1820

The Missouri Compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave-holding state and Maine as a free state. The compromise also established distinct boundaries between enslaved and free territories in the West at the 36^th Parallel.

 

1821

White male voters in New York do not have to abide by property qualifications while African-American male voters must meet these standards.

 

Freed African-American male voters in Missouri are disenfranchised.


 

Thomas Jenning develops a process for dry cleaning clothes and is the first African-American to receive a patent.

 

The first African-American acting company, African Grove Theater Group, is established in New York City.

 

The first American antislavery newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation is published in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio by Benjamin Lundy. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison helps to edit and publish the newspaper.

 

1822

Denmark Vessey is arrested for organizing a slave insurrection in South Carolina.

 

Rhode Island prohibits African-Americans from participating in the voting process.

Segregated public schools are established in Philadelphia for African-American children.

 

1823

The African Grove Theater performs the first play written by an African-American. Entitled The Drama of King Shotaway, the play was written by William Henry Brown.

 

The AntiSlavery Society is established in Great Britain.

 

1824

Liberia is founded by freed African-Americans. Founded by the American Colonization Society, the land was originally known as Monrovia.

 

Elizabeth Hyrick publishes the pamphlet, Immediate not Gradual Emancipation

 

1826

Sojourner Truth becomes a freedom seeker when she escapes enslavement with her infant daughter, Sophia. Truth will later establish herself as a feminist and abolitionist.

 

1827

Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm publish the first African-American newspaper, Freedom's Journal. The publication is circulated in eleven states, Haiti, Europe and Canada.

 

Sarah Mapps Douglass establishes a school for African-American children in Philadelphia.

Slavery is abolished in New York.

1828

Theodore Sedgewick Wright is the first African-American graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary.  

1829

The Cincinnati Riots push more than 50 percent of the African-American community out the city limits. This mob violence was the first of many acts of violence towards black communities in Northern areas.

Writer and abolitionist David Walker publishes An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World.

1830

The National Negro Convention conducts its first meeting in Philadelphia. Delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia meet to discuss ways to end enslavement and racism.

 

1831

North Carolina establishes a law prohibiting slaves from being taught to read or write.

Nat Turner leads a slave insurrection in Southampton, Va. Turner and other rebels kill an estimated 57 whites before being arrested and killed.

Alabama prohibits freed or enslaved African-Americans from preaching.

Garrison establishes The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper.

The first autobiography by an African-American woman, The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, A Coloured Lady is published.

1832

Oberlin College in Ohio is established, admitting African-American men and women.

The first African-American women’s abolitionist society, Female Anti-Slavery Society, is established in Salem, Mass.

 

The Georgia Infirmary is founded in savannah. Established by white funders, it is the first hospital in the United States to provide care to African-American patients.

 

1833

The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Philadelphia.

 

1834

African Free Schools are merged into the New York Public School system.

 

South Carolina prohibits freed or enslaved African-Americans from being taught to read.

 

The first African-American bookstore is opened by abolitionist David Ruggles in New York City.

1835

Women organize societies such as the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Women such as Lucretia Mott, Grace Bustill Douglass are members.

 

Antislavery petitions flood the offices of congressman. These petitions are part of a campaign launched by abolitionists.

 

1836

Texas becomes independent from Mexico, recognizes enslavement and passes laws to make it difficult for freed African-Americans to remain in the state.

 

Various abolitionist organizations rally together and sue in the Commonwealth v. Aves case in which a slave traveled to Boston with her mistress from New Orleans.

 

Sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke begin their careers as abolitionists.

 

The Gag Rule makes it impossible for U.S. Congress to hear petitions

1837

Presbyterian minister and abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy establishes the antislavery publication, Alton Observer.

 

The Vigilance Committee is established by abolitionist and businessman Robert Purvis to help runaway slaves.

The Antislavery Convention of American Women gathers for the first time. This interracial association was comprised of various women's antislavery groups.

The Institute for Colored Youth is founded. It is one of the earliest black colleges in the United States and is renamed Cheyney University.

 

Francis Johnson, the first African-American composer to publish sheet music, becomes the first American to perform before Queen Victoria in England.

 

1838

African-American voters are disenfranchised in Pennsylvania.

 

1839

The Spanish ship, Amistad, is towed into a Connecticut harbor. On board are 53 Africans.