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Plessy v. Ferguson
Landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme court issued in 1896. Racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as segregated facilities were equal. "Separate but equal". -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
Debut day of Jackie Robinson into the Major league Baseball in 1947 that broke a sixty year ban against African American baseball players. -
The Integration of the Armed Forces
Executive Order 9981 by President Truman. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. -
Sweatt v. Painter
U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. Desegregation of schools. -
The Bus Boycott of Montgomery, Alabama
Social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a seminal event in the civil rights movement. Started by Rosa Parks. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School. which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
Federal voting rights bill. Its purpose was to show the federal government's support for racial equality after the US Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. -
The Freedom Rides of 1960
Civil Rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1960 to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States decisions about segregated public buses. -
The Greensboro Four
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. -
The 24th Amendment
The right of US citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax -
The Integration of the University of Mississippi
On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford where locals, students, and committed segregationists had gathered to protest the enrollment of James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran attempting to integrate the all-white school. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, in a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and stop the desegregation of schools, stood at the door of the auditorium to try to block the entry of two African American students. -
The March on Washington
The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist. Some saw him as a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; others accused him of preaching racism and violence. -
The March on Selma, Alabama
Three protest marches. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression, and were part of a broader voting rights movement -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, 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. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
As Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had come to lead a march by striking sanitation workers. In response to King’s death, more than 100 American inner cities exploded in rioting, looting, and violence. -
The Passage of Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments is enacted by Congress and is signed into law by Richard Nixon. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving any type of federal financial aid. -
The Appointment of the First Woman Justice of the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who served from her appointment in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan until her retirement in 2006. She was the first woman to serve on the Court. -
The Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama
The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C. First African American President -
The Elimination of Combat Restriction for Women
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifted the military’s official ban on women in combat, which opened up hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them -
The Democratic Party Nomination of Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential candidate nominated by a major party, namely the Democratic Party.
