-
Executive Order 8802
After thousands of African Americans threatened to march to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which opened jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin. -
Rosa Parks
A 42-year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work and sat in a designated seat for Black people at the back of the bus. A white man got on the bus and could not find a seat so she was supposed to give up her seat, but Parks refused and was arrested. Her courage encouraged the MIA to stage a boycott of the Montgomery bus system, which lasted 381 days. On November 14, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating unconstitutional. -
The "Children’s Crusade"
More than 1,000 Black children skipped school to march through Birmingham, Alabama in a demonstration against segregation. This event was to provoke the city's leaders to desegregate. The young demonstrators getting arrested and hosed down were filmed by newspapers and TV crews. An agreement was made to desegregate lunch counters, businesses and restrooms and improve hiring opportunities for Black people in Birmingham. -
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Approximately 250,000 people take part in this march and Martin Luther King gives his “I Have A Dream” speech as the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans. -
Fair Housing Act of 1968
President Johnson signs the Fair Housing Act of 1968, providing equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion or national origin. The bill was debated in the Senate, but was passed in the days after the assassination of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. This act is the final legislative achievement of the civil rights movement.