Civil Rights Movement Timeline of Major Events

By MadisonKacer
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education

    U.S. Supreme Court makes ruling that segregation in public schools is no against the law.
  • Emmett Till murdered

    Emmett Till murdered

    Teenager Emmett Till is brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

    Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

    Rosa Parks refuses to get up her seat for a white man, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  • Supreme Court bus ruling

    Supreme Court bus ruling

    U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation on public buses.
  • Civil Rights Act signed

    Civil Rights Act signed

    President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1957, which protected African Americans' right to vote.
  • Bethel Baptist Church bombing

    Bethel Baptist Church bombing

    Members of the Ku Klux Klan bomb a church in Alabama, killing four.
  • Ruby Bridges

    Ruby Bridges

    Ruby Bridges becomes first black student to attend a Southern white elementary school.
  • Letter from Birmingham Jail

    Letter from Birmingham Jail

    Martin Luther King Jr. writes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in which he discusses pacifistic resistance to racism.
  • March on Washington / "I Have a Dream"

    March on Washington / "I Have a Dream"

    Demonstrators march in U.S. capitol to defend African American civil rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
  • Civil Rights Act signed

    Civil Rights Act signed

    President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, banning employment/public accommodation discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex or national origin."
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated

    Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated

    Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed in Memphis.