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President Franklin d Roosevelt
President during the early years of the civil rights movement! -
Hattie McDaniel (Black "Firsts")
Hattie McDaniel (1895–1952) becomes the first Black person to win an Academy Award. McDaniel wins the best supporting actress award for her portrayal of an enslaved woman in the film, "Gone with the Wind." McDaniel has worked as a singer, songwriter, comedian, and actress and is well-known as she was the first Black woman to sing on the radio in the United States. She appears in more than 300 films during her career. -
Tuskegee Air Squadron (Black "Firsts")
The Tuskegee Air Squadron, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, is established by the U.S. Army. The squadron is led by Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who goes on to be the first four-star general in the U.S. Air Force. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black military aviators in the US, trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama during World War II. -
Hugh Mulzac (Black "Firsts")
Hugh Mulzac (1886–1971) is the first Black captain in the U.S. Merchant Marines when he is made captain of the SS Booker T. Washington after he insisted it should include an integrated crew. -
Smith V. Allwright (Court Case)
Smith v. Allwright, was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set their internal rules, including the use of white primaries. -
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President Harry S Truman
Important president in foreign relations during this time. -
Jackie Robinson (Black "Firsts")
The 1947 season began with most people expecting Jackie Robinson to take the field in a Dodgers uniform. He played for the Montreal Royals in and led the International League in batting average and runs scored. He also led the league’s second basemen in fielding percentage. His numbers clearly dispelled any doubts that a Black player was not talented enough to play in the majors. -
Shelly V. Kramer (Court Case)
Shelley v. Kraemer, is a landmark United States Supreme Court case that held that racially restrictive housing covenants cannot legally be enforced. -
Executive Order 9981 (Other)
President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which stated, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Alice Coachman (Black "Firsts")
Alice Coachman Davis (1923–2014) wins the high jump at the Olympics in London, England, becoming the first Black woman to win an Olympic Gold medal. After her victory, the Olympic Games website declares: -
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower
During his presidency, Eisenhower managed Cold War-era tensions with the Soviet Union under the looming threat of nuclear weapons, ended the war in Korea -
Brown V. Board of Education (Court Case)
When Brown’s case and four other cases related to school segregation first came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court combined them into a single case under the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. -
Emmett Till (Deaths)
Emmett Till, a fourteen year-old black youth, was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman in Mississippi. Two white men charged with the crime were acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boasted about committing the murder. The public outrage generated by the case helped spur the civil rights movement. -
Montgomery bus boycott (Protest)
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for violating a Jim Crow ordinance. Her arrest led to a successful citywide bus boycott, which brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence. -
Civil rights act of 1957 (Laws)
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957. It increased protection of voting rights. -
The little rock nine (Other)
Nine children were selected by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to push desegregation in Little Rock, Alabama. The nine teenagers were verbally and physically abused at Central High School every day. President Johnson had to send the 101st Airborne to protect the children. The soldiers weren't allowed in restrooms or classrooms, so those were areas where the kids were targeted. -
Greensboro Sit-in (Protests)
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggered many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South, and also inspired the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which gave young blacks a more vital role in the fledgling civil rights movement. -
Civil rights act of 1960 (Laws)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which prohibited intimidation of black voters and gave judges power to appoint referees to oversee voter registration. -
Harlem Freedom Ralley (Marches)
On June 29, 1963 Malcolm X led one of the largest civil rights events known as the Unity Rally in Harlem. He concentrated on Harlem because of Harlem massive black population During this gathering Malcolm X focused on unifying all blacks regardless of religious background, social class, or political views. -
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John F. Kennedy
Very important figure through out history, and known for his speeches -
Freedom Riders (Protest)
Freedom Riders defied racial segregation on buses in the South in 1961, risking violence and arrest. They were inspired by a 1947 interracial bus ride and a 1960 Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation. They drew national attention to the civil rights movement and the brutality of racism, sparking sympathy and outrage -
The Albany Movement (Protests)
The Albany Movement was a desegregation and voters' rights coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, in November 1961. This movement was founded by local black leaders and ministers, as well as members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). -
Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Laws)
The EPA, which is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (FLSA), and which is administered and enforced by the EEOC, prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women in the same establishment who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill -
Medgar W.Evers Assassination (Deaths)
Medgar W. Evers, NAACP field secretary in Mississippi and a World War II veteran, was shot and killed by a sniper in Jackson. The alleged assailant, a white segregationist, was acquitted by a hung jury. In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of killing Evers. -
March on Washington (Marches)
The civil rights movement reached its peak when 250,000 blacks and whites gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which included the demand for passage of meaningful civil rights laws. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech. -
Brimingham Bombing 1963 (Deaths)
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school were killed when Robert Chambliss and other members of a white supremacist group ignited a dynamite bomb at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings in Birmingham. Riots erupted, leading to the deaths of two more black youths. -
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson declared a “War on Poverty.” He actively pushed Congress to pass legislation attacking illiteracy, unemployment and racial discrimination. He also signed plenty of civil rights acts -
Civil rights act of 1964 (Laws)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Selma March (Marches)
On March 7, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, to call for a federal voting rights law that would provide legal support for disenfranchised African Americans in the South. State troopers, however, sent marchers back with violence and tear gas, and television cameras recorded the incident. On March 9 King tried again, leading more than 2,000 marchers to the Pettus Bridge, where they encountered a barricade of state troopers. -
Bloody Sunday (Protests)
This march went down in history as Bloody Sunday for the violent beatings state troopers inflicted on protesters as they attempted to march peacefully from Selma, Ala., to the state capital, Montgomery. The march was aimed at fighting the lack of voting rights for African Americans. Approximately 600 protesters were to travel from Selma on U.S. Highway 80 to the state capital on March 7, 1965, led by John Lewis, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. -
Civil rights act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Chicago Freedom Movement (Protests)
The Chicago Open Housing Movement, also called the Chicago Freedom Movement, was formed to protest segregated housing, educational deficiencies, and employment and health disparities based on racism. The movement included multiple rallies, marches and boycotts to address the variety of issues facing black Chicago residents. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
A week after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, was signed into law and banned discrimination in housing. -
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Richard nixon
He was the last president within the 1940-1970 period of civil rights
