Civil Rights Movement Timeline of Major Events

Brown v. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

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

Emmett Till murdered

Aug 28, 1955

Teenager Emmett Till is brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman.

Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

Dec 1, 1955

Rosa Parks refuses to get up her seat for a white man, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Supreme Court bus ruling

Apr 23, 1956

U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation on public buses.

Civil Rights Act signed

Sep 27, 1957

President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1957, which protected African Americans' right to vote.

Bethel Baptist Church bombing

Jun 29, 1958

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

Ruby Bridges

Nov 14, 1960

Ruby Bridges becomes first black student to attend a Southern white elementary school.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Apr 16, 1963

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"

Aug 28, 1963

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

Jul 2, 1964

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

Apr 4, 1968

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