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Tuskegee Institute created - July 4, 1881
The Tuskegee Institute was founded in Alabama by Booker T. Washington in 1881. The creation of the institute was done for the goal of economic progress for African Americans through training teachers who educate black students on industry and agriculture. The event of the founding of the Tuskegee Institute is significant to the Civil Rights Movement since it was the first establishment that provided higher learning to African Americans. -
Plessy v Ferguson - May 18, 1896
The Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court case happened in 1896 when Homer Plessy, an African American, did not sit in the train car assigned for Blacks. The significance of the Supreme Court decision was that it established that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional, so Plessy's rights were not violated, allowing for Jim Crow laws and other segregation to continue. -
(ERA) Equal Rights Amendment proposed & defeated (1923/1982)
The ERA was proposed in 1923 by the National Woman's political party, with the purpose of making it illegal to discriminate based on sex and ensure that the sexes became legally equal. The ERA was passed by the Senate in 1972. However, the ERA was not ratified by three-fourths of the states, leading to the defeat of the amendment in 1982. The significance of the ERA is that it would have led to the removal of discriminatory laws against women in the state and federal government. -
Cesar Chavez - 1927-1993
Cesar Chavez was a Mexican-American civil rights activist who founded the National Farm Workers Association and ran a campaign for the 1965 Grape Strike. The significance of the grape strike was that it led to agreements with grape growers to allow workers to unionize and get paid more. The significance of the NFWA/UFW is that it led to the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which gave farmworkers better wages, better working conditions, and allowed them to unionize. -
Executive Order 9981 - July 26, 1948
African Americans had been participating in the US Armed Forces, but were still segregated from white members. The Executive Order 9981 was signed by President Truman in 1948, and it "abolished racial discrimination in the US Armed Forces". It also created the Committee on Equality and Opportunity in the Armed Services, with the purpose of helping integrate the armed forces. -
Brown v Board of Education - May 17, 1954
The Brown v Board of Education of Topeka happened when a class-action suit was filed against the Board of Education of Topeka when Oliver Brown's daughter was "denied entrance to Topeka's all-white elementary schools", and Brown explained that the segregated schools were not equal in accordance with the 14th Amendment. The significance of this case is that it made known the true nature of segregated facilities to be separate but not equal, and led to school integration. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott - December 5, 1955
The Montgomery Bus Boycott occurred in response to the arrest and fining of Rosa Parks, an African American who refused to yield her seat to a white bus passenger. African Americans boycotted the city buses in Montgomery, Alabama during the boycott. Its significance is that it led to a ruling that determined that the public bus segregation was unconstitutional and required the Montgomery bus system to desegregate. -
Little Rock 9 - September 4, 1957
The Little Rock Nine were black students who were escorted to Little Rock Central High School by federal troops sent by President Eisenhower since the Arkansas National Guard had been preventing the Little Rock Nine from entering. It was made possible by the Brown v Board of Education ruling, which made public school segregation unconstitutional. The significance of the Little Rock 9 is that their entrance challenged previous segregation in schools. -
Greensboro NC Sit-ins - February 1, 1960
The Greensboro sit-ins began with the Greensboro Four, who "staged the first sit-in" after the murder of Emmett Till. In the sit-ins, African American students would sit at a "segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service". The sit-ins led to Woolworth's and other places to desegregate. Its significance is that its nonviolence led to more nonviolent actions for equal rights. -
Chicano Movement - 1960s
The Chicano movement was a cultural nationalism movement for Mexican-Americans since Mexican-Americans had been treated as second-class citizens. It included efforts to get better pay and working conditions for farmworkers, repatriating land, and murals in Mexican-American barrios of Mexican-American culture. The significance of this movement is that it established better worker conditions, led to "the hiring of Chicano teachers", and to "more Mexican-Americans serving as elected officials". -
Freedom Riders - May 4, 1961
The Freedom Riders protested bus terminal segregation by taking bus rides and using ""whites-only" restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations". The Freedom Rides were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE. The Freedom Riders were significant in the Civil Rights movement because they were successful in leading to federal action toward enforcing integrating interstate travel. -
March on Washington “I Have a Dream Speech” - August 28, 1963
At the March on Washington protest, protesters came to the Lincoln Memorial. This was also the event where Martin Luther King Jr gave his "I Have A Dream Speech". The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom featured many other speakers like the president of the NAACP, a member of the SNCC, and civil rights veterans. The significance of the March on Washington is that it brought to attention that African Americans had still been facing discrimination, despite emancipation a century ago. -
24th Amendment - January 23, 1964
The 24th Amendment, which was passed on January 23, 1964, made poll taxes illegal for voting in federal elections. Before then, poll taxes had been used in order to prevent African Americans from voting in national elections. The 24th Amendment is significant in the Civil Rights Movement because it ended the practice of poll taxing which was preventing African Americans from voting, and allowed them to start having more political power. -
March from Selma Alabama - March 7, 1965
The march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery took place after peaceful protestors in Marion were attacked by white segregationists, leading to Jimmie Lee Jackson's death. In the march, 600 activists marched 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, during which they would be whipped and tear gassed by state trooper, but joined by more activists. The significance of the march was that it brought attention to the segregation and discrimination making voting difficult, and led to the Voting Rights Act 1965 -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 - August 6, 1965
The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson, since African Americans had still been prevented from voting for the state and locally even after the 15th Amendment, which established that citizens should not be prevented from voting based on race. Forms of this prevention of African Americans from voting included literacy tests. The significance of this act was that it made literacy tests illegal to remove voting restrictions for African Americans, allowing them to vote more. -
Black Panthers - October 1966
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther political party to "challenge police brutality" against African Americans through armed citizen patrols. Its goals were to "[get] more African Americans elected to political office", which didn't work, but they still created community social programs providing free breakfast and health clinics for African American communities. They were significant for their actions toward economic improvement and self defense for African Americans. -
Thurgood Marshall appointed to Supreme Court - August 30, 1967
Thurgood Marshall's appointment to the Supreme Court was significant in that he became the first African American Supreme Court justice. Some of his cases were Chambers v Florida, Smith v Allwright, Shelley v Kraemer, and Sweatt v Painter. He was also the chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He "supported expanding civil rights, enacting affirmative action laws and limiting criminal punishment'. -
American Indian Movement founded - July 1968
The American Indian Movement, or AIM, was founded for issues relating to racism, civil rights violations, and treaties. They protested against programs controlling reservation development and fought to keep the land that they were rightfully granted. At Wounded Knee, the AIM and Sioux fired at federal marshals for 71 days. Even though AIM led to "[winning] major settlements...in cases involving tribal land claims", "the US government took no steps to honor broken Indian treaties". -
Sandra Day O’Connor appointed to Supreme Court - August 18, 1981
Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment to the Supreme Court was significant since she was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was the associate justice for 1981-2006. She was honored by President Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. O'Connor was politically conservative and "focused on the letter of law", "[voting] for what she believed best fit the intentions of the US Constitution". -
Sonia Sotomayor appointed to Supreme Court - August 8, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court was significant since she became "the first Hispanic justice to serve on the nation's highest court". She was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. No other Supreme Court justice had ever been nominated by President Obama, and this led to backlash since Sotomayor was Hispanic. Sotomayor was also the third woman in the Supreme Court.