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Brown v. Board of Education
US Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren stated that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. "Separate but equal" precedent in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
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Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans organized a peaceful boycott of the city's public bus after Rosa Parks had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Over 50,000 Black workers in Montgomery supported this by walking or bicycling. -
Little Rock Nine
9 Black students had been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army by President Eisenhower's orders. -
Greensboro Sit-In
An act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. 4 Black college students refused to leave a "whites-only" lunch counter after they were denied service. -
March on Washington
Over 200,000 people attended to protest racial discrimination and show support for major civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. The March on Washington was to protest for Jobs and Freedom. -
Civil Rights Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signing it into law that was passed by Congress, the act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
Bloody Sunday
A 25-year-old activist John Lewis led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. 600 people were attacked since there that law enforcement officers had to beat unarmed marchers with billy clubs and sprayed them with tear gas. -
Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson came to the Capitol to sign the Voting Rights Act. This outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War. This act to enforce the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. -
MLK Assassination
Civil rights leader and activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. -
Fair Housing Act
President LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included the Fair Housing Act. This prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex.