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Plessy v. Ferguson
Homer Adolph Plessy took a seat in a whites only train car in Louisiana. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. -
Formation of NAACP
A civil rights organization formed in response to lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield. A group of white liberals planned a meeting to discuss racial justice. -
Brown v. BOE of Topeka
A United States Supreme Court case where it was declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After being demanded to move so a white man could sit, Rosa Parks refused. This later led to her arrest causing an uprising. There was a political and social protest against racial segregation on public transit in Montgomery, Alabama. It was ruled unconstitutional. -
Formation of SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African American civil rights organization. 60 people founded the SCLC, which focused on transportation and integration. They said that civil rights are essential to democracy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became president of the organization. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
It established a Civil Rights Commission. It was also the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. -
Integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Governor Orval Faubus brought in the Arkansas National Guard in order to prevent nine African American students from coming to the high school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered one thousand troops from the army to oversee the integration. On September 25, the Little Rock Nine, entered the school with two thousand white students.They suffered from constant torment and discrimination. 8 out of the 9 students finished the year. -
Greensboro Sit-In
Four African American college students sat down for lunch at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. They asked for service and were refused. When asked to leave, they refused. By February 5, 300 students had joined the boys, halting business -
Formation of SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded by young people and Ella Baker. They remained independent from MLK and SCLC. It was engaged in protests aimed at desegregating lunch counters and restaurants -
Boynton v. Virginia
Bruce Boynton traveled from Washington, D.C. to Montgomery, Alabama. He stopped in Richmond Virginia for a 40 minute stop. He went to a segregated restaurant in the bus station and sat on the side reserved for white customers. A waitress and a manager asked Boynton to move to the other side of the restaurant and he refused and was arrested. He was tried, convicted, and fined for unlawfully remaining on the premises after being asked to leave. -
First Freedom Ride
13 African American and white civil rights activists launched a series of bus trips through the South to protest segregation on interstate buses. They left from Washington DC and attempted to integrate facilities. They tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch areas. -
James Meredith enrolls in Ole Miss
The Federal court ordered Ole Miss to accept him, making him the school's first black transfer student. Ross Barnett and state officials did not want to let him attend. Kennedy sent U.S. marshals in order to get him into the school. Ross Barnett organized a riot to attack them. 5,000 troops secured the college and escorted him to class. -
Birmingham Protests
A movement organized in early 1963 by the SCLC to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama -
March on Washington
The SCLC, SNCC, NAACP, and CORE organized a rally in D.C. 200,000 blacks and whites gather in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" speech. -
24th Amendment Passed
Outlawed poll taxes -
Malcolm X leads the Nation of Islam
He was an Islamic civil rights activist. He rejected integration and nonviolence and called on blacks to defend themselves. He supported the use of violence if necessary. -
Freedom Summer
SNCC & CORE organized a voter registration campaign. 1000 northern white college students register to be voters & teach civics classes to blacks. This resulted in violence but brought a great amount of attention to the civil rights movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ruled a US labor law in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Malcolm X assassinated
He led a mass rally in Harlem on February 21, 1965. During this rally, rival Black Muslims shot him. -
Selma March
Organized by Martin Luther King Jr. Tens of thousands of blacks petitioned for the right to vote. They marched to the governors mansion in Montgomery. Police beat them with tear gas and clubs. "Bloody Sunday" -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by Lyndon Johnson. It stopped discriminatory voting practices in southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests. -
Black Panthers founded
A party of activists who wanted equality for all blacks. They patrolled northern and western cities with guns looking for racial violence. They also operated health clinics for poor blacks. -
MLK Jr. assassinated
He was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel. A sniper hit him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, and was pronounced dead an hour later. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
defined housing discrimination as “refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of his race, color, religion, or national origin”. Fair Housing Act -
Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
He was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary. He announced that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions and then he was shot by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan
