American Slavery: A Brief
Overview
by Jeffrey Schell
ED 717 – R. Helms Ph.D.
Target Audience -Eighth Grade
Social Studies
Objective
 Immediately following the presentation,
students should be able to match events
with the year they actually occurred.
Materials Needed
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A viewing screen
Computer loaded with MS PowerPoint software
An LCD projector or large display monitor
A pencil
A blank timeline sheet that students will fill out
following the presentation.
– Following review by the instructor, the student will keep
the timeline in their binder. Their notes and the timeline
will help students to prepare for final exams and their
proficiency tests.
1619
 A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured
servants to the English colony of
Jamestown, Virginia.
1739
 One of the earliest slave revolts takes place
in Stono, South Carolina. Many whites and
more than twice as many black slaves are
killed as the armed slaves try to flee to
Florida.
1773
 The first book by an African
American is published in England
when Phillis Wheatley , then a
slave, publishes "Poems on
Various Subjects, Religious and
Morals."
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 U.S. Constitution is ratified. It allowed
for the continuation of the slave trade for
another 20 years. The U.S. Constitution
also required states to aid slaveholders in
the recovery of fugitive slaves.
1793
Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act,
which makes it a crime to harbor an escaped
slave.
1800
 Gabriel Prosser tries to
organize the first largescale slave revolt in the
U.S., gathering more
than 1,000 armed
slaves in Virginia. The
revolt fails, and Prosser
and more than 35 other
slaves are executed.
1807
 The Congress bans the importation of
African slaves into the U.S. For the most
part, this law was ignored in the South.
1831
 Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrisons starts to
publish The Liberator, a fiercely anti-slavery
newspaper, in Boston.
 Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion in Virginia.
Fifty-seven whites are killed, but Turner is
eventually captured and executed.
1839
 Slaves being transported aboard the
Spanish ship Amistad take it over and sail it
to Long Island. They eventually win their
freedom in a Supreme Court case.
1845
 Frederick Douglass publishes
his autobiography, Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
An American Slave, Written by
Himself. It became an
international bestseller and
Helped inspire many people to
Join the abolitionist movement.
1849
 Harriet Tubman escaped
from slavery. She returned to
the South and became one
of the main "conductors" on
the Underground Railroad,
helping more than 300
escaped slaves find freedom.
1850
 Congress passes another Fugitive Slave
Act, which mandates government support
for the capture of escaped slaves, and spurs
widespread protest in the North.
– Bostonian transcendentalist author Ralph Waldo
Emerson becomes an outspoken opponent to
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
1851
 Freedwoman Sojourner
Truth, a compelling
speaker for abolitionism,
gives her famous "Ain't I
a Woman" speech in
Akron, Ohio.
1852
 Harriet Beecher Stowe
publishes her anti-slavery
novel Uncle Tom's Cabin,
which is an immediate
bestseller and helps turn
public opinion against the
Fugitive Slave Act and
slavery itself.
1857
 In the Dred Scott case, the U.S. Supreme
Court decides that African Americans are
not citizens of the U.S. Therefore, Congress
has no power to restrict slavery in any
federal territory. This meant that a slave who
made it to a free state would still be
considered a slave.
1861
 The Civil War begins when the
Confederates attack Fort Sumter, in
Charleston, South Carolina. The war, fought
over the issue of slavery, will rage for
another four years. The Union's victory will
mean the end of slavery in the U.S.
1863
 President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation legally frees all slaves in the
Confederacy.
Works Cited
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http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline/early_04.html
http://www.bridgew.edu/HOBA/Wheatley.cfm
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/trumbull.htm
http://www.richmond.com/news/output.aspx?Article_ID=617840&Vertic
al_ID=2&tier=1&position=7
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2962b.html
http://www.jahworks.org/travel/queens_of_africa.htm
http://www.visitingdc.com/president/abraham-lincoln-picture.htm
http://www.state.il.us/HPA/lib/GenPrideAfAm.htm
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/George-WashingtonPosters_i375862_.htm
http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/images/revolt/talladega.mutiny.j
pg