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Brown vs. Board of Education
Supreme court rules that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional -
Murder of Emmett Till
Fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a Look magazine interview. The case becomes a cause of much unease and uproar the civil rights movement -
Rosa Refuses
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger, defying a southern custom at the time. This would launch a major bus boycott from the black community. -
Little Rock Arkansas Problems
Formerly all white school Central High School trys to welcome 9 black students, but the doors are blocked by protestors. President Eisenhower sends federal troops to take care of matter. These students later became known as the "Little Rock 9." -
First Sit-In Takes Place
Four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina sit in a segregated dinner. They are denied service, but do not move away from the counter. This triggered many of the nonviolent protests throughout the south. -
"Freedom Riders" Take Off
Volunteers began taking bus rides through the south to test out the new desegregation laws. Over 200,000 volunteers, black and white. -
"I Have a Dream" is delivered.
About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Poll Tax abolished
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
Civil Rights Act Signed
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights 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. -
Martin Luther King Dies
In Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
