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Executive Order 8802
The Executive Order 8802 was signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, to prohibit ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry. It also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee. -
Jackie Robinson's MLB Debut
In 1947, Jackie Robinson made his first Major League Baseball Debut with the Dodgers against the Boston Braves. He paved the way for future integration in sports and society. -
Executive Order 9981
This order was issued by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. The Executive Order eventually led to the end of segregation services. -
Brown v. Board of Education Court Case is Decided
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The doctrine of "separate but equal", established in Plessy v. Ferguson, was overturned. Southern schools were ordered to integrate, which they resisted. -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing was an act of white supremacists terrorism. Dr. Martin Luther King described it as "on one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity." The explosion at the church killed four girls and injured 22 others. -
Lynching of Emmett Till
Emmett Till a young African-American who was the age of 14, was lynched in Mississippi, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. The white woman's brother and husband brutally murdered Till. After people heard about the murder, Till became an huge icon in the civil rights movement. -
Bus Boycott in Montgomery Begins
Blacks city-wide protested bus segregation by nonviolently by walking and carpooling. Martin Luther King Jr. led the boycott. The boycott succeeded when the succeeded when the Supreme Court banned bus segregation in Montgomery. -
Creation of the SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed in 1957 just after the Montgomery Bus Boycott had ended. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) main aim was to advance the cause of civil rights in America but in non-violent manner. -
Little Rock Nine First Escorted to School
Arkansas governor used National Guard troops to block the integration of more black students at a high school. Angry white mobs also surrounded the school. President Eisenhower used federal to enforce integration and protect the black students. -
Greensboro Sit-Ins Begin
Four black college students sat peacefully at a "whites only" lunch counter in pro. Sit-in protests spread across the South, led by both black and white students. Protesters were often attacked by white mobs but remained peaceful. Dozens of public areas were integrated because of sit-ins. -
Freedom Riders are attacked in Anniston, Alabama
Freedom Riders were brutally attacked by violent, well-armed and organized mobs of Klansman and other terrorists. The vicious beatings and fire bombings of the bus were by the Ku Klux Klan. -
James Meredith Enrolls at Ole Miss
Meredith, a black US military veteran, became the first African-American Student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Segregationists were protesting the enrollment of James Meredith, at the University. -
University of Alabama is Integrated
The "stand in the schoolhouse door" incident was Alabama Governor George Wallace's symbolic opposition to school integration imposed by the federal government. The action occurred in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama and was intended to prevent the enrollment of two black students, James Hood and Vivian Malone. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech is Delivered
The "I Have of Dream" speech is a public speech that was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end racism in the United States. -
Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution Ratified
The Twenty-fourth Amendment was proposed to the United States Constitution by congress, to prohibit both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. -
Signing of the Civil Rights Act
The signing of the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. -
March on Selma Begins
About 600 people begin a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Lewis and Hosea Williams. Marchers demand an end to discrimination in voter registration. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state and local lawmen attack the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas, driving them back to Selma. -
Signing of the Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It 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. -
Loving v. Virginia Court Case is Decided
The Supreme Court announced its ruling in Loving v. Virginia. In a unanimous decision, the justices found that Virginia's interracial marriage law violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
While campaigning against poverty in Memphis, Tennessee, King was shot and killed. James Earl Ray was arrested and convicted for murder, but some Americans suspected a larger conspiracy.
