African American History and Women

What's included? See note below timeline.

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Women and African American History: 1860-1863

1860

• founded in 1832 and accepting male and female, white and black students, by 1860 Oberlin's student population was one-third African American

1861

• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, autobiography of Harriet Jacobs, was published, including descriptions of the sexual exploitation of female slaves

• Laura Towne, from Pennsylvania, went to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina to teach the former slaves -- she ran a school in the Sea Islands until 1901, adopting several African American children with her friend and teaching partner, Ellen Murray

1862

• Charlotte Forten arrived in the Sea Islands to work with Laura Towne, teaching former slaves

• Mary Jane Patterson, graduating from Oberlin College, was the first African American woman to graduate from an American college

• Congress abolished slavery in Washington, DC

• (July 16) Ida B. Wells (Wells-Barnett) born (muckraking journalist, lecturer, activist, anti-lynching writer and activist)

• (July 13-17) many New York African Americans killed in draft riots

• (September 22) Emancipation Proclamation issued, freeing slaves within territory controlled by the Union

1863

• Fanny Kemble published Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation which opposed slavery and served as anti-slavery propaganda

• Susie King Taylor, African American army nurse with the Union army, began writing her journal, later published as In Reminiscences of My Life in Camp: Civil War Nurse

• Mary Church Terrell born (activist, clubwoman)

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[1492-1699] [1700-1799] [1800-1829] [1830-1839] [1840-1849] [1850-1859] [1860-1863] [1864-1869] [1870-1879] [1880-1889] [1890-1899] [1900-1909] [1910-1919] [1920-1929] [1930-1939] [1940-1949] [1950-1959] [1960-1969] [1970-1979] [1980-1989] [1990-1999] [2000-]
[Biographies of Notable African American Women]

Events in this timeline include:

• events featuring African American women
• birth and death dates for many notable African American women
• general African American events which had significant impact on African American women and families as well as men
• events involving key women whose work influenced African American history, for instance the involvement of many European American women in anti-slavery work
• birth and death dates for key women whose work was important in African American history, for instance in anti-slavery or civil rights work