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The first people to ever set foot on the American continents, came over the Bering Strait from Siberia, Asia. Evidence shows us that migration passed the American border not only across the ice-free corridor, but also along the coast by boat. -
The vikings came to America to explore the land. Scientists believe that Vikings occupied a area in Newfoundland in Canada. -
When Cristopher Colombus's expedition reached the Americans. On this expedition Colombus believed that he had descovered a new route to India, and called the people he met for Indians. This "India" he had found was an island part of America that he named San Salvador, this was the start of the European colonization. -
The settlement was sponsored by the Virginia Company in hope of finding gold and a Northwest Passage to the Orient. -
They saw the need for cheap labor, and then the first legal slave owner was recognized. This is where the Triangular Trade continued. The British sailed off with manufactured goods to Africa to trade for slaves and raw materials, continued the trip to America and sold the slaves there. -
There is an estimation that there were about 250,000 slaves taken to America at this timespan. And owning slaves in this period of time was largely accepted. This is also when Abraham Lincon was president and he used his presidency to ensure the freedom of slaves.
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When the colonies wanted independece from the British crown, an eight-year war broke out over disagreements.
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The transition from being a colony to becoming an independent country did not happen peacefully. -
The North won the war and slavery was officially abolished. But African Americans were still not treated equally in the US. Native Americans had been forced to live their lands and to relocate to Indian reservations.
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African Americans were elected into office work. The southern states made it difficult for African Americans to have the power to vote.
These states increasingly passed local and state laws that allowed for racial segregation in public schools, on public transport, in public areas and in the workplace
These laws were known as the Jim Crow laws. -
The Supreme Court ruled that "Separate but equal" was Constitutional. -
Still 100 years later after the slavery was abolished, segregation and discrimination were still pretty common. -
The supreme court had an idea of "separate but equal”, and segregation was no longer allowed in public schools. -
Rosa Park refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man and got arrested. -
The occurrence with Rosa parks forced an end to segregation on public buses and introduced Martin Luther King as the leader of the civil rights movement.
Luther wanted to have this idea of non-violent protest and African Americans took up his idea.
250,000 people took part and listened to Martin Luther King as he delivered his speech “I have a dream”. -
The work that people had done was rewarded with the signing of the Civil Rights Act. -
These acts Voting and Civil Rights Acts gave African Americans the same rights as whites, but also benefitted other minority groups. -
The US had its first African-American president, Barack Obama.
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The movement Black Lives Matter was founded and since then people all over the US, as well as in other countries, have used the hashtag in protest. -
Kamala Harris became the first female Vice President