-
Reconstruction Era Begins
The Reconstruction Era begins, as progress is made to improve the lives of African Americans. During this time period, new laws including the 13th, 14th, and 15th admendments are passed, abolishing slavery, allowing blacks to become citizens, and giving them the right the vote. -
Compromise of 1877
All Reconstruction Era efforts come to a halt as as the corrupt Compromise of 1877 allows whites to regain control over blacks in the South. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
By the 1890s, whites had once again retaken full control of the South through segregation. In this 1896 case, the United States Supreme Court accepts segregation by mandating that blacks were "seperate but equal." This law would stand for the next 70 years. -
Fisk University Protests Begin
Beginning in mid-1924 and lasting through early 1927, students at Fisk University in Tennessee protest discrimination in the college. The students' eventual victory became very influential, as it marked the first time a large-scale civil rights protest was successful. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
A landmark Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education declares segregation in schools unconstitutional. A major event in the fight for racial equality, the case marks the first time discrimination of any kind was deemed illegal. -
March on Washington
Martin Luther King leads a massive protest in Washinton D.C. that almost singlehandedly brings about the laws that end segregation and with it the Jim Crow Era. -
Civl Rights Act of 1964
Signed into effect by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, this law finally ends segregation for good. With the law, African Americans are guaranteed the same rights and public services as whites.
