-
Period: to
civil rights
-
Plessy v. Ferguson decision
Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws -
Emmett Till is killed
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till from Chicago is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The case becomes a cause celebre of the civil rights movement. -
Little Rock Central HIgh School
After Little Rock school board votes to integrate schools, 1000 federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace. Arkansas Gov. Faubus responds by closing schools for 1958-59 school year. -
Woolworth's lunch counter
Four black students from North Carolina begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. -
Freedom Riders
student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities. Several of the groups of "freedom riders" are attacked by angry mobs along the way. -
James Meredith enrolls at University of Mississippi
5000 federal troops are sent by Pres. Kennedy to allow Meredith to register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries -
I Have a Dream
About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Bombing of Birningham church
4 black girls are killed by bomb planted in church. -
Malcolm X assassinated
Rejecting integration and nonviolence, Malcolm splits off from Elijah Muhammad's Black Muslims and is killed by black opponents -
King assassinated
While supporting sanitation workers' strike in Memphis, King is shot by James Earl Ray. Riots result in 125 cities
