-
Jackie Robinson enters major league baseball
Robinson became the first Black player in the majors when Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey signed him in 1947. He encountered a lot of racism and harassment for this. -
Emmett Tills is murdered
Emmett Till's death was a big moment for the civil rights movement, and proved that racism would not spare children from violence, and that black Americans would never receive fair treatment or justice unless they stood up and demanded it. -
Rosa Parks arrest
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, after a bus driver ordered her to give up her bus seat to a white person, and she refused. This led to the Montgomery Bus boycott. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery bus boycott, this 381 day protest against the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, by civil rights activists. This led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery's segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. -
Little Rock Nine
The "Little Rock Nine," were the first African American students to enter Little Rock's High School. They were harassed by racists, and had to be escorted by military personel. -
The civil rights act of 1957 is passed
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower -
Greensboro Sit-In
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests.Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. -
The Birmingham Children’s March
The Children's Crusade, or Children's March, was a march by over 5,000 school students in Birmingham, Alabama. Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city -
Medgar Evers shooting
A 37-year-old civil rights activist named Medgar Evers had just come home after a meeting of the NAACP. As he began the short walk up to his single-story rambler, the bullet struck Evers in the back -
March on Washington
It was the largest gathering for civil rights of its time. An estimated 250,000 people attended. This is where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer, or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a 1964 voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi. Over 700 mainly white volunteers joined African Americans in Mississippi to fight against voter discrimination and harassment at the polls. -
Malcom X is murdered
Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a known activist during the civil rights movement, was shot multiple times and died from his wounds in Manhattan, New York. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This gave no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be applied by any State to deny the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. -
Black Panther Party is formed
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was the one of the most powerful organizations of the civil rights movement. Its members confronted politicians, challenged the police, and protected black citizens from brutality. -
Martin Luther King Jr assissination
The shot that killed King was fired from the bathroom window at the rear of a rooming house. James Earl Ray voluntarily pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Martin Luther King Jr.