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Jackie Robinson enters Major League Baseball
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. He was the first back baseball player in the MLB. He was 28th when he started. Jackie Robinson also pitched in the minor leagues for 12 years, but didn't pitch in the Major League Baseball. -
Executive Order 9981 signed by President Truman
On July 26, 1948, Harry Truman signed an executive order. It created the President's committee on Equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed services. The purpose of the Executive Order 9981 was to eliminate racial discrimination in the military by abolishing segregation in all branches. It impacted an order that marked a significant step towards civil rights in the US. -
Emmett Till is murdered
On August 28, 1955, while Emmett Till was visiting family in Money, Mississippi. She was an African American from Chicago, was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. -
Rosa Parks Arrest
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. E.D. Nixon, who was a Civil Rights leader, bailed her out of jail, joined by other friends Clifford Durr, an attorney, and his wife, Virginia. The punishment for Rosa Parks was that the bus stopped, and Parks was arrested by local police. On December 5th, she was found guilty of violating segregation laws, which was given a suspended sentence and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was sparked by the arrest of Rose Parks on December 1, 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed
On September 9, 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was originally made by an attorney general called Herbert Brownell, the act marked the first occasion since reconstruction that the federal government undertook significant legislative action to protect civil rights.