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the supreme court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
upheld the constitutionality of state-sponsored racial segregation, establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine -
the Tuskegee airmen
a group of African American military pilots and airmen who served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, -
The integration of major league baseball
began on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, becoming the first African American to play in the modern era. -
the integration of the armed forces
abolished racial discrimination and segregation, ensuring equal treatment and opportunity for all service members regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. -
the supreme court decision of Sweatt v. Painter
the University of Texas School of Law must admit Heman Sweatt, an African American applicant, because the state's separate law school for Black students was not equal to the University's law school, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
The supreme court decision of Brown v. Board of edu.
ruled that state-sponsored segregation in public education was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
The death of Emmitt Till
In August 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, was visiting family in Mississippi when he was brutally murdered, his body later found in the Tallahatchie River, sparking national outrage and galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, sparking a year-long protest against segregated seating on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama -
The Integration of Little Rock High school
Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African American students from integrating the high school -
The civil rights act of 1957
signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957, was the first major federal civil rights legislation since 1875, focusing on protecting voting rights and establishing a Civil Rights Division within the Justice Department -
The Greensboro Four Lunch Counter sit-in
Greensboro sit-in, act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, that began on February 1, 1960. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South -
The Freedom Rides by Freedom riders of 1961
, a series of bus trips through the segregated South, challenged the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court's ruling against segregation in interstate travel, leading to violence and ultimately forcing federal intervention to desegregate public transportation. -
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibits the denial or abridgment of the right to vote in federal elections due to failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax. -
The integration of the University of Mississippi
The integration of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in 1962, led by James Meredith, was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, marked by a riot and federal intervention, ultimately leading to Meredith's enrollment and graduation. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
in 1963, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, saw Governor George Wallace famously stand in the schoolhouse door to block the enrollment of Vivian Malone and James Hood, but ultimately yielded to federal authority after President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard. -
The march on Washington & "I Have a Dream" speech by MLK
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a massive civil rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., advocating for equality and an end to racial discrimination. -
The assassination of JFK in Dallas, Texas
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, when shots fired from the Texas School Book Depository building struck him and Texas Governor John Connally. -
The civil rights act of 1964 signed by president Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2, 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
The assassination of Malcolm X
US black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965, at the age of 39. The BBC reported on the reaction in his adopted home of Harlem, New York, as thousands of people queued to pay their last respects. -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "bloody Sunday"
On March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday" saw civil rights activists brutally attacked by law enforcement while attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in a fight for voting rights, an event that galvanized the Civil Rights Movement and led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
The voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act was enacted on August 6, 1965, and it prohibited states from imposing qualifications or practices to deny the right to vote on account of race; permitted direct federal intervention in the electoral process in certain places -
The assassination of MLK Jr. in Menphis, Tennessee
Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m at age 39. -
The voting rights act of 1968
The Voting Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex, expanding on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.