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Executive Order 9981
President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the Armed Services. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Consolidation of five cases to one decided by the Supreme Court effectively ended racial segregation in public schools. However, some remained segregated. -
Murder of Emmett Till
A 14-year-old boy from Chicago is brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with a white woman. His murderers are acquitted, and the case brought international attention to the civil rights movement after Jet magazine published a photo of Till’s body at his open-casket funeral. -
Rosa Parks Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her defiant stance prompts a year-long bus boycott. -
Nonviolent Protests
Sixty Black pastors and civil rights leaders from several southern states including Martin Luther King, Jr. met in Atlanta, Georgia to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine Black students are blocked from integrating into Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. -
Greensboro Sit-In
Four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. -
The Problem We All Live With
Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted by four armed federal marshals as she becomes the first student to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. -
Freedom Rides
Throughout 1961, Black and white activists, known as freedom riders, took bus trips through the American South to protest segregated bus terminals and attempted to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters. -
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway blocking 2 black students from registering at the University of Alabama -
March on Washington
Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives his “I Have A Dream” speech as the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial -
Church in Birmingham is Bombed
A bomb at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls and injures several other people prior to Sunday services. The bombing fuels angry protests. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. Title VII of the Act establishes the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -
Malcolm X is Assasinated
Black religious leader Malcolm X is assassinated during a rally by members of the Nation of Islam. -
Bloody Sunday
Around 600 civil rights marchers walk to Selma, Alabama to Montgomery—the state’s capital—in protest of Black voter suppression. Local police block and brutally attack them. After successfully fighting in court for their right to march, Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders lead two more marches and finally reach Montgomery on March 25. -
Assasination of MLK
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray is convicted of the murder in 1969. -
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Fair Housing Act provides equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion, or national origin. -
LA Riots
1992 Los Angeles uprising, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County in April and May 1992, this was caused by the Four policemen acquitted of beating Rodney King, and killing Latasha Harlins. -
George Floyd Protests
The George Floyd protests are an ongoing series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020.