Civil Rights timeline

  • Dred Scott decision

    Dred Scott decision
    United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, and denied the legality of black citizenship
  • Civil war 61 - 65

    Civil war 61 - 65
    The civil war was in the states between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America. The main reason for this war was due to the disagreement on the role of slavery within American society.
  • Amendment 13

    "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
  • Amendment 14

    "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,”
  • Amendment 15

    “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
  • Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court decision

    Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court decision
    train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. The court decision upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.
  • Tulsa massacre

    Tulsa massacre
    A mob of white people attacked the predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This lasted 8 hours as they destroyed businesses and homes and attacked African American residents.
  • Brown vs Board of Education

    Brown vs Board of Education
    It was a Supreme Court and case to end segregation. 9-0 decision or unanimous for equal protection under the 14th amendment. After the decision violence and riots broke out with some schools closing.
  • Rosa Parks Bus boycott

    Rosa Parks Bus boycott
    civil rights protest where African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating inspired by rosa parks denying to give up her seat for a white women.
  • Emmet Till

    Emmet Till
    14 year old boy from Chicago visits family in Mississippi. Accused of whistling at a white women. Roy Bryant and JW Milan kidnapped, beat, shot, killed and then disposed of Emmets body in the river. Both men stood trial and were found not guilty for their cruel actions.
  • SCLC

    SCLC
    Southern Christian Leadership Conference is a civil rights organization that staged a 381 day boycott of the segregated bus system. This campaign spurred passage of the federal Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
  • Little Rock 9

    Little Rock 9
    There were nine African Americans who entered the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They shouted obscenities and threw objects while making their way through a crowd of people. They were told by the National Guard that they were not around to enter the doors of the school.
  • Students nonviolent coordinating committee and freedom summer

    Students nonviolent coordinating committee and freedom summer
    Youth group of students remained fiercely independent of MLK and
    SCLC, generating their own projects and strategies. The two organizations worked side by side throughout the earty years of the civil rights movement. This group was the second half of the Freedom riders and were a part of the March to Selma.
  • Greensboro

    Greensboro
    a civil rights sit-in protest where young African American students held a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and they refused to leave after they were denied service.
  • Freedom riders

    Freedom riders
    groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in freedom bus trips through southern America to protest segregated bus terminals.
  • March on Washington

    March on Washington
    millions of people rallied to demand an end to segregation, fair wages and economic justice, voting rights, education, ande civil rights protections. Civil rights leaders issued urgent calls to action
  • Civil rights act

    Civil rights act
    prohibits discrimination of race, color, religion, sex or national origin as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing.
  • Voting rights act

    Voting rights act
    One of the most comprehensive pleces of legislation in USHistory.
    Blacks were registering to vote and being elected to public office.
  • Selma

    Selma
    A campaign to secure equal voting rights through a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama that led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act f rom a statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson