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13th amendment
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment. Important because it got rid of slavery. -
14th amendment
Gave citizenship to all people born or in the United States. Included former slaves recently freed. -
15th amendment
This amendment gave all African American men the right to vote in the United States. -
Plessy vs Feguson
The Court ruled on the concept of 'separate but equal'. This decison set back civil rights in the US for decades. -
Mendez vs. Westminster School District of Orange County
This court case challenged Mexican remedial schools in Orange County, California. Aimed to get all children the same rights under the lase to attend any school, regardless of their race. -
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Stated that State-sponsored segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment. This made the segregation of schools unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till Murder
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till from Chicago is brutally murdered by whites. His "crime" is saying “Bye, baby” to a white woman in a store for a dare. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Blacks boycott buses. Lasts for 13 months. Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks for breaking segregation laws. The US Supreme Court eventually rules a complete end to segregation on city buses. -
Little Rock School Crisis
President Dwight D Eisenhower sends in federal soldiers to allow nine black students to attend the school. -
Sit-Ins
Four black students in Greensboro, North Carolina, hold the first sit-in. Refuse to move from segregated lunch counter when denied service. -
Freedom Rides
Activists run integrated freedom rides. Used to test a US Supreme Court ruling that forbid segregated facilities in interstate transport. Passengers were beaten in transit. President John F Kennedy and his admin had to intervene. -
The Birmingham Campaign
King and SCLC run first community-wide (non-violent) action campaign. Police Commissioner’s men turn fire hoses and police dogs on the activists. The images provoke people nationwide. -
The March on Washington
Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin organize March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Almost a quarter of a million people attend. King says his “I Have a Dream” speech. -
Mississippi Freedom Summer
Hundreds of white northern college students travel to Mississippi to assist with black voter registration. Whites, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, and black James Chaney, are murdered. News headlines across the country. -
Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act
Congress passed 1964 Civil Rights Act. It forbade segregation in public facilities. 1965 Voting Rights Act passed. It helped federal protection of black voters. -
King is assassinated
He was working on Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC. He traveled to Memphis in support of striking sanitation workers. On 4 April 1968, he was assassinated by James Earl Ray.