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Brown v. Board of education
The Supreme Court rules that separate but equal schools are unconstitutional ending segregation in public schools.This event is important to the civil rights movement because this is the first time the Supreme Court ruled to desegregate the schools. -
Rosa Parks is told to move to the back of the bus.
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat she is thrown in jail but her defiant stance starts a year long Montgomery,Alabama bus boycott. This event was important to the civil rights movement because this defiant action caused African Americans to come together and make a bigger impact to the civil rights movement by boycotting the Montgomery,Alabama buses. -
Black pastors and civil rights leaders meet in Atlanta.
Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders get together to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation.This event is important to the civil rights movement because civil rights leaders have come together to take an organized approach to make advances for civil rights. -
The Little Rock Nine
Nine black students are blocked from integrating into Central High School in Little Rock,Arkansas they are harassed so bad that President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students. This event is important to the civil rights movement because even though the students were continually harassed they bravely continued going to the high school to integrate it. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act into law to help protect voter rights this law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another's right to vote. This event is important to the civil rights movement because it is the first civil rights law to be passed for African Americans since reconstruction. -
Woolworth's whites only lunch counter.
Four college students in Greensboro,North Carolina refuse to leave Woolworth's whites only lunch counter without being served. This event was an important step in the civil rights movement their nonviolent protest sparked similar sit-ins throughout the city and in other states. -
March on Washington
250,000 People take part in the march on Washington for jobs and freedom Martin Luther King Jr gives his "I have a dream speech". This event is important to the civil rights movement because they have brought their protests to Washington. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. This was an important event for the civil rights movement because there is now a law to prevent employment discrimination. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent the use of literacy tests as a voting requirement. This is an important event in the civil rights movement because this act forbids states from passing voting requirements that seek "to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." -
The Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, providing equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion or national origin. This is an important event in the civil rights movement because blacks can no longer be prevented from living where they want to live, it took a long struggle but all of the little steps made in the past led to taking bigger steps that gave African Americans their rights.
