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"BOARD OF EDUCATION"
They agree that segregation in school's is unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till is murdered
14 year old Emmett Till is kidnapped and murdered by two white men J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant for allegedly whistling at a white women. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
Rosa Parks, member of NAACP. Refuses to give up her seat in the front of the "colored section" to a white passenger. Rosa was arrested. After her arrest a number of huge boycotts broke out. The boycotts lasted a whole year until the buses were desegrated. -
SCLC was formated
Martin Luther King Jr., Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement. -
Little Rock, Ark. Intergrates High School
In September 1975 the formally all white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark intergrates their school. 9 black students enter the school. These students had been names "The Little Rock Nine." (day of date not shown) -
The SNCC was founded
founded at Shaw University the SNCC provided young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. (actuall day not shown) -
Freedom Riders
Student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of "freedom riders," as they are called, were attacked by angrey mobs. -
James Meredith Enrolls in College
James Meredith is the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops. -
Martin Luther King is arrested
King was arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
"Bull" uses the hoses
During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. -
Medgar Evers is murdered
Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, Medgar Evers, is murdered at age 37 outside his home. Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he is convicted for murdering Evers. -
March On Wahsington
200,000 people joined the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
4 girls killed at Sunday school
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
COFO fights for black rights
The Council of Federated Organizations, a network of civil rights groups that includes CORE and SNCC, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes known as the Freedom Summer. (During the whole summer of 1964) -
Johnson signs the "Civil Rights Act"
The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation. -
The bodies of 3 civil rights workers are found
The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—are found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark int -
Malcolm X shot to death
black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam. -
March to Montgomery
In support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later. -
Voting Rights Act is passed
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal. -
Race Riots
Race riots erupt in a black section of Los Angeles. (lasted from august 11-17) -
Johnson issues Exeuctive order
Asserting that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination, President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It -
Black Panthers are found
The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. -
Stokely Carmichael
A leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." -
Interracial marriage
In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws. -
Race riot in Newark
Major race riots take place in Newark (July 12–16) and Detroit (July 23–30). -
Marin Luther King is Dead
Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, Temm. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
