Barack Obama, junior U.S. senator from Illinois, became the Democratic Party nominee in the 2008 presidential election and then beat Sen. John McCain in the general election. He was the first black presidential candidate from a major party and then the first black man elected president. But before Obama was able to become a viable major party nominee, a number of other milestones were set in black political history:

• The first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Va., in 1619.
• The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 declared all men "born free and equal." On this basis, a slave named Quork Walker sued for, and won, his freedom. Shortly after, slavery was abolished in Massachusetts.
• In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. It barred slavery from the Northwest Territory.
• In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves.
• In 1865, the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery in the U.S.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave further rights to the freed slaves after the American Civil War ended. The act declared that all persons born in the U.S. were now citizens, without regard to race, color or previous condition. As citizens, they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell and hold property.
• In 1868, the 14th Amendment granted full U.S. citizenship to black Americans.
• In 1870, the 15th Amendment gave black males the right to vote.
• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in 1909.
• In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The decision led to dismantling legal segregation in all areas of southern life, from schools to restaurants to public restrooms.
• In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Ark., to ensure integration of the all-white Central High School. The students, known as the Little Rock Nine, were the first black students to attend the school.
• President John F. Kennedy integrated the concept of affirmative action into Executive Order 10925, which he issued in 1961. Affirmative action is intended to promote access to education, employment, or housing among designated groups, predominantly minorities and women.
• The Civil Rights Movement march in 1963 brought more than 250,000 marchers to Washington, D.C. It was at this event that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
• President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment and labor unions.
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory voting practices.
• From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the Black Power movement emphasized black solidarity, rather than integration.
• Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. Although he didn't win the party's nomination, he did usher in unprecedented support and influence to black Americans in politics.
• In 1989, Douglas Wilder not only became Virginia's governor, he also became the first black governor in U.S. history.
• In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.