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Malcom Little is born
Malcom Little later become Malcom X .
He is born in Omaha , NE -
Martin Luther King Jr. Was born
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House of UnAmerican Activies Committee (HUAC) established
Committee's task : to make from time to time investigations of the extent , character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United states. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The bombing of a U.S. Military base in Hawaii by the Japanese . -
MLK Jr. Began Morehouse college
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Yalta Conference
This conference was to see what would happen after the war. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe. World War II was coming to an end. -
V-J Day
Victory in Japan. -
Start of the Cold War
After World War II two superiors emerged ; The United States and Soviet Union. -
Truman Signs Executive Order 9981
"It is herby 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 regaurd to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Begining of McCarthyism
Joseph McCarthy , Accussed people of being communist. -
Brown vs. the board of Education
The Supreme court rules on the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education , unanimously agreeing that segragation in public schools is unconstituional. The ruling paces the way for large-scale desegragation. The decdecision overturns the 1896 Plessy Vs. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "seperate but equal" -
Emmett Till's Murder
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped , brutally beaten , shot and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white wiman. Two white men , J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were arrested for the murder by and all white jury. -
The start of the Vietnam War
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NAACP member Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycottm which lasted for more than a year, until the buses were desegragated. -
Hungarian Revolution
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Montgomery Bus boycott
Lasted for over a year , until the buses were desegragated on Dec. 21 , 1956. Newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) , Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is instrumental in leading the botcott. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Martin Luther King Jr. , Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth established the southern Christian leadership conference, of which King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the covil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. -
Little Rock Nine
Formerly All-white Cental High School learnts tha integration is easier said than done. Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who becaome know as the "Little Rock Nine." -
Sit- In demonstations
SIT-IN organizers believed that if the violence were only on the part of the white community, the world would see the righteousness of their cause. Before the end of the school year, over 1500 black demonstrators were arrested. But their sacrifice brought results. Slowly, but surely, restaurants throughout the South began to abandon their policies of segregation. -
Sit-In at a segragated Woolworth's lunch counter
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segragated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service , they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the south . -
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
SNCC was founded at Shaw University, proving young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1966-1967) -
Space Race
Russia first country to put a human into space -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. -
Freedom Riders
Over the spring and summer, student colunteers being taking bus trips trhough the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate tavel facilities , which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of "freedom riders" as they were called, were attacked by angry mobs along the way. -
Berlin Wall was Built
During the early years of the Cold War, West Berlin was a geographical loophole through which thousands of East Germans fled to the democratic West. In response, the Communist East German authorities built a wall that totally encircled West Berlin. It was thrown up overnight, on 13 August 1961. -
James Meredith
He become the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5.000 federal troops. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited—seemingly on the brink of nuclear war—and hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
George Wallace
He served as Gonvernor or Alabama From 1963 - 1967 -
MLK Jr. Arrested
Martin Luther King Jr. Was arrested and jailed during anti-segragation protests in Birmingham, Alabama . He writes his seminal "Letters from Birmingham Jail" arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
Eugene "Bull" Connor
During the civil rights protests in Birmingham , Ala. Commissioner of public safety Eugene "bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonsrators. These images or brutality , which were televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rightsmovement around the world. -
March on Washington
About 200,000 people joined the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial , participants listen as Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous " I have a dream speech" -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Four young girls (Denise McNair , Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson , and Addie Mae Collins) attending sunday school were killed when a bomb explodes at their church , a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham , leading to the deaths of two more black youths. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.
Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was also hit in the chest -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
Democratic National Convention
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) , a network of civil rights groups that includes CORE and SNCC , launches a massive effore to register black voters during what is now known as the Freedom Summer . It also sends delegates to the Democratic National Convention to protest- and attemt to unseat- the official all-white Mississippi contingent. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction , The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds bason on race, color, religion , or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation . -
Klu Klux Klan
The bodies of three civil rights workers - two white, one black - are found in an earthen dam , six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney , 21 ; Andrew Goodman, 21 ; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi , and on June 21 , had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested then released into the hands of the KKK who murdered them . -
Assassination of Malcom X
He was speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in New York when he was killed. -
Bloody Sunday
Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them . -
First US troops sent to Vietnam
This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war. -
Voting Rights Act or 1965
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act or 1965 , making it easier for southern blacks to register to vote. Literact tests, poll takes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal -
Black Panthers
The militatn Black Panthers were founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. -
"Black power"
Stokely Carmichael , a leader of the SNCC , coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by and means necessary" The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement is meant to be nonviolent. -
Loving Vs. Virginia
In Loving Vs. Virginia , The supreme court rules prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional . Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
He was shot and killed in Memphis , TN , at the age of 39 -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 , prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental , and finacing of housing. -
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot three times by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Robert Kennedy died of his wounds 26 hours later. Robert Kennedy's assassination later led to Secret Service protection for all future major presidential candidates. -
Space Race
Russia launches Sputnik, punks America on October 4, 1957
America launches Explorer 1 nearly 4 months later
Russia launches dog on Sputnik 2. Dog dies on orbit.
Yuri Gagarin enters orbit on April 12, 1961. (Yuri's Night)
Alan Shepard becomes first American in space. John Glenn becomes first American to orbit a year later.
Russia launches two men. Russian leadership falters on space program. First Soyuz rocket fails.
NASA performs rendezvous and spacewalks on Gemini -
End of the Vietnam War
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US troops pulled out of Vietnam
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Soviet Troops Invaded Afghanistan
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Discovery of AIDS
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Solidarity movement in Poland
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Discovery of HIV
Even though it had later been proven that HIV was around longer than AIDS.
