-
1863
The Emancipation Proclamation is issued by President Abraham Lincoln freeing the enslaved in the
rebellious Confederate states. -
1865
The Thirteenth Amendment is passed abolishing slavery in the United States. -
1868
The Fourteenth Amendment is passed guaranteeing all African-Americans the rights of full U.S. citizens. -
1870
The Fifteenth Amendment is passed guaranteeing the right to vote for all citizens regardless of race. -
1965
President Lyndon Johnson issues an order requiring "Affirmative Action" in hiring minorities for federal
government work. -
1890s
Jim Crow laws become common in many southern states segregating blacks from whites. -
1896
The Supreme Court rules that segregation is legal in the Plessy v. Ferguson case using the "separate but
equal" argument. -
1909
The NAACP is founded by African-American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells. -
1947
Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play major league baseball. -
1948
President Harry S. Truman ends segregation in the U.S. armed forces. -
1954
The Supreme Court rules that segregation in the schools is unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of
Education case, overturning the earlier ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
1955
Rosa Parks is arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus. This sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott
which lasts for over a year. Eventually, segregation on the buses in Montgomery comes to an end. -
1957
Nine African-American students in Arkansas (nicknamed the Arkansas Nine) attend a previously all-white
high school. Army troops are brought in to protect them. -
1961
The Freedom Riders protest by riding buses into the segregated southern states challenging their Jim Crow
laws. -
1963
The Birmingham Campaign takes place in Birmingham, Alabama. Schoolchildren marching in non-violent
protest are met with police dogs and fire hoses. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested and writes his famous "Letter
from Birmingham Jail." -
1963
The March on Washington by over 200,000 protesters occurs. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his "I Have a
Dream" speech. -
1964
Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. -
1964
- The Civil Rights Act is signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlaws discrimination based on race, national origin, and gender. It also outlaws segregation and the Jim Crow laws.
-
1965
Marchers in Selma, Alabama are met by police with tear gas. Several marchers are injured and the day is
nicknamed "Bloody Sunday." -
1965
Race riots erupt in Watts, California. -
1965
The Voting Rights Act is signed into law making it illegal to prevent any citizen from voting regardless of
race. -
1967
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. -
1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. -
2000
Colin Powell is appointed as the first African-American Secretary of State. -
2008
Barack Obama is the first African-American elected President of the United States.