From Jessica McElrath,
Your Guide to African-American History.
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1517

The trans-Atlantic slave trade begins.

1619

Twenty African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.

1626

Eleven black male slaves are imported to New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company.

1641

Massachusetts becomes the first colony to legalize slavery.

1650

Connecticut legalizes slavery.

1661

Virginia officially recognizes slavery by statute.

1662

A Virginia statute declares that children born would have the same status as their mother.

1663

Maryland legalizes slavery. A Maryland statute attempts to enforce a law that all blacks, even those who are free, would be slaves and all blacks born would be slaves regardless of the status of their mother.

A slave rebellion occurs in Gloucester County, Virginia.

1664

Slavery is legalized in New York and New Jersey.

Maryland legally prohibits marriage between white women and black men.

1676

Virginian slaves and indentured servants participate in Bacon’s Rebellion.

1681

A new Maryland law changed the 1663 law by establishing that children born to free black women and black children of white women would be free.

1688

Pennsylvania Quakers pass an anti-slavery resolution.

1691

Slave codes are passed by South Carolina.

The manumission of slaves is prohibited in Virginia.

1700

Slavery is legalized in Pennsylvania.

1705

A Massachusetts law makes interracial marriage between blacks and whites illegal.

1711

The importation of blacks is prohibited in Pennsylvania.

1712

In a New York slave rebellion, 23 slaves in possession of guns and knives, set fire to the home of a slave owner. The slaves killed nine whites and injured six others. The slaves responsible were captured and put on trial. Twenty-one of the slaves were found guilty and executed.

The importation of slaves is prohibited in Pennsylvania.

Freed blacks are prohibited from owning property in New York.

1715

A New York slave code attempts to deter slaves from escaping to Canada, by declaring that slaves that were caught 40 miles north of Albany would be executed based upon the oath of two credible witnesses.

Blacks outnumbered whites by 10,500 to 6,250 in South Carolina.

Slavery is legalized in Rhode Island.

1717

A fugitive slave law is enacted by New York.

1723

Manumission becomes illegal in Virginia.

1735

The importation and use of black slaves is prohibited in Georgia.

1738

The importation of black slaves is permitted by the Georgia trustees.

Spanish Florida declares that freedom and land would be given to runaway slaves.

1739

September 9 – The slave uprising, the Stono Rebellion, occurs in South Carolina. Slaves burn and kill whites. Slaves are stopped before they can reach Florida.

1740

The Negro Act is passed in South Carolina. The act makes it illegal for slaves to gather in groups, earn money, learn to read, and raise food. The act permits owners to kill rebellious slaves.

1749

Georgia repeals its prohibition against slavery.

1758

Quakers in Pennsylvania prohibit its members from owning slaves.

1770

March 5 – Crispus Attucks, a fugitive slave, is the first to be killed in the American Revolution.

1767

Phillis Wheatley, a slave, publishes her first poem in the Newport Rhode Island, Mercury.

1773

Phillis Wheatley’s book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral is published.

1774

Slave importation is prohibited by Georgia, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

1775

The first abolitionist society is organized.

1776

In Philadelphia, the Quakers prohibit its members from holding slaves.

Delaware prohibits slave importation.

1777

Vermont becomes the first colony to abolish slavery.