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14th Amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -
15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
13th Amendment
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Brewer took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896) was a landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court. It upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal". -
Nation of Islam is Founded
An African American political and religious movement, -
CORE Is Founded
Founded on the University of Chicago campus in 1942 as an outgrowth of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. -
Jackie Robinson
First African American to play Major League baseball outside of a segregated black league -
Executive Order 9981
It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. -
Malcolm Little Arrested and Prison Time
They were arrested and convicted on burglary charges, and Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison, although he was granted parole after serving seven years. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. -
Ruby Bridges
American activist known for being the first black child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana -
Murder of Emmitt Till
African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. -
Southern Manifesto
A southern document signed by more than a hundred southern politicians. Stated that the states could nullify fed laws that they didn't like and pressured southern states to ignore and reject the Brown decision. -
SCLC is Founded
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed in 1957 just after the Montgomery Bus Boycotthad ended. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference's main aim was to advance the cause of civil rights in America but in a non-violent manner. -
Little Rock Nine
The students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Primarily a voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress -
Greensboro Sit Ins
Four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. -
SNCC Is Founded
Young people who had emerged as leaders of the sit-in protest movement initiated on February 1 of that year by four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina. Shaw University, Raleigh Township, NC -
Freedom Riders
Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions -
James Meredith and Integration of Ole Miss
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 -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
A letter that Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed to his fellow clergymen while he was in jail in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 after a nonviolent protest against racial segregation. King defended the apparent impatience of people in the civil rights movement maintaining that without forceful actions like his equal rights for black people would never be gained. -
Alabama Protests
American politician who served as an elected Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for more than two decades. He strongly opposed activities of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. -
Murder of Medgar Evers
American civil rights activist from Mississippi who worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi and to enact social justice and voting rights -
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The march was successful in pressuring the administration of John F. Kennedy to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress. -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
Four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the front steps of the church. -
24th Amendment
The Constitution of the United States of America abolished the poll tax for all federal elections. -
Freedom Summer
Voter registration project in Mississippi, part of a larger effort by civil rights groups such as the Congress on Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee to expand black voting in the South. -
Murder of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner
Three civil rights workers were abducted and murdered in an act of racial violence. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Malcolm X Assassination
The former Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States. -
Voting Right Acts of 1965
signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote -
Watts Riots
A group of violent disturbances in Watts, a largely black section of Los Angeles, in 1965. Over thirty people died in the Watts riots, which were the first of several serious clashes between black people and police in the late 1960s -
Executive Order 11246
Charged the Secretary of Labor with the responsibility of ensuring equal opportunity for minorities in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices. Until that time, such efforts had been in the hands of various Presidential committees. EO 11246 continued and reinforced the requirement that federal contractors not discriminate in employment and take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity based on race, color, religion, and national origin. -
Stokely Carmichael and Black Power
Civil rights activist and national chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966 and 1967. He is credited with popularizing the term "Black Power." -
Black Panther are Founded
A revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton -
Loving v. Virginia
A landmark civil rights decision of the United States Supreme Court, which invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. -
Newark and Detroit Race Riots
A major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey between July 12 and July 17, 1967. The six days of rioting, looting, and destruction left 26 dead and hundreds injured. -
Newark And Detroit Race Riots
A major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark. The four days of rioting, looting, and destruction left 26 dead and hundreds injured. -
Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
Sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, began a labor strike to protest unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, and the city's refusal to recognize their sanitation workers union. -
Kerner Commission
Rioting broke out in many American cities, causing property damage estimated at between $75 and $100 million -
Civil Rights Acts Of 1968
Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. -
Tommie Smith and John Carlos Black Power Olympic Salute
A political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. -
Bloody Sunday
Thirteen people were shot dead by British soldiers, who opened fire on a banned demonstration in the Catholic Bogside area of Derry. A fourteenth person later died.
