During the first four years of the 1860s, the Civil War began. African-American men and women--freed and enslaved--began supporting the Union Army.
1860:
- African-Americans make up 14 percent of the population, according to the US Census of 1860.
- Abraham Lincoln is elected president
- South Carolina secedes from the Union on December 20.
1861
- Congress enacts the First Confiscation Act preventing Confederate slave owners from reenslaving runaways. This act makes the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 illegal.
- Martin Delany’s response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published in serialized form in the Anglo American. Entitled Blake: Or Huts of America, the novel reveals the thoughts of an insurrectionist.
- A group of African-American men from New Orleans organize the First Louisiana Native Guard of the Confederate Army. This will be the only military unit of African-American officers fighting for secession.
- By February states such as Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas secede and form the Confederate States of America on March 4.
- By April South Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina have also seceded.
- The Civil War begins with an estimated 200,000 free African-Americans and escaped slave men joining the Union Armed Forces. More than 20,000 are killed in the four-year battle.
1862
- The Port Royal Reconstruction Experiment begins. Former enslaved African-Americans worked on land abandoned by plantation owners.
- Enslavement is abolished in Washington D.C.
- African-American soldiers can enlist in the United States Army.
- Liberia and Haiti are recognized by U.S. Congress. This is the first act of diplomacy towards nations led by blacks.
- The Emancipation Proclamation is issued by former President Lincoln. He announces that it will be effective on January 1, 1863 if seceded states have not returned to the Union.
- Mary Jane Patterson is the first African-American woman to receive a bachelor’s degree. Patterson is a graduate of Oberlin College.
1863:
- The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect on January 1. Enslaved African-Americans in Southern states are freed.
- William Wells Brown publishes The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius and His Achievements.
- Douglass begins enlisting African-American men to fight in the Civil War.
- The New York City Draft Riots begin on July 13. After four days of rioting, an estimated 100 residents are killed.
- The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, the first African-American military unit to be recognized by the Union Army attacks Fort Wagner in Charleston, SC.
- Sergeant William H. Carney is the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Carney receives the honor for his bravery under fire.
- Robert Smalls is the first African-American to be commissioned a captain in the U.S. Navy.
- Susie King Taylor is the first African-American nurse to serve in the army.
- Harriet Tubman begins working as a spy for the Union Army.
1864
- An estimated 300 Union soldiers are killed during The Fort Pillow Massacre. Only 14 Confederate soldiers die during the battle.
- Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first African-American woman to earn a degree in medicine. Crumpler graduates from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.
- U.S. Congress passes a bill mandating equal pay, equipment, arms and healthcare resources for African-American soldiers.
- La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orleans, also known as the New Orleans Tribune, begins publication on October 4. The Tribune is the first African-American owned daily newspaper.