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13th Amendment (African American)
Ended slavery and allowed any slaves to be free. The 13th Amendment was the first step to colored people getting other rights. -
14th Amendment (African American)
Rights of citizenship, due process of law, and equal protection of the law. The 14th amendment has become one of the most used amendments in court to date regarding the equal protection clause. -
15th Amendment (African American)
Allowed colored people to have voting rights and vote for laws or for elections, etc. The 15th amendment finalized the rights that colored people could have but also brought up more problems that come later. -
Plessy v. Ferguson (African American)
The Supreme Court legalized segregation throughout the nation on the premise of “separate but equal”. This law was not actually equal but it was separate. This law somewhat enforced separate facilities and items that weren’t fair. -
19th Amendment (Women)
The 19th amendment allowed women the right to vote. This was a major advancement for women due to all the efforts of women's suffrage. -
Executive Order 9981 (African American)
President Truman ordered for the desegregation of all armed forces and the federal government. This helped make the federal level desegregated but not local or state. -
Brown v. Board of Education (African American)
Overturned the Plessy v Ferguson doctrine, but only for schools. Schools were not allowed to be segregated and children were allowed to go to whichever public school regardless of race. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott (African American)
Because Rosa Parks got fined for staying seated in a white section, blacks boycotted the bus system in Montgomery. It lasted until 1956 when the Montgomery city government ended segregation. This began a movement on a national scale to bring equality. -
Little Rock 9 (African American)
A few years after the Brown v Board law, the first high school for both blacks and whites was made. Orval Faubus, who was the governor of Arkansas, where the school was located, decided to have people block the nine black children from entering. This made Eisenhower send federal troops to protect the students. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957 (Women/African American)
Since Reconstruction, this was the first civil rights legislation that created a section in the federal government specifically for civil rights. It allowed prosecutors to fight against the interference of the right to vote for women and colored people. -
Greensboro, NC sit-ins (African American)
It was a form of nonviolent protests where young black people would sit at a lunch counter that was segregated. They refused to leave even when denied service at the counter. This sit-in spread to a national level where other college students would do the same in other locations. -
Freedom Riders (African American)
There were people who would ride interstate buses throughout the South. It invoked a lot of violence from the citizens since a vast majority were pro-segregation. It increased the credibility of the civil rights movement. -
March On Washington "I have a dream" speech (African American)
MLK made a speech to a massive crowd at the Lincoln memorial in Washington dc. It was a way to push for racial equality and no segregation. -
24th Amendment (African American)
The amendment stopped poll taxes in the elections for people running in the federal government. This helped lots of black voters since they didn’t have the money to pay for the taxes and were therefore not able to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (African American, Women)
This act forbade discrimination on race, sex, terms of employment, and more. Programs and public accommodations could not be discriminated against -
March from Selma, Alabama (African American)
Hundreds of people marched from Selma to Montgomery to protest voting issues when it came to race and segregation. This helped directly lead to the voting rights act of 1965. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (African American)
This act was signed to enforce the 15th amendment, even though this was signed in 95 years after the amendment was ratified. Was made due to the south putting restrictions on voting, preventing people of color, mainly african-americans from voting. -
Black Panthers (African American)
Was first established for neighborhood patrols and to protect black people against police brutality. Peaked in the late 60’s having chapters in several major cities. FBI saw this party as an enemy and eventually followed up on a raid, resulting in member Fred Hampton’s death. -
Thurgood Marshall appointed to Supreme court (African American)
Was the first African-American to be a Supreme Court Justice. Voted in by a 69-11 floor vote. Marshall won most of the court cases that he argued. -
MLK assassinated (African American)
MLK’s death resulted in many violent outbreaks nationwide. On april 8th, King’s wife and thousands of others joined together in a march in Memphis, honoring MLK.
