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Jackie Robinson enters Major League Baseball
At Ebbets Field, in front of 26,623 spectators, Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut on April 15, 1947. After going hitless in his first inning of action, Robinson eventually scored the game-winning run in a victory against the Boston Braves after reaching base due to a mistake in the seventh inning. -
Executive Order 9981 signed by President Truman
President Harry Truman established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services on July 26, 1948, by signing Executive Order 9981. The directive required that the US military be integrated. -
Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling
Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court delivered the majority decision in the historic civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, on May 17, 1954. Public school segregation that was authorized by the state was unlawful because it violated the 14th Amendment. -
Rosa parks arrest
When a bus driver asked Rosa Parks to give up her seat to another passenger on December 1, 1955, she refused and was jailed in Montgomery, Alabama. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a social and political protest movement against the practice of racial segregation on Montgomery, Alabama's public transportation system. It was a pivotal moment in the American civil rights struggle. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law on September 9, 1957. The Act, which was initially put out by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, was the first major piece of legislation the federal government had passed to safeguard civil rights since Reconstruction. -
Emmett Till is murdered
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African American teenager who, at the age of 14, was kidnapped, tortured, and killed in Mississippi after being charged with making fun of Carolyn Bryant, a white lady, in her family's grocery shop. -
Greensboro Sit-In Protest
Four buddies sat down at a Greensboro lunch counter on February 1, 1960. That may not seem like a historic occasion, but it was. The four individuals were African Americans, and they were seated in an area designated for non-African Americans. They took a stance against segregation by doing this. -
Little Rock Nine Intervention
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. -
Integration of Ole Miss Riots
On September 30, 1962, segregationists, townspeople, and students at the University of Mississippi in Oxford staged rioting in response to James Meredith's entrance as a black Air Force veteran who was trying to integrate the all-white institution. -
The Birmingham Children’s March
Over five thousand schoolchildren marched in Birmingham, Alabama from May 2–10, 1963, as part of the Children's Crusade, also known as the Children's March. Rev. James Bevel was the driving force behind the march, which was planned as a downtown stroll to address the mayor about discrimination in their community. -
George Wallace’s “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”
On June 11, 1963, The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door was held at the University of Alabama's Foster Auditorium. In an apparent attempt to uphold his campaign slogan of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and halt school integration, Alabama Governor George Wallace stood at the auditorium door, appearing to bar Vivian Malone and James Hood, two African American students, from entering. -
March on Washington / I Have a Dream Speech
August 28, 1963 saw the holding of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, commonly referred to as just the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington, in Washington, D.C. The march's goal was to raise awareness of African Americans' civil and economic rights. -
The Selma Marches / Bloody Sunday
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. -
Freedom Summer
Launched in June 1964, Freedom Summer, sometimes called the Mississippi Summer Project or the Freedom Summer Project, was a volunteer effort in the United States that aimed to register as many African-American voters in Mississippi as possible.