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Brown vs. Board of Educatio n
Supreme court case that ruled that separating children in public schools based on race was unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till Murder
A 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago went to visit family in Money, Mississippi. Till was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus. She was arrested and was later bailed out by a local civil rights leader. A civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. -
The Little Rock Nine and Integration
On September 4, 1957, 9 African American students arrived at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The students made their way through a crowd shouting and even throwing stuff. Once they reached the front door the National Guard prevented them from entering the school and were forced to go home. -
Greensboro Woolworth's Sit-ins
The Greensboro Sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960 when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. -
Freedom Rides
Groups of white and African American civil rights activists participated in Freedom Rides, and bus trips through the American South. To protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use "whites-only" restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern States. -
24th Amendment
The House passed the 24th amendment, outlawing the poll tax as a voting requirement in federal elections, by a vote of 295 to 86. At the time, five states maintained poll taxes that disproportionately affected African-American voters. -
MLK's Letter From Birmingham Jail
The letter says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through courts. King wrote, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". -
MLK’s Letter From Birmingham Jail
The letter says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through courts. King wrote, "injustice is anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 demonstrators took part in the March on Washington for jobs and freedom in the nation's capital. The march was successful in pressuring the administration of John F. Kenndy to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress. -
Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing
Right around 11 o'clock on September 15, 1963, instead of rising to begin prayers, the congregation was knocked to the ground. As a bomb exploded under the steps of the church, they sought safety under the pews and shielded each other from falling debris. 4 little girls were killed. The bombing was caused by the KKK. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act ended segregation in public places and banned deployment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion sex or national origin is considered on of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. -
“Bloody Sunday”/Selma to Montgomery March
Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capital in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, SNCC, and the SCLC had been campaigning for voting rights. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Loving v. Virginia
A unanimous Court struck down state laws banning marriage between individuals of different races, holding that these anti-miscegenation statutes violated both Due process and Equal protection of the 14th amendment.