Civil Rights Timeline

By taylorp1

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Supreme Court outlaws school segregation in Board of Education. The Plessy v. Ferguson was the court case that allowed separate but equal facilities. The Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Brown v. Board decision helped break the back of state-sponsored segragation, and provided a spark to the American civil rights movement.

  • Rev. Goerge Lee Killed

    The Rev. Goerge Lee killed for leading voter-registration drive Belzoni, MIssissippi.

  • Lamar Smith Murdered

    Lamar Smith Murdered for organizing black voters Brookhaven, Mississippi.

  • Emmett Louis Till Murdered

    Emmett Louis Till murdered for speaking to a white woman Money, Mississippi.

  • John Earl Reese Slain

    John Earl Reese slain by nightriders opposed to schoool improvments Mayflower, Texas.

  • Rosa Parks Arrested

    Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segragation, know as the "Jim Crow Laws." Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of segragation.

  • Montgomery Bus Boycot

    Montgomery bus boycot begins.

  • Supreme Court Bans Segregated seating

    Supreme Court bans segregated seating on Montgumery buses.

  • Willie Edward Jr. Killed

    Willie Edward Jr. killed by Klansmen Montgumery, Alabama.

  • Congress Passes First Civil Rights Act

    Congress passes first civil right act since reconstruction. The new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote.

  • President Eisenhower Orders Federal Troops to Enforce School Desegregation

    President Eisenhower orders federal troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. Govenor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas Nation Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School. Central High School was an all white school.

  • Mack Charles Parker Taken

    Mack Charles Parker taken from jail and lynched Poplarville, Mississippi.

  • Black Students Stage Sit-in

    Black students stage sit-in at "whites only" lunch counter in Greenelboro, North Carolina.

  • Supreme Court Outlaws Segregation

    Supreme Court outlaws segregation in bus terminals.

  • Freedom Riders

    Freedom Riders attacked in Alabama while testing compliance with bus desegregation laws. Freedom Riders, a series of political protests against segragation by blacks and whites whol rode buses together through the American South in 1961. In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court banned segragation in interstate bus travel. The Freedom Riders were both African Americans and whites.

  • Herbert Lee Voter Registration Worker Killed

    Herbert Lee voter registration worker killed by white legislator Liberty, Mississippi.

  • Civil Rights Groups

    Civil rights groups join forces to launch voter registration drive.

  • CPL. Roman Ducksworth Jr. Taken

    CPL. Roman Ducksworth Jr. taken from bus and killed by police Taylorsville, Mississippi.

  • Riots Erupt

    Riots erupt when James Meredith, a black student, enrolls at Ole Miss. Chaos broke loose when James Meredith enrolled at Ole Miss. Two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested. After the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order.

  • Paul Guihard

    Paul Guihard French reporter killed during Ole Miss riot Oxford, Mississippi.

  • William Lewis Moore Slain

    William Lewis Moore slain during one-man march against segregtion Attalla, Alabama.

  • Birmingham Police Attack

    Birmingham polie attack marching children with dogs and fire hoses.

  • Alabama Govenor

    Alabama Govenor George Wallace stands in schoolhouse door to stop university integration.

  • Medgar Evers Civil Rights Leadrer Assassinated

    Medgar Evers Civil rights leader assassinated Jackson, Mississippi. Medgar Evers was an African-American civil rights activist whose murder drew national attention.

  • 250,000 Americans March on Washington

    250,000 Americans march on Washington for civil rights. The March on Washington was for jobs and Frfeedom in the nations capitol. The "I have a dream" speech.

  • Schoolgirls Killed in Bombing

    Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley schoolgirls killed in bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Birmingham, Alabama.

  • Virgil Lamar Ware Youth Killed

    Virgil Lamar Ware Youth killed during wave of racist violence Birmingham, Alabama.

  • Poll Tax Outlawed

    Poll tax outlawed in federal elections.

  • Louis Allen Witness to Murder

    Louis Allen witness to murder of civil rights work assassinated Liberty, Mississippi.

  • The Rev. Bruce Klunder Killed

    The Rev. Bruce Klunder killed protesting constuction of segregated school Cleveland, Ohio.

  • Henry Hezekiah Dee & Charles Eddie Moore Killed

    Henry Hezekiah Dee & Charles Eddie Moore killed by Klansmen Meadville, Mississippi.

  • Freedom Summer

    Freedom Summer brings 1,000 young civil rights volunteers to Mississippi.

  • Civil Rights Workers Abducted and Slain

    James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Scherner Civil rights workers abducted and slain by Klansmen Philadelphia, Mississippi.

  • President Johnson

    President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964. It ended segragartion in public places and banned empoylemt descrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

  • LT. Col Lemuel Penn Killed by Klansmen

    LT. Col Lemuel Penn killed by Klansmen while driving north Colbert, Georgia.

  • Jammie Lee Jackson Civil Rights Marcher Killed

    Jammie Lee Jackson civil rights marcher killed by state trooper Marion, Alabama.

  • State Troopers Beat Marchers

    State troopers beat back marchers at Edmund Pettus Bridge Selma, Alabama.

  • The Rev. James Reeb March Vounteer Beaten

    The Rev. James Reeb march volunteer beaten to death Selma, Alabama.

  • Voting Rights March

    Thousands complete the Selma to Montgumery Voting Rights March. It was organized for the efforts of registering blacks for voting rights in the South. They were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. Raised awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year.

  • Viola Gregg Liuzzo Killed

    Viola Gregg Liuzzo killed by Klansmen while transporting marchers Selma Highway, Alabama.

  • Oneal Moore Killed

    Oneal Moore black deputy killed by nightriders Vernado, Louisiana.

  • Voting Rights Act

    Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965.

  • Willie Brewster Killed

    Willie Brewster killed by nightriders Annistion, Alabama.

  • Jonathan Daniels Killed

    Jonathan Daniels Seminary student killed by deputy Hayneville, Alabama.

  • Samuel Younge Jr. Killed

    Samuel Younge Jr. Student civil rights activist killed ikn dispute Tuskegee, Alabama.

  • Vernon Dahmer Killed

    Vernon Dahmer Black community leader killed in Klan bombing Hattiesberg, Mississippi.

  • Ben Chester White Killed

    Ben Chester White killed by Klansmen Natchez, Mississippi.

  • Clarence Triggs Slain

    Clarence Triggs slain by nightriders Bogalusa, Louisisana.

  • Wharlest Jackson Killed

    Wharlest Jackson Civil rights leader killed after promotion to "white" job Natchez, Mississippi.

  • Benjamin Brown Killed

    Benjamin Brown Civil rights worker killed when police tired on protesters Jackson, Mississippi.

  • First Black Supreme Court Justice

    Thurgood Marshall swom in as first black Supreme Court justice. He enrolled in Howard University for Lawschool and became a lawyer. His first successful case was when he sued the Unversity of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University graduate named Donald Gaines Murray. This was momumental because he tried enrolling at that same school but they denied him because he was black, now he got to help another get the right treatment that he deserved.

  • Students Killed when Highway Patrolmen Fire on Protesters

    Samuel Hammond Jr, Delano Middleton, Henry Smith Students killed when highway patrolmen fire on protesters Orangeburg, South Carolina.

  • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated

    The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated Memphis, Tennesse. He was fataly shot on his balcony, he was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him on the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. There was such an impact on people because he found the issues of America and wanted to fix them, he madw people have hope again, he had many ideas that helped everyone.