-
Plessy V. Ferguson
U.S Supreme Court Case that started after Homer Plessy refused to sit on a Jim Crow car in Louisiana. The Court ruling upheld the constitutionality of segregation. -
Formation of NAACP
The National Association for Advancement of Colored People was a civil rights movement in the United States. They focused on legal strategies to confront civil issues, wanted federal anti-lynching laws, co-organized the March on Washington and helped get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. -
Brown V. BOE of Topeka
Oliver Brown filed against Topeka schools because his daughter was denied access to a white school and he claimed that the white and black school were not equal and never could be. The Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" schools were unconstitutional making it a landmark case and the start of desegregation in schools country wide. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus which sparked the boycott four days later. A large scale protest against racial segregation on buses lasted for 381 days (December 20, 1956). -
Formation of SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended. This group wanted to advance civil rights for African American in a non violent way. Martin Luther King Jr. was the president until his death. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
First legislative action since 1875 that protected African Americans. The law protected voting rights and created the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department and U.S Civil Rights Comission. -
Integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Nine black students enrolled at the former all white high school. On September 4, 1957 the governor of Arkansas called the National Guard to stop the students from entering the school and later the President sent federal troops to escort the students inside. -
Greensboro Sit In
Held February 1 until July 25, this was a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro in North Carolina. College students sat at Woolworth's lunch counter and asked for service. When refused and asked to leave they remained in their seats. This eventually led to the Woolworth department chain removing racial segregation. -
Formation of SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. Ella Baker set up the first meeting and wanted people to view the non violent campaign as a political tactic instead of a way of life. -
Boynton v. Virginia
Bruce Boynton boarded a bus and at a terminal in Richmond, Virginia he entered a white only restaurant but was denied service and asked to leave. He was later arrested. The Supreme Court ruled that he had the right to enter the restaurant and there should be not discrimination in interstate commerce. -
First Freedom Ride
Seven blacks and six whites boarded a bus in Washington D.C and traveled into the Deep South in order to test Boynton vs. Virginia's ruling. They were met with tons of hostility from whites and had to be evacuated from Birmingham. -
James Meredith enrolls in Ole Miss
After a legal battle James Meredith attempts to enroll in Ole Miss. Chaos broke out briefly after this ending up with riots and two dead after federal forces and the National Guard where sent to enforce order. -
Birmingham Protests
Activists in Birmingham began a series of lunch counter sit-ins, boycotts, and marches on City Hall to protest segregation. High pressure fire hoses and police dogs were used on the men, women, and children who protested peacefully. Lasted until May 10, 1963. -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 American gathered in Washington D.C for the March for Jobs and Freedom. It shed light on political and social challenges that African Americans faced throughout the U.S. MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech here. -
24th Amendment Passed
Gave citizens the right to vote in any election without being denied by the U.S or any state because of failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax. -
Malcom X Leads the Nation of Islam
Elijah Muhammad recognized the talents of Malcom the leader of the Blacks Muslims. He preached that whites should not be trusted and African Americans should be proud of their heritage. He thought they could set up their own communities without white help and get what was theirs by any means. -
Freedom Summer
Civil Rights organizations set up a voter registration drive and tried to increase the number of African American voters in Mississippi. They faced constant harassment from the white population, Ku Klux Klan, local authorities, and police. This took place in the summer of 1964. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Landmark Civil Rights and labor law. It outlawed segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, origin, and sex. -
Malcom X Assasinated
He was addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, New York when he was shot by Nation of Islam members. -
Selma March
Lasted March 7 to March 21, 1965. The SCLC focused it efforts to register black voters in the South on Selma, Alabama, Protesters attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery but were met with violence from local and state authorities. They ended up being escorted by the National Guard. Helped raise awareness of voting difficulties. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, it outlawed discriminatory voting practices like literacy tests that were adopted by many Southern States after the Civil War. -
Black Panthers Founded
Formed in Oakland California, they were a party that thought MLK's non-violent campaign was not working and instead suggested a revolutionary war. The were willing to use violence and speak out for all minorities. They wanted equality in education, housing, employment, and civil rights. -
MLK Jr. Assasinated
MLK was standing on the second story balcony of the Lorraine Motel when he was shot in the neck by a sniper and died an hour later. His death sparked riots, the speedy pass of civil rights legislation, and national mourning. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Also known as the Fair Housing Act, it prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, renting, and financing of houses based on race, sex, origin, and religion. Last major civil rights legislative of the era. -
Robert F. Kennedy Assasinated
The senator was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after he won the California presidential primary. He was talking to cheering crowds when he was shot several times by Sirhan Sirhan.
