February is Black History Month. Each day one historical fact will be shared from the time period of 1492 - 2000, in 25 year increments. 

Today's fact:

1851-1875

In the Dred Scott case, the US Supreme Court ruled that slaves are property.  John Brown leads a slave revolt in Harper’s Ferry, VA but this failed, and he was subsequently hanged.  In 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected president and the Civil War began in 1861.  In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people held in Confederate states.  The 13th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified in 1865, abolishing slavery in the United States.  Reconstruction Acts imposed military rule on much of the South and demanded full enfranchisement for Black people and total restructuring of state constitutions.