1644-1645: First slaving venture helps legitimize bondage in Massachusetts
1676: Executions portend broad assault on Indigenous peoples
1676: Colonists trade Indigenous captives for enslaved Africans
1761: Phillis Wheatley Peters: Genius poet arrives on slave ship
1773-1779: Black freedom petitions: "For the sake of justice, humanity"
1776-1783: Service for freedom: thousands join British forces
1783: Belinda Sutton: Fights to be paid for 50 years in bondage
1784: Black Freemasons spur activism, advance abolitionist cause
1832: Maria W. Stewart: Militant abolitionist, women's rights champion
1833: Native leader designates "Days of Mourning" to mark colonists' arrival
1835: Enslaved workers lay foundation for modern rail network
1837: Planter's daughters campaign for abolition, women's rights
1838: Abolitionists demand Congress restore free debate on slavery
1838-1846: Cooperatives produce fair-labor goods, model shared values
1842: "Under ground Rail-road" promoter transports hundreds to freedom
1842: Sarah Parker Remond: Activist for human rights, women's suffrage
1843: Abolitionists campaign against segregation, for interracial marriage
1845: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: Poet, anti-slavery activist
1847: The Crafts: Tireless speakers against slavery after daring escape
1850: Abolitionist Nancy Gardner Prince publishes autobiography
1851: Sojourner Truth: Activist for abolition, women's rights, prison reform
1861: Swayed by landscape architect, Britain shuns Confederacy
1862: Sculptor honors abolitionists, feminists, Lincoln declares freedom for all
1863: Abraham Galloway: Militant activist, Union spy, civil rights leader
1864: U.S. soldiers kill, rape Native people promised asylum
1865: KKK founded; will boast over 500,000 New England members in 1920s