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1865- 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment is abolishing slavery. This amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and then the House on January 31, 1865. Then, President Abraham Lincoln approved of the amendment on February 1, 1865. This amendment was important to the people because this helped ban slavery in all of the American states. -
1868- 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to the issue related to former slaves followed by the American Civil War. This was important because this also included the former slaves of our country. -
1870- 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment allowed rights to the citizens of the United States to vote and shouldn't be denied because of their race, color, or previous condition. It was passed by congress on February 26, 1869 and ratified on February 3, 1870. -
1896- Plessy v. Ferguson
This case upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". -
1948- Truman Desegregates the Military
This executive order made by President Truman abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces. By making this decision, it eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. -
1954- Brown v. Board of Ed.
In this case, the Supreme Court declared state laws establishing public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. Although the 1954 decision strictly applied only to public schools, it implied that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities. -
1955- Rosa Parks/Montgomery Bus Boycott
This boycott was a 13 month mass protest that concluded with the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on the public buses was unconstitutional. This was a significant event in the civil rights movement which spanned between the 1950s to the 1960s. -
1957- Little Rock Crisis
Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School, which was an all white school. This was related to the Brown versus Board of Education involving the racial segregation in public schools. -
1960- Sit- In Movement
Students from across the country gathered together to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and organized sit-ins at counters throughout the South. From that day on, the Civil Rights Movement had gained strong momentum. -
1961- Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States. In 1961 and other years, in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. -
1962- James Meredith and Ole Miss
This was also known as the Battle of Oxford, which was fought between Southern segregationists and federal and state forces segregationists were protesting the enrollment of James Meredith, a black US military veteran, at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi. -
1963- Letter From a Birmingham Jail
This letter was written by Martin Luther King Jr. that defended the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. This was a response to eight white Alabama clergymen who criticized King and worried the civil rights campaign would cause violence. The letter served as a reproducible account of the long road to freedom in a movement that was largely centered around actions and spoken words. -
1963- March On Washington/ "I have a Dream" Speech
200,000 to 300,000 people came together to march for their jobs and freedom. The event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by the African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. -
1964- Civil Rights Act of 1964
It outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It prohibited unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. -
1965- Selma March
It was three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery. -
1965- Voting Rights Act
This was a law that was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
