-
Executive Order 9981
Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which declares, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Freedom Rides
Groups of volunteers organized by the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) go to the South to test new integration laws. Very frequently they are met with violence and many are arrested. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court overturned the decision in Plessy v. Fergusson that public and private facilities could be "seperate but equal." In Broand v. Board of Education the Supreme court stated that seperate was inherently unequal. This ruling lead the way to desegregation. -
Murder of Emmit Till
I young black man from Chicago, Emmit Till, visited family in Mississipi and allegedly whistled at a white woman. Two local white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, brutally assault and murder Emmit Till. Not only does an all-white jury aquit them, but both men openly brag about their crime. This case becomes a cause célèbre of the civil rights movement -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomerry Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks is arrested after refusing the give up her seat on a bus to a white woman. This leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, until the company decided to integrate its transportation a year later. The incident helped to launch Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. to fame as an influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement -
Little Rock Incident
Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas is ordered to integrate. When learning this, Governor Orval Faubus orders that the students be blocked from entering. President Eisenhower sends in the National Gaurd to enforce the school's integration. The group of black students who entered have become known as the "Little Rock Nine." -
The Feminine Mystique galvanizes the feminist movement
Betty Friedan's Book "The Feminine Mystique" discussed the dissatisfaction that many middle-class women had with the role the society had narrowly imposed on them. The book becomes iconic for the early women's movement. -
March on Washington
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organizes the March on Washington, where he delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech -
Civil Rights Act Passes
President Johnson signs into law the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which was the most sweeping legislation to lift the status of African-Americans since Reconstruction. It also granted the Federal Government the power to enforce de-segregation. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X is assassinated by members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm (by this time Malik Shabaaz) had abandoned in favor of Orthodox Islam. -
UFW Grape Boycott
Lead by Ceasar Chavez, the United Farm Workers stage a boycott against table grapes in an effort to improve working conditions -
Founding of Black Panther Party
Huey P. Newton and Bobbly Seal form the Black Panther Party, whose aims are to lift up the African-American community without necessarily integrated into the larger white community -
"Black Power"
Stokely Carmicheal uses the phrase "Black Power" in a speech as "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience. -
Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
James Earl Ray shoots Martin Luther King to death while he stands outside of his hotel balcony in Memphis Tennessee -
Occupation of Alcatraz
"Indians of All Tribes" occupation of Alcatraz - A group of young Indians seized the abandoned Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco harbor. They issued a "Proclamation to the Great White Father" in which they stated their claim that Alcatraz was suitable as an Indian Reservation and thus, should be converted into an Indian educational and cultural center. The Indians of All Tribes continued to occupy AAlcatraz until June, 1971 -
Occupation of Wounded Knee
The American Indian Movement, working with local Oglala and Lakota Sioux, occupy the town of wounded knee. Their intent is to unseat the tribal chairman, and the United States military and local authorities surrounded the town and ended the seige after 71 days.
