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Civil Rights Timeline

  • Brown vs. Board of Education

    Brown vs. Board of Education
    Justices ruled unanimously that segregation was illegal in schools and that both races should be integrated. The multi-year campaign persuaded all nine justices the "special but equal" doctrine that predecessors endorsed in the cases Plessy vs. Ferguson decision.
  • Emmett Till Murder

    Emmett Till Murder
    In 1955, Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, and shot to death for whistling at a white woman in a convenient store while visiting his uncle in Money, Mississippi. His body was found 3 days later in the Tallahatchie River.
  • Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
    On December 1 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Her actions influenced leaders of the nearby Black community to arrange the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  • Little Rock Nine

    Little Rock Nine
    In the summer of 1957, nine students enrolled at Little Rock Central High School. Since then it had been an all white school. There efforts to enroll was supported by the Brown vs. Board of Education. On the first day of school they made their way through crowds yelling and throwing objects. When they reached the front doors the National Guard prevented them from entering the school and they had to go home.
  • Greensboro Woolworth Sit-ins

    Greensboro Woolworth Sit-ins
    The Greensboro sit-in was a protest that began in 1960 when young African American students planned a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. They refused to leave after not being served.
  • Freedom Rides

    Freedom Rides
    Freedom Riders rode interstate buses into the US while it was still segregated in 1961.
  • MLK's letter from Birmingham

    MLK's letter from Birmingham
    MLK's letter from Birmingham was a document written in response to the to local religious leaders criticisms of the campaign.
  • March on Washington

    March on Washington
    The March on Washington was for Jobs and Freedom. In 1963, civil rights leaders protested against racial discrimination and to show support for major civil rights legislation.
  • Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing

    Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing
    Four young African American girls were killed during the Birmingham Baptist Church bombing and on the other side 20 more were injured. The church had been receiving bomb threats and was a key civil rights meeting place.
  • 24th Amendment

    24th Amendment
    The 24th Amendment prohibited any poll taxes in elections for federal officials
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination against people of race, color, religion, or sex.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Voting Rights Act of 1965
    The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed the discriminating voting practices that were adopted in multiple southern states during the Civil War.
  • Loving v. Virginia

    Loving v. Virginia
    Loving v. Virginia was a case where the Court held that the Virginia Law violated the Fourteenth Amendment due to the laws purpose of race-based restriction.
  • "Bloody Sunday"/ Selma to Montgomery March

    "Bloody Sunday"/ Selma to Montgomery March
    "Bloody Sunday" was a massacre that occurred on January 30, 1972. British Soldiers shot 26 unarmed citizens during a protest march in Derry, Northern Island.