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Executive Order 9981
It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. -
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Civil Rights Movements
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Brown vs. Board of Education
Helped overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for "separate but equal" public facilities, including public schools in the United States. Declaring that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," the Brown v. Board decision helped break the back of state-sponsored segregation, and provided a spark to the American civil rights movement. -
Emmett till
When Emmett Till was reportedly flirting with a white woman, he was kidnapped and murderred four days later. The men who murdered him were tried and acquitted by an all white jury. Till's murder and open casket funeral galvanized the emerging Civil Rights Movement. -
Rosa Parks
Her refusal to give her seat to a white man sparked many people to boycott busses and started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School thank to the decision declaring all laws establishing segregated schools to be unconstitutional, and it called for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. -
SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) main aim was to advance the cause of civil rights in America but in a non-violent manner. The SCLC brought together all the various strands of civil rights organizations and put them under one organization. -
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement, became one of the movement's more radical branches. -
Greensboro Sit-Ins
Despite sometimes violent reaction to the sit-ins, these demonstrations eventually led to positive results. For example, the sit-ins received significant media and government attention. When the Woolworth sit-in began, the Greensboro newspaper published daily articles on the growth and impact of the demonstration. The sit-ins made headlines in other cities as well, as the demonstrations spread throughout the Southern states. -
Freedom Rides
A group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals -
James Meredith
James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but came across trouble getting in due to entrance being blocked to keep him out, through the help of the National Guard, Meredith was able to graduate school. -
The Birmingham Campaign
A movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference(SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct actions culminated in widely publicized confrontations between black youth and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
The Letter from Birmingham Jail is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, arguing that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws. -
March on Washington
Organized by a number of civil rights and religious groups, the event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continued to face across the country. -
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
A bombing that killed four young girls and caused many other people to be injured; outrage over the incident and the violent clash between protesters and police that followed helped draw national attention to the hard-fought, often dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans. -
24th Amendment
Prohibited 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. -
The Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael SchwernerRead more: The Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman & Michael Schwerner
The three were civil rights workers attempting to register black voters during the Freedom Summer. However, during an investigation of the burned black church, they were soon detained and arrested by law enforcement. After being release into the clutches of the KKK, they were beaten and killed. A conspiracy proved in court linked law enforcement with the KKK. -
Mississippi Freedom Summer
in the summer of 1964, COFO brought nearly 1,000 activists to Mississippi—most of them white college students—to join with local black activists to register voters, teach in "Freedom Schools," and organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). -
Civil Rights Act 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. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits discrimination in voting. -
Boycott of New Orleans by American Football League players
After the 1964 professional American Football League season, the AFL All-Star Game had been scheduled for early 1965 in New Orleans' Tulane Stadium. After numerous black players were refused service by a number of New Orleans hotels and businesses, and white cabdrivers refused to carry black passengers, black and white players alike lobbied for a boycott of New Orleans. Under the leadership of Buffalo Bills' players, including Cookie Gilchrist, the players put up a unified front. -
Malcolm X Assassination
He had inspired blacks to self defence themselves against racism. -
Bloody Sunday
The first march took place on March 7, 1965 — known as "Bloody Sunday" — when 600 marchers, protesting the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson and ongoing exclusion from the electoral process, were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. The second march was held the following Tuesday (March 9th), and resulted in 2,500 protesters turning around after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. -
Los Angeles Race Riots 1965
Watt's Rebellion was a race riot that took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 17, 1965. The six-day unrest resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. It was the most severe riot in the city's history until the Los Angeles riots of 1992. -
Executive Order 11246
The Executive Order prohibits federal contractors and federally-assisted construction contractors and subcontractors, who do over $10,000 in Government business in one year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Executive Order also requires Government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that equal opportunity is provided in all aspects of their employment. -
The Black Panthers
The language of the Black Panthers was violent as was their public stance. The two founders of the Black Panther Party were Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale. They preached for a "revolutionary war" but though they considered themselves an African-American party, they were willing to speak out for all those who were oppressed from whatever minority group. They were willing to use violence to get what they wanted. -
Loving v. Virginia
The case was brought by Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored." The Supreme Court's unanimous decision held this prohibition was unconstitutional, overturning Pace v. Alabama and ending all race-base -
Civil Rights Act
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866, and ratified July 9, 1868, the 14th amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to former slaves. -
MLK Assasination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist, and prominent leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize winner who became known for his advancement of civil rights by using civil disobedience. He was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1991
The Act represented the first effort since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to modify some of the basic procedural and substantive rights provided by federal law in employment discrimination cases. It provided for the right to trial by jury on discrimination claims and introduced the possibility of emotional distress damages, while limiting the amount that a jury could award. -
1992 Los Angeles Race Riots
It was a series of riots, lootings, arsons and civil disturbance that occurred in Los Angeles County, California in 1992, following the acquittal of police officers on trial regarding a videotaped, and widely covered police brutality incident. They were the largest riots seen in the United States since the 1960s.
