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Civil Rights in America
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Jamestown settled
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Civil Rights Timeline
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1st African slaves come to America
A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. -
Stono Rebellion
One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina. A score of whites and more than twice as many blacks slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida. -
Lucy Terry composes "Bars Fights"
Lucy Terry, a slave, composes "Bars Fight," the first known poem by an African American. A description of an Indian raid on Terry's hometown in Massachusetts, the poem will be passed down orally and published in 1855. -
French and Indian War begins
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Bluestone Church is founded
The African Baptist or "Bluestone" Church is founded on the William Byrd plantation near the Bluestone River, in Mecklenburg, Virginia, becoming the first known black church in North America. -
Treaty of Paris is signed
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Boston Massacre
Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, becomes the first Colonial soldier to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre. -
African Slavery in America published
Thomas Paine was not the first to advocate the aboliton of slavery in Amerca, he was certainly one of the earliest and most influential. The essay was written in 1774 and appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser. -
Lexington and Concord
A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies. -
Abigail Adams writes about women rights
Abigail Adams references her husbands work, John, on the Declaration of Independence, she writes to remind him that women “will not hold ourselves bound by laws which we have no voice.” -
A woman in the continental army
Deborah Sampson disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Continental Army serving in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. She is wounded at a battle near Tarrytown, New York. -
U.S. Consitution is ratified
The U.S. Constitution is ratified. It provides for the continuation of the slave trade for another 20 years and required states to aid slaveholders in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It also stipulates that a slave counts as three-fifths of a man for purposes of determining representation in the House of Representatives. -
African Free School founded
Free blacks in New York City found the it, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated. -
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin
Which makes cotton cultivation on a huge scale possible in the South and thus greatly increases the need for slaves, whose numbers skyrocket. -
Prosser's Revolt
Gabriel Prosser tries to organize the first large-scale slave revolt in the U.S., gathering more than 1,000 armed slaves in Virginia. The revolt fails, and Prosser and more than 35 other slaves are executed. -
African Methodist Episcopal Church is organized
It is the U.S.'s first independent African American church denomination, in Philadelphia. By 2002, it will have more than 3 million members. -
Vesey's Revolt
Denmark Vesey, a freedman, plans a massive rebellion of thousands of slaves in Charlestown, South Carolina, but his plans are betrayed, and he and 34 others are hanged. -
First public high schools for girls open in New York and Boston
The American Journal of Education wrote that the school should give "women such an education as shall make them fit wives for well educated men, and enable them to exert a salutary influence upon the rising generation." -
U.S. Freedom's Journal is published
The first African American newspaper was published in New York by John Brown Russwurm and Samuel Cornish. -
Walker's "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World"
In his pamphlet African American activist David Walker of Boston calls for a national slave rebellion. -
The Liberator begins to be published
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrisons starts a fiercely anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston. -
Turner's Revolt
He leads a slave rebellion in Virginia. Fifty-seven whites are killed, but Turner is eventually captured and executed. -
Underground Railroad begins
Approximately 75,000 slaves escape to the North and freedom using it, a system in which free African American and white "conductors," abolitionists, and sympathizers guide, help, and shelter the escapees. -
Oberlin College in Ohio
becomes the first co-educational college in the U.S. when it opened. -
Henry Blair invents cotton-planting machine.
He is the first African American to receive a patent, for a cotton-planting machine. -
1st college for women
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary is established in South Hadley, Massachusetts by Mary Lyon as the first college for women -
Amistad revolt occurs
Slaves being transported aboard the Spanish ship Amistad take it over and sail it to Long Island. They eventually win their freedom in a Supreme Court case. -
Frederick Douglass publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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Seneca Falls convention
It is the location for the first Women's Rights Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes "The Declaration of Sentiments" creating the agenda of women's activism for decades to come. -
First woman to receive a medical degree in the US
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States from Geneva College in New York. For the first time, women are permitted to practice medicine legally. -
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery
She returns to the South and becomes one of the main "conductors" on the Underground Railroad, helping more than 300 slaves to escape. -
CA
The first state constitution extends property rights to women. -
first National Women's Rights Convention
Worcester, Massachusetts, is the site. An alliance is formed Frederick Douglass, Paulina Wright Davis, Abby Kelley Foster, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth are in attendance. A strong alliance is formed with the Abolitionist Movement. -
Sojourner Truth gives "Aint' I a Woman" Speech
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which is an immediate bestseller and helps turn public opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act and slavery itself. -
Dred Scott Case
In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court decides that African Americans are not citizens of the U.S., and that Congress has no power to restrict slavery in any federal territory. This meant that a slave who made it to a free state would still be considered a slave. -
The Married Woman’s Property Bill passed
In the U.S. Congress. Women can how sue, be sued, make contracts, inherit and bequeath property -
Civil War
The Civil War begins when the Confederates attack Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina. The war, fought over the issue of slavery, will rage for another four years. The Union's victory will mean the end of slavery in the U.S. -
Civil War begins
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Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation legally frees all slaves in the Confederacy. -
54th Massachusetts Regiment fights
It was the first African American regular army regiment, assaults Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina, losing half its men. The event is memorialized in the 1989 movie Glory. By the war's end, nearly 180,000 African American men will have served in the Union army. Some also served in the Confederate army - both freedmen and conscripted slaves. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, and establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to assist former slaves. This is the beginning of the Reconstruction era. -
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"Black Codes"
All-white legislatures in the former Confederate states pass the so-called "Black Codes," sharply curtailing African Americans' freedom and virtually re-enslaving them. -
Civil Rights Act
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which confers citizenship on African Americans and grants them equal rights with whites. -
Ku Klux Klan
The white supremacist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan is founded in Tennessee. -
American Equal Rights Association formed
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all regardless of gender or race. -
Five all-black colleges are founded
Howard University, Morgan State College, Talladega College, St. Augustine's College, and Johnson C. Smith College. There will be more than 100 predominantly black colleges by the middle of the next century. -
The Revolution published
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Parker Pillsbury publish the first edition of The Revolution. This periodical carries the motto “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less!” -
14th amendment passed
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The NWSA is founded
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony found the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), a more radical institution, to achieve the vote through a Constitutional amendment as well as push for other woman’s rights issues. NWSA was based in New York -
15th amendment passed
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1st women to run for president
Victoria Chaflin Woodhull is nominated as the candidate of the Equal Rights party, the first woman to run for President of the United States. Neither she nor any other woman in the country is allowed to cast a vote for her. -
The first African American state governor is elected
P.B.S. Pinchback, Louisana governor, was also elected to the House of Representatives; the election is disputed. He will be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1873, with the election again disputed. -
Abigail Scott Duniway convinces Oregon lawmakers
Abigail Scott Duniway convinces Oregon lawmakers to pass laws granting a married woman’s rights such as starting and operating her own business, controlling the money she earns, and the right to protect her property if her husband leaves. -
Susan B. Anthony and other women arrested
Susan B. Anthony casts her ballot for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election and is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York. Fifteen other women are arrested for illegally voting. Sojourner Truth appears at a polling booth in Battle Creek, Michigan, demanding a ballot to vote; she is turned away. -
WCTU is founded
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded by Annie Wittenmyer. With Frances Willard at its head (1876), the WCTU became important proponent in the fight for woman suffrage. As a result, one of the most strong opponents to women's enfranchisement was the liquor lobby, which feared women might use their vote to prohibit the sale of liquor. -
Reconstruction ends
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Exodus of '79
Thousands of African Americans migrate from the South to the West to escape exploitation and oppression. Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, a former slave, is the leader. -
"Jim Crow"
Tennessee passes the first of the "Jim Crow" segregation laws, segregating state railroads. Other Southern states pass similar laws over the next 15 years. -
Tuskegee Institute is founded
Historically black university, is founded in Alabama to train African Americans as teachers and in agriculture and industry. Booker T. Washington is the first president -
Poll Tax
Mississippi enacts a poll tax, which most African Americans cannot afford to pay, to try to keep blacks from voting. -
National Afr-American League founded
Timothy Thomas Fortune, a freed slave and journalist, founds The League, considered a forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. -
Wyoming
is admitted to the Union with a state constitution granting woman suffrage. -
National American Woman Suffrage Association is formed
NWSA and AWSA merge and the National American Woman Suffrage Association is formed. Stanton is the first president. The Movement focuses efforts on securing suffrage at the state level. -
Ida B. Wells investigates lynchings
She begins a crusade to investigate the lynchings of African Americans after three of her friends are lynched in Tennessee. -
Physician Daniel Hale Williams performs the world's first successful open-heart surgery.
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Booker T. Washington give "Atlanta Compromise" Speech
An African American intellectual spokesman Booker T. Washington gives his controversial "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton Exposition in Georgia, saying that African Americans should focus on economic advancement rather than political change. -
Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes The Woman’s Bible
After its publication, NAWSA moves to distance itself from Stanton because many conservative suffragists considered her to be too radical and, thus, potentially damaging to the suffrage campaign. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated, or "separate but equal," public facilities for whites and blackAfrican-AmericanAfrican Americans are legal. The ruling stands until 1954. -
George Washington Carver accepts an appointment
World-famous agricultural researcher George Washington Carver accepts an appointment at the Tuskegee Institute. Carver's research in farming techniques helps to revolutionize farming in America. -
Paul Lawrence Dunbar publishes Lyrics of a Lowly Life
He is known as the "poet laureate of the Negro race," in which it contains some of his best and most famous verse. -
The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs created
Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Frances E.W. Harper among others found The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. -
"Grandfather Clause"
Louisiana tries to disenfranchise its African Americans by passing a "grandfather clause" limiting the right to vote to anyone whose fathers and grandfathers were qualified on January 1, 1867. (No African Americans had the right to vote at that time.) -
W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls Of Black Folk,
An African American social scientist, critic and public intellectual he presents the "color line" as the major problem of the 20th century. In 1905 he will help found the Niagara Movement, demanding full equality for African Americans. -
Robert S. Abbott begins publishing The Chicago Defender
Chicago's first African American newspaper. Within a decade, it is one of the country's most influential African American weekly papers. -
Women's Trade Union League of New York founded
Mary Dreier, Rheta Childe Dorr, Leonora O'Reilly, and others form the Women's Trade Union League of New York, an organization of middle- and working-class women dedicated to unionization for working women and to woman suffrage -
The Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA) is formed
In Oxnard, Calif., more than 1,200 Mexican and Japanese farm workers organize the first farm worker union. Later, it will be the first union to win a strike against the California agricultural industry, which already has become a powerful force. -
Lucy Gonzales Parsons helps found the Wobblies,
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NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded by a group of African American and white activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois is the only one of the seven African American activists to serve on the NAACP board. -
The Great Migration
The Great Migration of southern African Americans to northern industrial towns gets underway. Millions of African Americans will have migrated North by the 1960s. -
NAOWS is organized
The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Led by Mrs. Arthur Dodge, its members included wealthy, influential women, some Catholic clergymen, distillers and brewers, urban political machines, Southern congressmen, and corporate capitalists. -
El Primer Congreso Mexicanista organizes
The first large convention of Mexicans to organize against social injustice; meets in Laredo, Texas. -
Roosevelt supports womens suffrage
Woman Suffrage is supported for the first time at the national level by a major political party -- Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party. -
Congressional Union party formed
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize the Congressional Union, later known at the National Women’s Party (1916). They borrowed strategies from the radical Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in England. -
Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association
A Black nationalist, he advocated black economic and political independence and the founding of a new homeland in Africa. The UNIA soon moves to the U.S. -
World War I begins
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Ludlow Masacre
The Colorado militia attacks striking coal miners. More than 50 people are killed, mostly Mexican Americans, including 11 children and three women. -
Transcontinetal tour
Mabel Vernon and Sara Bard Field are involved in a transcontinental tour which gathers over a half-million signatures on petitions to Congress. -
Great Migration
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Jeanette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.
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African Americans march in New York City
Organized by the NAACP, thousands of African Americans march to protest racial violence and discrimination. -
Alice Paul arrested
leader of the National Woman’s Party, was put in solitary confinement in the mental ward of the prison as a way to “break” her will and to undermine her credibility with the public. -
Congress passes the Jones Act
granting citizenship to Puerto Ricans under U.S. military rule since the end of the Spanish-American War. -
Latinos move North
Factories in war-related industries need more workers, as Americans leave for war. Latinos from the Southwest begin moving north in large numbers for the first time. They find ready employment as machinists, mechanics, furniture finishers, upholsterers, printing press workers, meat packers and steel mill workers. -
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19th amendment is passed
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Treaty of Versailles is signed
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"Shuffle Along" opens on Broadway
"Shuffle Along," with music by Eubie Blake, lyrics by Noble Sissle, and an all-black cast, will become one of the greatest musical comedies in American history. -
Order of the Sons of America organizes
San Antonio's Orden Hijos de América (Order of the Sons of America) organizes Latino workers to raise awareness of civil rights issues and fight for fair wages, education and housing. -
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Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League
which evolves into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. The ABCL focuses on disseminating birth control information to doctors, social workers, women's clubs, and the scientific community, as well as to thousands of individual women; fosters the development of state and local birth control leagues and clinics; and lobbies at the state and national level for birth control legislation. -
Anti-lynching bill
Congressman Leonidas Dyer of Missouri first introduced his Anti-Lynching Bill into Congress in 1918. The bill failed, but Efforts to pass similar legislation were not taken up again until the 1930s with the Costigan-Wagner Bill. The Dyer Bill influenced the text of anti-lynching legislation promoted by the NAACP into the 1950s. -
Claude McKay publishes poetry
Harlem Shadows a early collection of his poetry. It will be considered one of the important early works of the Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of African-AmericanAfrican American literature and art. -
Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the US Senate.
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Bessie Smith records "Down Hearted Blues"
A Blues diva who becomes a phenomenal success, revives the dying Columbia Record Company, and earns her the title "Empress of the Blues." -
The Society for Human Rights is organized
in Chicago becomes the country's earliest known gay rights organization -
Josephine Baker performs in Paris
A Singer and dancer and becomes one of the most popular entertainers in France. -
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes publishes The Weary Blues, his first book of poetry. A pivotal force in the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes will go on to become one of the 20th century's most recognized American writers. -
Louis Armstrong forms his "Hot Five" band.
Jazz trumpeter and vocalist; he will become a jazz legend and a cultural icon. -
Confederación de Uniones Obreras Mexicanas organizes
In Los Angeles, the Confederación de Uniones Obreras Mexicanas (Federation of Mexican Workers Union-CUOM) becomes the first large-scale effort to organize and consolidate Mexican workers. -
Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico becomes the first Latino U.S. Senator.
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The League of United Latin American Citizens is formed
The group organizes against discrimination and segregation and promotes education among Latinos. It's the largest and longest-lasting Latino civil rights group in the country. -
Elijah Muhammad
W. D. Fard founds the Nation of Islam, a religious movement based on African American separatism, in Detroit. After a few years, he turns the NOI over to follower Elijah Muhammad, who builds it into a major movement. -
Scottsboro Boys case
Nine African American youths are accused of raping two white women, and tried for their lives and quickly convicted in Scottsboro, Alabama. The case attracts national attention and will help fuel the civil rights movement. -
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, a Sephardic Jew, becomes the first Latino named to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Jane Addams becomes the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins becomes the first woman cabinet officer.
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El Monte Strike
Latino unions in California lead The Strike, possibly the largest agricultural strike at that point in history, to protest the declining wage rate for strawberry pickers. By May 1933, wages dropped to nine cents an hour. In July, growers agreed to a settlement including a wage increase to 20 cents an hour, or $1.50 for a nine-hour day of work. -
National Council of Negro Women organized
Mary McLeod Bethune, Advisor of Minority Affairs to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, organizes the National Council of Negro Women, a coalition of black women's groups that lobbies against job discrimination, racism, and sexism and functions as a clearinghouse, facilitating networking and coalition-building, and advocating the use of collective power on issues affecting women, their families and communities. -
Jesse Owens wins fgold at Berlin Olympics
A Track-and-field athlete, he thwarted Adolf Hitler's plan to use the games to demonstrate "Aryan supremacy." -
Zora Neale Hurston publishes Their Eyes Were Watching God,
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The Spanish-Speaking Peoples Congress Conference
in Los Angeles. Founded by Luisa Moreno and led by Josefina Fierro de Bright, it's the first national effort to bring together Latino workers from different ethnic backgrounds: Cubans and Spaniards from Florida, Puerto Ricans from New York, Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the Southwest. -
Hattie McDaniel win an Academy Award
She becomes the first African American actress to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. -
Singer Marian Anderson performs at the Lincoln Memorial
She is denied permission by the Daughters of the American Revolution to sing at their hall in Washington, D.C., because she is African American. Anderson performs at the Lincoln Memorial instead, before an audience of 75,000. -
World War II begins
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Richard Wright publishes Native Son
It is a fierce protest novel about race relations in America that becomes a major bestseller. -
Tuskegee Airmen
The first training program for African American pilots is established at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. They served heroically in World War II. -
What the Negro Wants
Writer Rayford Logan edits What the Negro Wants, an anthology of 14 essays by prominent African Americans demanding racial equality. -
CORE is formed
The interracial Congress of Racial Equality was formed in Chicago. It will become famous for organizing the Freedom Rides of 1961. -
Bracero Program begins
allowing Mexican citizens to work temporarily in the United States. U.S. growers support the program as a source or low-cost labor. The program welcomes millions of Mexican workers into the U.S. until it ends in 1964. -
Zoot Suit Riots
in Los Angeles, the worst race riots in the city to date. For 10 nights, American sailors cruise Mexican American neighborhoods in search of "zoot-suiters" -- hip, young Mexican teens dressed in baggy pants and long-tailed coats. The military men drag kids -- some as young as 12 years old -- out of movie theaters and cafes, tearing their clothes off and viciously beating them. -
Ebony magazine is founded
A magazine about African American life and achievements. -
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is elected to House of Reps
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, he will serve 11 consecutive terms. -
World War II ends
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Mendez v. Westminster decision
Mexican-American parents sue several California school districts, challenging the segregation of Latino students in separate schools. The California Supreme Court rules in the parents' favor, arguing segregation violates children's constitutional rights. -
Jackie Robinson
Baseball great Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to break the color barrier and be allowed to play in the major leagues -
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male is published
Written by Alfred Kinsey, revealing to the public that homosexuality is far more widespread than was commonly believed. -
Desegregates the Military
President Truman issues executive order 9981 that desegregates the military. -
The Mattachine Society is formed
the first national gay rights organization, is formed by Harry Hay, considered by many to be the founder of the gay rights movement. -
"Operation Wetback"
from 1953 and 1958, the U.S. Immigration Service arrests and deports more than 3.8 million Latin Americans. Many U.S. citizens are deported unfairly, including political activist Luisa Moreno and other community leaders. -
Brown V. Board
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court rules unanimously against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Hernandez v. Texas
is the first post-WWII Latino civil rights case heard and decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Hernandez decision strikes down discrimination based on class and ethnic distinctions. -
The Daughters of Bilitis, is established
The first lesbian-rights organization in San Francisco -
Emmett Till murdered
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Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person, triggering a successful, year-long African American boycott of the bus system. -
Little Rock
For the first time since Reconstruction, the federal government uses the military to uphold African Americans' civil rights, as soldiers escort nine African American students to desegregate a school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daisy Bates, an NAACP leader, advised and assisted the students and eventually had a state holiday dedicated to her. -
SCLC is founded
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., helps found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to work for full equality for African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act passed
It established the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, and empowered federal officials to prosecute individuals that conspired to deny or abridge another citizen's right to vote. Moreover, it also created a six-member U.S. Civil Rights Commission charged with investigating allegations of voter infringement. But, perhaps most importantly, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 signaled a growing federal commitment to the cause of civil rights. -
Motown Records is founded
In Detroit, Mich. Motown will go on to feature such legendary artists as Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight, Lionel Ritchie and Queen Latifah. -
Sit–in Movement and Founding of SNCC
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Civil Rights Act enacted
established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. -
Birth control pill approved
The Food and Drug Administration approves the birth control pill as safe for women to use. -
Lunch counter sit-in
Four African American college students hold a sit-in to integrate a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., launching a wave of similar protests across the South. -
Freedom Rides
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) begins to organize Freedom Rides throughout the South to try to de-segregate interstate public bus travel. -
Malcom X
African American radical Malcolm X becomes national minister of the Nation of Islam. He rejects the nonviolent civil-rights movement and integration, and becomes a champion of African American separatism and black pride. At one point he states that equal rights should be secured "by any means necessary," a position he later revises. -
Illinois decriminalize homosexual acts
The act makes IL the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private. -
James Meredith and Ole Miss
After a legal battle, an African-American man named James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Chaos briefly broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order. -
Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique
which describes the dissatisfaction felt my middle-class American housewives with the narrow role imposed on them by society. the book immediately becomes a best seller. -
Birmingham demonstrations
MLK and the SCLC joined with Birmingham, Alabama’s existing local movement, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), in a massive direct action campaign to attack the city’s segregation system by putting pressure on Birmingham’s merchants during the Easter season, the second biggest shopping season of the year. -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 people march on Washington, D.C., in the largest civil rights demonstration ever; Martin Luther King, Jr., gives his "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to win an Oscar
for Best Actor, for his role in Lilies of the Field. -
1st bilingual program
Miami's Coral Way Elementary School offers the nation's first bilingual education program in public schools, thanks to a grant from the Ford Foundation. -
Congress passes the Equal Pay Act
an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, requiring employers to pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of their gender. The act prohibits unequal pay for equal or substantially equal work performed by men and women in the same establishment who are performing under similar working conditions. -
24th amendment ratified
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. -
Civil Rights Act
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which gives the federal government far-reaching powers to prosecute discrimination in employment, voting, and education. -
Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali
Cassius Clay wins the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Shortly thereafter, he announces he has joined the Nation of Islam and taken the name Muhammad Ali. -
Vietnam War begins
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Freedom Summer
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), CORE and the NAACP and other civil-rights groups organize a massive African American voter registration drive in Mississippi known as "Freedom Summer." Three CORE civil rights workers are murdered. In the five years following Freedom Summer, black voter registration in Mississippi will rise from a mere 7 percent to 67 percent. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
King organizes a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for African American voting rights. A shocked nation watches on television as police club and teargas protesters. -
Voting Rights Act is passed
In the wake of the Selma-Montgomery March, the Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African American voters -
United Farm Workers association founded
Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta found it, in Delano, Calif., which becomes the largest and most important farm worker union in the nation. Huerta becomes the first woman to lead such a union. Under their leadership, the UFW joins a strike started by Filipino grape pickers in Delano. The Grape Boycott becomes one of the most significant social justice movements for farm workers in the United States. -
Watts Riots
The Watts Riot, which raged for six days and resulted in more than forty million dollars worth of property damage, was both the largest and costliest urban rebellion of the Civil Rights era. The riot spurred from an incident when Marquette Frye as pulled over and arrested by Lee W. Minikus for suspicion of driving while intoxicated. -
Carmichael calls for "Black Power"
Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, calls for "black power" in a speech, ushering in a more militant civil rights stance. -
Kwanzaa is created
The holiday of Kwanzaa, based on African harvest festivals, is created in the U.S. by an activist scholar, Maulana Ron Karenga. -
The National Transsexual Counseling Unit is established
The world's first the transgender organization in San Francisco. -
NOW is formed
by a group of feminists including Betty Friedan while attending the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women. It becomes the largest women's rights group in the United States, and begins working to end sexual discrimination, especially in the workplace, by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations. -
Black Panthers are founded
Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seales found the Black Panther Party, a radical black power group, in Oakland, California. Although it develops a reputation for militant rhetoric and clashes with the police, the group also becomes a national organization that supports food, education, and healthcare programs in poor African American communities. -
Edward W. Brooke becomes Senator
He is the first African American U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. He serves two terms as a Republican from Massachusetts. -
Thurgood Marshall become Supreme Court Justice
He becomes the first African American to serve as justice on Supreme Court. -
MLK assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder sparks a week of rioting across the country. -
Shirley Chisholm elected to Congress.
becomes the first African American woman to be in Congress -
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund opens
its doors, becoming the first legal fund to pursue protection of the civil rights of Mexican Americans. -
The Young Lords Organization is formed
Faced with slum housing, inadequate schools and rising unemployment, Puerto Rican youth in Chicago,. An outgrowth of the Young Lords street gang, the YLO becomes a vibrant community organization, creating free breakfast programs for kids and community health clinics. -
The Stonewall riots occur
This event transforms the gay rights movement from one limited to a small number of activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance. Patrons of a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, fight back during a police raid on June 27, sparking three days of riots. -
Operation PUSH created
The Rev. Jesse Jackson founds Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), an influential movement emphasizing blackAfrican-AmericanAfrican American economic advancement and education. -
Equal Employment
The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is passed, prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race, and laying the groundwork for affirmative action. -
Barbara Jordan elected to Congree from Texas
(D-Texas) becomes the first African American woman from a Southern state to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She will serve three terms in Congress. -
Title IX of the Education Amendments bans sex discrimination in schools
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Harvey Milk runs for SF city supervisor
He runs on a socially liberal platform and opposes government involvement in personal sexual matters. Milk comes in 10th out of 32 candidates, earning 16,900 votes, winning the Castro District and other liberal neighborhoods. He receives a lot of media attention for his passionate speeches, brave political stance, and media skills. -
Lau v. Nichols decision
the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms the 1970 memorandum, ruling students' access to, or participation in, an educational program cannot be denied because of their inability to speak or understand English. -
Equal Educational Opportunity Act passed
to make bilingual education more widely available in public schools. -
Nixon resigns as president
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Harvey Milk is appointed to the Board of Permit Appeals
SF Mayor George Moscone appoints making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States. Milk decides to run for the California State Assembly and Moscone is forced to fire him from the Board of Permit Appeals after just five weeks. Milk loses the State Assembly race by fewer than 4,000 votes. Believing the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club will never support him politically, Milk co-founds the San Francisco Gay Democrati -
Andrew Young becomes U.S. ambassador
He becomes the first African American person to serve as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. -
Harvey Milk sworn in as member of SF Board
Harvey Milk makes national news when he is sworn in as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Running against 16 other candidates, he wins the election by 30 percent. Milk begins his term by sponsoring a civil rights bill that outlaws sexual orientation discrimination. Only one supervisor votes against it and Mayor Moscone signs it into law. -
California v. Bakke
In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court rules against universities using fixed racial quotas in making admissions decisions, a challenge to affirmative action. -
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
amends the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and bans employment discrimination against pregnant women. Under the Act, a woman cannot be fired or denied a job or a promotion because she is or may become pregnant, nor can she be forced to take a pregnancy leave if she is willing and able to work. -
Harvey Milk is assassinated
& Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by Dan White, another SF city supervisor, who had recently resigned and wanted his job back, but was being passed over because he wasn't the best fit for the liberal leaning Board of Supervisors and the ethnic diversity in White's district. The San Francisco Gay Democratic Club changes its name to the Harvey Milk Memorial Gay Democratic Club. -
"Rapper's Delight" bring rap to national prominence.
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Iran Hostage Crisis
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Democratic National Convention
held at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Democrats took a stance supporting gay rights, adding the following to their plank: "All groups must be protected from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex or sexual orientation." -
Ronald Reagan is elected president
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Sandra Day O’Connor 1st woman Supreme Court Justice
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Thriller becomes one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Created by Michael Jackson -
Equal Rights Amendment is passed
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WI outlaws sexual orientation discrmination
Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. -
Guion "Guy" S. Bluford, Jr., becomes an astronaut
He is the first African American in space, flying aboard the space shuttle Challenger. -
Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American Miss America.
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The Cosby Show
starring African American comedian Bill Cosby, premieres on television. It will become one of the most popular sit-coms in history. It also departs from what had been the usual negative stereotyping of African Americans on TV by showing an upper-middle-class, professional, well-educated family. -
Geraldine Ferraro for VP
Geraldine Ferraro is nominated as first female vice presidential candidate by the Democratic presidential candidate, Walter Mondale. -
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson ruling
the Supreme Court finds that sexual harassment is a form of illegal job discrimination. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act is passed
providing legalization for certain undocumented workers, including agricultural workers. The Act also sets employer sanctions in place, making it illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers. -
Reginald Lewis
is the first African American to own a business with sales over $1 billion, by taking over Beatrice International Food Company. -
Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J. as archbishop of Atlanta
Archbishop Marino becomes the first African American Catholic archbishop in the United States. -
General Colin L. Powell
is the first African American to be named chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military -
Iraq invades Kuwait
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The Civil Rights Act of 1991 is passed
It makes it easier for employees to sue their employers for job discrimination. -
Soviet Union breaks up
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Carol Mosely-Braun becomes the first female African American U.S. senator.
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W. Lincoln Hawkins, Ph.D., wins the National Medal of Technology
During his lifetime, he secured over 140 patents. He helped make universal telephone service available through his work as the first African American scientist at Bell Labs. -
Bill Clinton is elected president
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March on Washington
an estimated 800,000 to one million people participate in the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. -
“Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy is instituted for the U.S. military
permitting gays to serve in the military but banning homosexual activity. President Clinton's original intention to revoke the prohibition against gays in the military was met with stiff opposition; this compromise, which has led to the discharge of thousands of men and women in the armed forces, was the result. -
Compensate survivors of a 1923 incident
The Florida legislature agrees to compensate survivors of a 1923 incident in which a white mob destroyed the African American town of Rosewood, located on the Gulf Coast. -
The Violence Against Women Act passes
tightens federal penalties for sex offenders, funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, and provides for special training of police officers. -
Million Man March
Minister Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, organizes the Million Man March of African American men in Washington, D.C -
Oklahoma City bombings
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Texaco settles a racial discrimination
suit for $176 million. The case was initially filed by six African American Texaco employees who charged they had been denied promotion and pay increases because of their race; it later grew to cover 1,400 employees. -
United States v. Virginia ruling
In the Supreme Court rules that the all-male Virginia Military School has to admit women in order to continue to receive public funding. It holds that creating a separate, all-female school will not suffice. -
Columbine Shooting
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VT recognizes civil unions
Vermont becomes the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between gay or lesbian couples. -
George W. Bush is elected president
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World Trade Center attacks
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Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs ruling
The Supreme Court rules that states can be sued in federal court for violations of the Family Leave Medical Act. -
MA S CT rules on gay marriages
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that barring gays and lesbians from marrying violates the state constitution. The Massachusetts Chief Justice concluded that to “deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage” to gay couples was unconstitutional because it denied “the dignity and equality of all individuals” and made them “second-class citizens.” Strong opposition followed the ruling. -
Hurrican Katrina
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The Supreme Court upholds the ban on the "partial-birth" abortion procedure.
The ruling, 5–4, which upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a federal law passed in 2003, is the first to ban a specific type of abortion procedure. Writing in the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "The act expresses respect for the dignity of human life." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who dissents, called the decision "alarming" and said it is "so at odds with our jurisprudence" that it "should not -
Bill ensuring equal rights
House of Representatives approves a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. -
Barack Obama is elected president
He becomes the first African American to be elected to the presidency. -
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act is passed
allows victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government against their employer within 180 days of their last paycheck. Previously, victims (most often women) were only allowed 180 days from the date of the first unfair paycheck. This Act is named after a former employee of Goodyear who alleged that she was paid 15–40% less than her male counterparts, which was later found to be accurate. -
Tammy Baldwin wins Senate seat
a seven-term Democratic congresswoman from Wisconsin, prevails over former governor Tommy Thompson in the race for U.S. Senate and becomes the first openly gay politician elected to the Senate. -
women in combat
In Jan. 2013, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the ban on women serving in combat roles would be lifted. -
Obergefell v. Hodges decision
The United States Supreme Court decided that marriage is a fundamental liberty right and that same sex couples could not be denied the right to marry. -
Women in combat
U.S. Department of Defense’s decision to open all military combat positions to women has rekindled a theological and practical debate on the role of women in battle. In a Dec. 3 announcement, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said "there will be no exceptions" to permitting women to enter elite combat forces "as long as they qualify and meet the standards,"
