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Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the racist policy of segregation by legalizing “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites. -
Military segregation
President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the Armed Services. -
School
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimous decision that overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine in public schools. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery City Bus and was arrested. -
Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins. -
The Meeting
Sixty black pastors and civil rights leaders from several southern states—including Martin Luther King, Jr.—meet in Atlanta, Georgia to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. -
Little Rock
The Little Rock 9 enter Central High School as federal troops oversee the situation sent by President Eisenhower. -
Lunch Sit-in
4 black college students sat at an all-white lunch counter and started a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s store. -
Peaceful protest arrests
Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham protesting in the “most segregated city in America.” -
Standoff
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus. -
Medgar Evers
Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. -
I Have A Dream
More than 250,000 people, march on Washington to demand immediate passage of the civil rights bill. -
Bombing
A bomb at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls and injures several other people prior to Sunday services. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
Civil Rights Law
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the premier legislation for Civil Rights into law. -
No Justice
The bodies of three civil-rights workers, two white, one black are found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. -
Malcolm X
Black religious leader Malcolm X is assassinated during a rally by members of the Nation of Islam. -
Selma
A march from Selma to Montgomery to fight for voting rights begins. -
Voting Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law outlawing literacy tests. -
Order 11246
President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment. -
Black Panthers
Huey Newton & Bobby Seale founded the “Black Power” political group known as the Black Panthers. -
MLK Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis. -
Civil Rights Act Signed
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, providing equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion or national origin. -
More public school integration
The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools.
