| 1870 | Freed slaves move past slavery (1870's) | Starting in the 1870's, many former slaves began migrating out of the intolerant south and into the more prosperous north. |
| 1900 | Harlem becomes a final destination | Harlem, in New York, had been established by wealthy white citizens. As former slaves and other immigrants moved north, they settled into this well-to-do neighborhood. |
| 1910 | The NAACP is founded | NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. |
| 1916 | Madame Walker moves to Harlem | Madame Walker moved to Harlem in 1916. She was an affluent black woman who had made millions of dollars after she created a hair product for black women. |
| 1917 | Protests and Riots for equal rights | A silent protest was organized in New York after riots in St. Louis killed hundreds of blacks. During this time, many blacks got together and fought for their rights. |
| 1918 | Marcus Garvey begins publishing | Marcus Garvey had the goal of uniting Negros around the world. He began publishing The Negro World. |
| 1919 | The American Negro | A writer named Benjamin Brawley wrote and published a work called The Negro in Art and Literature in the United States. |
| 1924 | Civic Club Dinner launches the New Negro | This was an organized dinner where black writers were brought together with white publishers. |
| 1925 | The New Negro movement | Alain Locke edited and put out Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro. This helped continue the new Negro movement that started with the Civic Dinner the year before. |
| 1927 | An African American wins the Pulitzer Prize | Paul Green wrote a work called In Abraham's Bosom. It won a Pulitzer Prize. |
| 1927 | Louis Armstrong plays jazz | Louis Armstrong began his jazz career. |
| 1927 | Harlem Globetrotters | The Harem Globetrotters was established. It is still widely known today. |
| 1929 | A successful Broadway play by a black artist | Harlem, written by Wallace Thurman, opened on Broadway. It became the most successful play by a black author of its time. |
| 1929 | The Great Depression hits | In 1929 the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. |
| 1934 | The fight against segregation | Members of the NAACP and the American Fund for Public Service met to discuss ways to end segregation, or the separation of blacks and whites. |
| 1937 | The last novel of the Harlem Renaissance | African American author Zora Hurston published the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. It was considered the last novel of the Harlem Renaissance. |
