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Executive Order 9981 Signed by President Truman
Executive Order 9981, signed by President Harry S. Truman, mandated the desegregation of the United States Armed Forces, ensuring "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. -
Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling.
In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Rosa Parks Arrest
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for disorderly conduct for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Civil Rights leader E. D. Nixon bailed her out of jail, joined by white friends Clifford Durr, an attorney, and his wife, Virginia. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A 381-day protest that took place in Montgomery, Alabama from December 1955 to December 1956. The boycott was a response to racial segregation on the city's buses. It was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement and led to a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. -
Little Rock 9 Intervention
Little Rock was disobeying the new law known as the Brown v. Board of Education which made all schools take in African Americans which caused the NAACP send military to make sure the African American students get into the school. -
Medgar Evers' Shooting
He was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state's field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran who had served in the United States Army. He was shot by a bullet fired from an Eddystone Enfield 1917 rifle which the bullet passed through his heart killing him. His final words were "Turn me loose". -
Bloody Sunday
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. -
Birmingham's Children March.
more than 1,000 African American students attempted to march into downtown Birmingham, and hundreds were arrested. -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
A terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. The bombing was committed by a white supremacist terrorist group. -
Freedom Summer
This was around the time when students wanted to increase voter registration among African Americans in Mississippi. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Is Passed
This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. -
Malcolm X's Assassination.
Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965, at the age of 39. The BBC reported on the reaction in his adopted home of Harlem, New York, as thousands of people queued to pay their last respects. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Is Passed
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting and was signed into law by LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson) -
Black Panther Party Is Formed
A Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California. -
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's assassination.
Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee and was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m at age 39.