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Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case "Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas," unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
The Murder of Emmett Till
14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for flirting with a white woman while he was visiting his family in Money, Mississippi. His assailants made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eyes, shot him in the head, and then threw his body tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Local authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, arrested Rosa Parks when she refused to vacate her seat in the white section of a city bus. To protest Parks' arrest and the continued segregation of Montgomery's bus lines, members of the city's black community formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and launched a community wide boycott to compel the system's integration. People were hosting protests, sit ins, and were repeatedly getting beaten and arrested for their cause. -
Little Rock School Segregation
The desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, AK, gained national attention when Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the National Guard in effort to prevent nine black students from integrating the high school. President Eisenhower took action against the governor by removing the Guard from Faubus' control, and ordering 1,000 troops from the United States Army to oversee the integration. Later that month, the Little Rock Nine finally entered Central High School. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Originally proposed by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, it marked the first occasion since Reconstruction that the federal government undertook significant legislative action to protect civil rights. It established the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, and empowered federal officials to prosecute individuals that conspired to deny or abridge another citizen's right to vote. -
Woolworth Sit-In
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities. -
Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. While spending his days in prison, he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. His letter identifies and responds to each of the nine specific criticisms that he understands are being made by men and by the white church and its leadership. King responds to each of these nine charges to create the structure of his letter. -
The Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
The bodies of three civil-rights workers, two white, one black, are found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the KKK, who murdered them. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools. -
Selma's Bloody Sunday
African Americans begin a march to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of black voting rights. But they are eventually stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.
