005). This network established grassroots organizing patterns and civil disobedience models that later influenced the Civil Rights Movement (Siebert, 1898/1967). -
Period: to
The Civil War era
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The Establishment of HBCU's
HBCUs like Howard (1867) and Morehouse (1867) created spaces for Black higher education free from white supremacist constraints (Anderson, 1988). These institutions became centers of Black intellectual life, producing leaders who shaped American culture and civil rights (Roebuck Murty, 1993; Brown Davis, 2001). -
Period: to
Reconstruction
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Period: to
Industrial Revolution
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The Great Railroad Strike
The first nationwide labor uprising involved over 100,000 workers striking against wage cuts, demonstrating organized labor's power and class conflicts in industrial capitalism (Bruce, 1959; Foner, 1977). This established patterns of labor organizing that fundamentally shaped American working-class culture (Stowell, 2008). -
Period: to
Turn of the Century
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The Founding of NAACP
Emerging from the 1908 Springfield Race Riot, the NAACP became the first permanent national civil rights organization, founded by activists including W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Kellogg, 1967). It pioneered legal strategies challenging segregation and established frameworks for modern civil rights (Lewis, 2000; Jonas, 2005). -
Period: to
World War 1
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The Great Migration
Over 500,000 African Americans left the rural South for Northern cities, fundamentally transforming American demographics and culture (Wilkerson, 2010). This migration created vibrant Black urban communities leading to the Harlem Renaissance and development of blues and jazz (Grossman, 1989; Lemann, 1991). -
Period: to
Prosperity, Depression and World War II
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The New Deal Programs
New Deal programs like Social Security and WPA fundamentally altered federal-citizen relationships, establishing government responsibility for economic security (Leuchtenburg, 1963). These programs created social safety nets and cultures of collective responsibility continuing to influence American politics (Katznelson, 2005; Brinkley, 1995). -
Period: to
Cold War
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Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision declared school segregation unconstitutional, overturning "separate but equal" doctrine (Kluger, 1975). Brought by NAACP lawyers including Thurgood Marshall, Brown catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement and established federal judiciary as civil rights protector (Patterson, 2001; Klarman, 2004). -
Period: to
People's Movement
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The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Over 250,000 people gathered in the largest political demonstration in American history, demanding civil rights and economic justice (Gentile, 2001). Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech became influential American rhetoric, helping secure the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Hansen, 2003; Euchner, 1993). -
The Stonewall uprising and the LGBTQ+ rights Movement
Stonewall Inn patrons fighting back against police raids marked the beginning of modern LGBTQ+ rights movement (Carter, 2004). This rebellion challenged traditional concepts of sexuality and gender, expanding American civil rights understanding and creating new political organizing forms (Duberman, 1993; Faderman, 2015). -
Period: to
The Post-Civil Rights Era
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Period: to
Contemporary Era
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Black Lives Matter
Founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi after Trayvon Martin's killer's acquittal, BLM represents new grassroots organizing models combining traditional protest with digital activism (Cullors, 2021; Taylor, 2016). The movement influenced national conversations about race and policing (Rickford, 2016).