Emancipation timeline
Explore the history of emancipation from the Civil War to today. Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation, now on view through July 9, responds to the long and unresolved history of emancipation in the United States. From the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, the fight for emancipation continues to this day, yet the hope for a brighter future remains.
1600-1800
1619
This year is often cited as the landing of the first ship carrying captive Africans to what would become the United States, though captive Africans were present in North America beginning in the 1500s.
1705
Virginia enacts a series of laws known as the Virginia Slave Codes essentially legalizing the institution of slavery, serving as a model for other colonies.
1775-83
The American Revolution is fought.
1793
Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, making it a federal crime to assist a slave trying to escape.
Early 1800s
1845
Frederick Douglass writes his first of three autobiographies documenting his experiences as an enslaved person, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
1851
The formerly enslaved woman Sojourner Truth delivers her powerful speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” asserting her right to equality as a woman and as a Black American at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention.
1857
The United States Supreme Court declares all Black people, freed or enslaved, are not and can never become citizens of the United States. The court also declares the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all the country's territories.
1859
Runaway slave Harriet Tubman helps nearly 300 people escape enslavement via the Underground Railroad.
1860
The Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States, transports 110 captured Africans to Alabama.