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Plessy vs. Ferguson
Land mark decision of the US Supreme Court issued in 1896. Upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for the public as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal" -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
Debut day of Jackie Robinson into Major League Baseball in 1947 that integrated baseball and broke a 60 year ban against African American baseball players. -
The Integration of the Armed Forces
President Harry Truman signed this executive order establishing the presidents committee on equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services, committing the government to integrating the segregated military. -
Sweatt vs. Painter
NAACP won a case involving the right for Herman Sweatt to attend the law school at the University of Texas in Austin. Texas argued that it's constitution prohibited integrated education. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Linda Brown and other African American students had been denied admission to an all white school near their homes. NAACP alleged that segregated public schools denied African Americans the "equal protection" of the law due to them under the fourteenth amendment. -
The Bus Boycott of Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger and the kicked off the bus and arrested. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
Nine African American students were prevented by the Arkansas National Guard to enter an all white school, they are now known as The Little Rock Nine -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Eisenhower administration passed the Civil Right Act to increase African American voting in the South. The act was the first civil rights legislation since civil rights commission and established a civil rights division in the US Justice Department. -
Freedom Rides of 1960
A group of inter-racial students rode buses in Freedom rides in the South. Freedom Riders sought to overturn racial segregation on public transports. The riders often faced the risk of violence and even death from those who opposed integration -
Greensboro Four
African American students held a sit-in at a "whites only" lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The result of the protest, downtown stores finally agreed. -
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Eliminated poll taxes in Federal Elections -
Integration of the University of Mississippi
Ross Barnett, Governor of Mississippi, was a member of the Dixiecrat's, Southern Democrats who supported racial segregation. He tried to keep James Meredith from entering the University of Mississippi in 1962. -
Integration of the University of Alabama
George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, stood at the door of the University, to prevent two African American students from enrolling at the school. He cited the constitutional right of states to operate their public schools, but was forced to step down. -
March on Washington
Dr. King and some of the other leaders organized the March to pressure Congress to pass the new Civil Rights bill. A quarter million people attended the March. It ended with a meeting between King, the other leaders and President Kennedy. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Four months after the March on Washington Kennedy was shot in Dallas, TX. Congress passed the legislation he had proposed before his death -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Southern Democratic bloc tried to stop the bill with ceaseless speeches, but they were prevented by a vote of two-thirds of the senate. Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or ethnic origin in hotels, restaurants, all employment doing business with the federal government or engaged in interstate commerce -
March on Selma, Alabama
African Americans, lead by King, Marched for voting rights -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Assassinated by Rival Black Muslims because they thought he was going to far -
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. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Assassinated by a white supremacist at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Passage of Title IX
Gave women the right to play the same amount of sports as the men -
Appointment of the first Women Justice of the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor served from her appointment in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. -
Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama
First American American to be President. -
Elimination of Combat Restriction for Women
Gave women the right to serve in the military. -
Democratic Party Nomination of Hillary Clinton
First women to run for president
