Police brutality against Black people has a long and troubling history in the United States. Dating back to the days of slavery, slave patrols were established to control and intimidate enslaved Black people, often using violent tactics.

During the Jim Crow era, law enforcement in the South played a role in enforcing racial segregation and suppressing civil rights protests. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s saw a number of instances of police brutality against Black activists and protestors, such as during the Birmingham campaign in 1963 and the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.

After the Civil Rights Movement, police brutality continued to be a major issue in Black communities. Incidents such as the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the killing of Amadou Diallo in 1999 highlighted the ongoing problem of excessive force and violence by law enforcement officers against Black individuals.

In recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement has brought increased attention to issues of police brutality and systemic racism in policing. High-profile cases such as the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have sparked protests and calls for reform of law enforcement practices.

Overall, police brutality against Black people has been a pervasive and deeply ingrained problem in American history, highlighting the need for systemic changes to address racial bias and violence in law enforcement.