Civil Rights Timeline

By 25JWK01
  • Baton Rouge Bus Boycott

    Baton Rouge Bus Boycott
  • Brown vs Board of Education

    Brown vs Board of Education
    Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality.
  • Brown V. Board of Education 2

    Brown V. Board of Education 2
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    A mass boycott against the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, by civil rights activists and their supporters that led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery's segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. The boycott lasted 381 days and ended on December 20th, 1956.
  • Tallahassee Bus Boycott

    Tallahassee Bus Boycott
    African-Americans in Tallahassee boycotted the bus system for nearly seven months after the arrest of two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students for sitting beside a white woman. Despite police intimidation, the boycott continued until on December 22, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional.
  • NAACP Outlawed in Alabama

    NAACP Outlawed in Alabama
  • Civil Rights Bill of 1957

    Civil Rights Bill of 1957
  • SCLC Founded

    SCLC Founded
    Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others, founded the SCLC in order to have a regional organization that could better coordinate civil rights protest activities across the South. They had the goal of redeeming "the soul of America" through nonviolent resistance.
  • Prince Edward County “abandons” school system

    Prince Edward County “abandons” school system
    In 1959 the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors refused to appropriate money for the schools to protest court rulings that the county had to desegregate. With all the schools closed, African American students either had to attend schools out of the county or to forgo their education altogether.
  • Greensboro Sit-In

    Greensboro Sit-In
    An act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in North Carolina. It lead to many other sit-ins organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
  • SNCC Founded

    SNCC Founded
  • Federal court orders Hunter and Holmes admission to U of GA

    Federal court orders Hunter and Holmes admission to U of GA
  • Freedom Rides

    Freedom Rides
    Freedom Riders rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern U.S to challenge the United State Supreme Court's precedent of non-enforcement. The buses were met with hostility and the riders were beaten and battered.
  • JFK federalizes Mississippi troops

    JFK federalizes Mississippi troops
  • Riots at Ole Miss and LA

    Riots at Ole Miss and LA
    After a black Air Force veteran attempted to go to an all-white school riots broke out. Segregationists vehemently opposed the integration of the school and began rioting on campus.
  • JFK Killed

    JFK Killed
  • March on Washington

    March on Washington
    A march of over 250000 people was held to protest racial discrimination and to support major civil rights legislation that congress hadn't approved. They also protested the unemployment rates of African Americans.
  • Dr. King wins Nobel Peace Prize

    Dr. King wins Nobel Peace Prize
    Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded a Nobel peace prize in 1964. He received it for his leadership and his commitment to nonviolence.
  • 24th amendment eliminated poll taxes on national elections

    24th amendment eliminated poll taxes on national elections
  • Malcolm X killed

    Malcolm X killed
  • Voting Rights Act signed

    Voting Rights Act signed
    Lyndon B. Johnson signed the voting rights act on August 6, 1965. The bill outlawed poll taxes and other discriminatory voting practices commonly used in the southern states.