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Brown v Board of education
Brown v. Board of Education, was a series of five cases into one is decided by the Supreme Court. They said the racial segregation was at an end But even after the supreme court made this decision many public schools remained segregated. And as far as I know little to no extra effort was used to actually enforce it. -
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Civil War
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Emmett Till
Emmett Till a 14-year old from Chicago is brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Emmetts murder brings international attention to the civil rights movement after Jet magazine publishes a photo of Till’s beaten body at his open-casket funeral. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her defiant stance prompts a year long Montgomery bus boycott. Her actions showed that one person can make a difference, that you should take a stand if given the chance. -
Protest against Racial discrimination
Sixty black pastors and civil rights leaders from several southern states including Martin Luther King, Jr. meet in Atlanta, Georgia to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine” are blocked from integrating into Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. -
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. -
The Greensboro Four
Four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. The Greensboro Four Ezell Blair Jr. David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil were inspired by the nonviolent protest of Gandhi. -
Ruby Bridges
Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted by four armed federal marshalls as she becomes the first student to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. -
Governor George C
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus. -
March on Washington
Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives his “I Have A Dream” speech as the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial, stating, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.’ -
Birmingham Church bomb
A bomb at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls and injures several other people prior to Sunday services. The bombing fuels angry protests. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. Title VII of the Act establishes the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to help prevent workplace discrimination. -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday. In the Selma to Montgomery March, around 600 civil rights marchers walk to Selma, Alabama to Montgomery—the state’s capital—in protest of black voter suppression. Local police block and brutally attack them. After successfully fighting in court for their right to march, Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders lead two more marches and finally reach Montgomery on March 25. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent the use of literacy tests as a voting requirement. It also allowed federal examiners to review voter qualifications and federal observers to monitor polling places. -
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray is convicted of the murder in 1969. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, providing equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion or national origin.
