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Enactment of Apartheid Laws
Racial discrimination was institutionalized. -
Cry, The Beloved Country is published
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Truman signs Executive Order 9981
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. -
Population Registration Act
It required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories. The categories were white, black (African), and colored (of mixed descent). -
Bantu Authorities Act
It established a basis for an ethnic government in African reserves, known as "homelands." Homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin. -
Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act
They empowered the government to declare stringent states of emergency and increased penalties for protesting against or supporting the repeal of a law. Penalties included fines, imprisonment, and whippings. -
Case of Emmett Till
He is visiting family in Mississippi and is kidnapped, beaten, shot, and killed. He whistled at a white girl and then was sent to jail for it. He had an all-white jury. -
Rosa Parks
She doesn't give up her seat to a white person. She gets arrested for this. -
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Southern Christian Leadership Conference
MLK is the president of this group. -
Sharpeville killings
A large group of blacks in Sharpeville refused to carry their passports and the government declared a state of emergency. Emergency lasted for 156 days and left 69 dead and 187 wounded. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Founded at Shaw University. Provides young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. -
Freedom Riders
Program sponsored by CORE and SNCC. Some of the people involved get attacked and hurt. -
James Meredith
First black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy has to send 5,000 troops to calm down riots because of this event. -
MLK arrested and jailed
Happens during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. -
Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses in riots
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I Have A Dream speech
About 200,000 people listen to MLK deliver his speech. -
24th Amendment
It abolishes the poll tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs this. It prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation. -
Three civil-rights workers found dead
Two were white and one was black. Were arrested by police for speeding charges, incarcerated, then given to the Ku Klux Klan to be murdered. -
Malcom X Shot to Death
It is believed the assailants were members of the Black Muslim faith. -
Bloody Sunday
Blacks march to Montgomery. Are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by police blockade. The police use tear gas, whips, and clubs on the blacks. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Makes it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. -
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Race Riots
Black section of Los Angeles. -
Executive Order 11246
Requires government contractors to take affirmative action toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment. President Johnson issued this. -
Black Power
Stokely Carmichael was the leader of the SNCC. He coined the phrase black power in a speech in Seattle. Defines it as an assertion of black pride and the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary. -
Loving V. Virginia
Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. -
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Race Riots
In Newark. -
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Race Riots
In Detroit. -
MLK is shot and killed
MLK was 39 years old. James Earl Ray was convicted of killing him. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson signs this. It prohibits discrimination in sale, rental, and financing of housing. -
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
The Supreme Court upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools. -
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Homelands
Four were created and denationalized nine million South Africans. -
Civil Rights Restoration Act
It expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions recieving federal funds. Congress overrided President Reagon's veto for this. -
Civil Rights Act of 1991
President Bush signs this. It strengthens existing civil rights laws and provides for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination. -
Beating of African American Rodney King
Race riots erupt in south-central Los Angeles after a jury acquits four white police officers for the videotaped footage of Rodney King being beating. -
University of Michigan Law School's Policy
The Supreme Court upholds the school's policy and ruled that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting thier students. -
Mississippi Civil Rights Murders
Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the crimes. -
Rosa Parks passes away
Dies at the age of 92. -
Coretta Scott King passes away
She dies of a stroke at the age of 78. -
Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson
James Bonard Fowler was indicated for the murder of Jimmie 40 years after Jimmie's death. The 1965 killing lead to a series of historic civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama. -
Civil Rights Act of 2008
It ensures that federal funds are not used to subsidize discrimination, holding employers accountable for age discrimination, and improving accountability for other violations of civil rights and workers' rights. Senator Edward Kennedy introduced this. -
Ricci v. DeStefano
A lawsuit is brought against the city of New Haven. 18 plaintiffs, 17 white people and 1 hispanic, argue that the results of the 2003 lieutenant and captian exams were thrown out when it was determined that few minority firefighters qualified for advancement. Claimed it was a violation of reverse dsicrimination and it was ruled in their favor.
