-
Period: to
Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency
Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th president -
Fall of Dien Bien Phu
With the loss of the vital fortress of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam, the French were forced to give up their possession of Indochina. -
Brown v. Board of Educatio
In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court deliberated that separate facilities are inherently unequal, and de jure segregation is in violation of the 14th Amendment. This decision paved the way for further civil rights activity. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
After removing the French, the now independent Vietnam was split between a communist north and a pro-west south. For 20 years the North Vietnamese tried to conquer South Vietnamese, fighting intervening Americans until 1973 -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In a famous moment, black woman Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. kicked off his civil rights career leading protesters in a boycott of the bus system, resulting in a Supreme Court decision that bus segregation was unconstitutional. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower reelected
Dwight D. Eisenhower reelected FOR A 2ND term -
Little Rock Nine
Following Brown v. Board of Education, the NAACP registered 9 black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock in the 1957 school year. The school refused to let the students attend, and president Eisenhower responded by having the students escorted to class by a detachment of US Army Airborne troops. -
Sit-In Movement
When a group of nonviolent antisegregation protesters sat in a segregated Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, a wave of sit-ins began in segregated establishments across the South, raising public awareness of the scope of Southern segregation. The most successful wave of sit-ins took place in Nashville, Tennessee, where lunch counters were desegregated as a result. -
Period: to
JFK presidency
-
Trade Expansion Act
In order to stimulate international trade, JFK lowered the American protective tariff. -
March on Washington
200,000 to 300,000 civil rights protesters in one of the largest civil rights rallies of all time in support of JFK's civil rights legislation. The rally is famous as the setting for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and for helping pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965). -
Period: to
Lyndon B. Johnson presidency
Lyndon B. Johnson presidency -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution abolished the use of a poll tax in national votes. From 1964 onward black communities wouldn't be subjected to poll taxes during elections. -
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination
The civil rights movement lost its de facto leader to James Earl Ray, who killed King in his motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The killing set off a spree of riots and saw the end of the nonviolent protest movement, with the militant black power phase picking up pace. -
Period: to
Richard Nixon presidency
-
Richard Nixon resigns
After the Watergate Scandal, Nixon was forced to resign his presidency.