Timeline: Black History: From Slave Plantation to President

Summary

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17th-18th centuries: Hundreds of thousands of Africans brought to the United States and sold into slavery to work on cotton and tobacco plantations, right.

1770: An escaped slave, Crispus Attucks, becomes the first African to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre.

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Extract

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Timeline: Black History: From Slave Plantation to President

1775: George Washington changes a previous policy and allows free blacks to enlist in the Continental Army. Approximately 5,000 do so. The British governor of Virginia promises freedom to slaves who enlist with the British.

1776: A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies.

1787: The US Constitution is ratified. It provides for the continuation of the slave trade for another 20 years and requires states to aid slaveholders in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It also stipulates that a slave counts as three-fifths of a man for purposes of determining representation in the House of Representatives.

1791: Slaves revolt in Haiti against the French rulers and slaveowners. Americans, par...

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