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The 14th Amendment
This amendment provides that all states will provide equal protection to everyone within their jurisdiction. It provides due process under the law and equally provides all constitutional rights to all citizens of this country, regardless of race, sex, religious beliefs and creed. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This case is where several black children and their families sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segregation based on race. The plaintiffs alleged that segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They won the case as it was declared unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till
Emmett was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. This gained a ton of nationwide media attention and -
Rosa Parks sparks bus boycott
Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat for a white man. African-American Leaders then got together and said to the African-American population to boycott the buses for a day, but it was more of a success than they thought it would be. The boycott lasted for 381 days until the US Supreme Court said segregation on buses is unconstitutional and ordered a change. -
SCLC Created
Martin Luther King, 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 and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. -
Freedom riders test laws
The Freedom Riders, a dedicated group of men and women, black and white, young and old across the country boarded buses, trains and planes bound for the deep South to challenge that region‘s outdated Jim Crow laws and the non-compliance with a US Supreme Court decision already three years old that prohibited segregation in all interstate public transportation facilities. -
24th Amendment passed
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. -
I Have A Dream
This was a big speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the heart of the civil rights movement giving the black community hope for the future. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassignated
King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when, without warning, he was shot. -
Malcolm X assassignated
Malcolm X, 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.
