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Plessy v. Ferguson
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of these state segregation laws.
The Court had ruled that the “separate-but-equal” standard was constitutional. -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American baseball player to cross the “color line” and join the major leagues. -
The Integration of the Armed Forces
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed this executive order establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, committing the government to integrating the segregated military. -
Sweatt v. Painter
In Sweatt v. Painter (1950), the NAACP won a case involving the right of Herman Sweatt, an African American, to attend the Law School at the University of Texas at Austin
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this separate school failed to qualify as “separate but equal.” -
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1953, NAACP lawyers appealed a Topeka, Kansas court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The NAACP alleged that segregated public schools denied African-American children the “equal protection” of the law due to them under the Fourteenth Amendment. -
The Bus Boycott of Montgomery, Alabama
In December 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress and local NAACP member, refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.
Parks was arrested by the police for not giving up her seat. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
The Little Rock Nine
Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround the all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas to prevent nine African-American students from entering the building.
This group of students became known nationally as the “Little Rock Nine.” -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
In 1957, the Eisenhower administration passed the Civil Rights Act to increase African American voting in the South. The law gave federal courts the power to register African-American voters. -
The Greensboro Four
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
In 1960, four African-American students held a sit-in at a “Whites Only” lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The first ones were called the Greensboro Four. -
The Freedom Rides of 1960
Freedom Riders
In 1961, inter-racial groups rode buses in Freedom Rides in the South. The Freedom Riders sought to overturn racial segregation on public transportation. -
The 24th Amendment
This eliminated poll taxes in federal elections. -
The Integration of the University of Mississippi
On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford where locals, students, and committed segregationists had gathered to protest the enrollment of James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran attempting to integrate the all-white school. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
President John F. Kennedy federalized National Guard troops and deployed them to the University of Alabama to force its desegregation. The next day, Governor Wallace yielded to the federal pressure, and two African American students successfully enrolled. -
The March on Washington
¨I Have a Dream¨
In August 1963, Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders organized a March on Washington to pressure Congress to pass the new Civil Rights bill then before Congress. A quarter million (250,000) people attended the march. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling through Dallas, Texas. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
Religious and civil rights leader Malcolm X is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York on Feb. 21. -
The March on Selma, Alabama
In 1965, Dr. King went to Selma, Alabama, to organize a march demanding the vote of African Americans. When demonstrators were attacked, President Johnson reacted by introducing a voting rights bill. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act ended poll taxes and suspended literacy tests where they were used to prevent African-Americans from voting. This guaranteed the rights promised under the Fifteenth Amendment. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7:05 p.m. -
The Passage of Title IX
TITLE IX of the Education Amendments was signed by President Nixon in June of 1972 to become a law. The main purpose of Title IX is to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that is federally funded. -
The Appointment of the First Woman Justice of the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to two terms in the Arizona state senate. In 1981, Ronald Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court. She received unanimous Senate approval and made history as the first woman justice to serve on the nation's highest court. -
The Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama
The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the first term of Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice President. -
The Elimination of Combat Restriction for Women
On April 28, 1993, combat exclusion was lifted from aviation positions by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, permitting women to serve in almost any aviation capacity. Some restrictions were maintained on aviation units in direct support of ground units and special operations aviation units. -
The Democratic Party Nomination of Hillary Clinton
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was chosen as the party's nominee for president by a 54% majority of delegates present at the convention roll call, defeating primary rival Senator Bernie Sanders, who received 46% of votes from delegates.
