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Civil Rights Period
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14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” -
Civil Rights Act
The last biracial U.S. Congress of the 19th century passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public accommodations and facilities such as restaurants, theaters, trains and other public transportation, and protected the right to serve on juries. However, it was not enforced, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. -
Presidential Election: Tilden vs. Hayes
Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote. After a first count of votes, it was clear that Tilden had won 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes unresolved. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution. Segregation, the Court said, was not discrimination. -
The Grandfather Clause
The United States Supreme Court deemed grandfather clauses unconstitutional in Guinn vs. United States. The Court stated that Oklahoma’s grandfather clause was “repugnant to the prohibitions of the Fifteenth Amendment” and that Oklahoma must remove its clause. The other states that had grandfather clauses were also forced to dismantle their versions -
Chicago Race Riot
The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on August 3. -
President Truman signs Executive Order 9981
President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
upreme Court bans segregation in all public schools in the United States. -
Rosa Parks
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat for a white man, causing a bus boycott by the black community. -
Freedom Riders
civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the Segregated southern United States in 1961 and following years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Irene Morgan vs. Commonwealth of Virginia (1946) and Boynton vs. Virginia (1960),[1] which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. -
James Meredith
The first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the University of Mississippi. -
Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King jr. wrote a letter while in jail.The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, arguing that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws. After an early setback, it enjoyed widespread publication and became a key text for the American civil rights movement of the early 1960s. -
Governor Wallace
Governor Wallace stands in the schoolhouse door of the University of Alabama before being forced by President Kennedy to allow black students to enroll. -
I Have A Dream Speech
20,000 blacks and whites gather at the Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches against racism; among them is Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream.” -
Poll Tax
A collection of poll taxes in national elections was prohibited by the ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Passage of the amendment affected voting in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and Virginia.
