Black history in the United States is a rich and varied chronicle of slavery and liberty, oppression and progress, segregation and achievement. Though captive and free Africans were likely present in the Americas by the 1400s, the kidnapped men, women and children from Africa who were sold first to European colonists in 1619, and later to American citizens, became symbolic of the early years of Black history in the United States. The fate of enslaved people in the United States divided the nation during the Civil War. And after the war, the racist legacy of slavery persisted, spurring movements of resistance, including the Underground Railroad, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Selma to Montgomery March, and, later, the Black Lives Matter movement. Through it all, Black leaders, artists and writers have emerged to shape the character and identity of a nation. Continue reading from History
