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Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated leaders of the Underground Railroad. -
Major League Baseball
Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball's color barrier when he is signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers by Branch Rickey. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X becomes a minister of the Nation of Islam. Over the next several years his influence increases until he is one of the two most powerful members of the Black Muslims (the other was its leader, Elijah Muhammad). A black nationalist and separatist movement, the Nation of Islam contends that only blacks can resolve the problems of blacks. -
Rosa parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger (Dec.1). In response to her arrest Montgomery's black community launch a successful year-long bus boycott. Montgomery's buses are desegregated on Dec. 21, 1956. -
first black student at a university
James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi (Oct. 1). President Kennedy sends 5,000 federal troops after rioting breaks out. -
MLK speech "I Have Dream"
Martin Luther King Jr. and the "I Have a Dream Speech" On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a speech to a massive group of civil rights marchers gathered around the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC. -
Black Panthers
The Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (Oct.). -
black astronaut
Guion Bluford Jr. was the first African-American in space. He took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the space shuttle Challenger on August 30. -
first African American Secretary of State
Colin Powell becomes the first African American U.S. Secretary of State. -
Black President
Barack Obama Democrat from Chicago, becomes the first African-American president and the country's 44th president.
