Civil Rights Timeline

Brown vs Board of Education

May 17, 1954

Schools become desegregated, over ruling the 1896 plessy vs ferguson case. This paved a road allowing larger scale desegregation.

Rosa Parks

Dec 1, 1955

NAACP member, Rosa Parks, refuses to give up her seat. She was arrested, causing the black community to boycott buses.

Little Rock Nine

Sep 1, 1957

Nine black students are blocked from entering a formerly all white high school. The President sent the National Guard to intervene on the behalf of these students. This occured in Little Rock, Arkansas.

James Meredith

Oct 1, 1961

James Meredith becomes the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi (formerly an all white school). NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall who brought the school to trial for denying Merediths and many others admission based on race,

24th Amendment

Jan 23, 1964

the 24th Amendment abolishes "poll tax". A system used to prevent poor blacks from voting.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Jul 2, 1964

This prohibts discrimination againest any race, religion, or national orgin. The government also had law enforcements enforce this.

Bloody Sunday

Mar 7, 1965

Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them

Voting Rights

Aug 10, 1965

Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal.

Black Panthers

Oct 1, 1966

The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Apr 11, 1968

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.