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14th Amendment Passed
Constitutional amendment forbids any state from depriving citizens of their rights and privileges and defines citizenship -
Plessy vs. Ferguson Decision
Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws -
Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination in hiring
FDR sets up Fair Employment Practices Commission to assure non-discrimination policies in federal hiring -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. -
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Birmingham Campaign
King and SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) oppose local laws that support segregation. Riots, fire-bombing, and police are used against protestors -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing disturbances, King issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance to wrongs of American society -
Medgar Evers Murdered
Head of Mississippi NAACP is shot outside his home on the same night that Pres. Kennedy addresses the nation on race, asking "Are we to say to the world...that this is a land of the free except for Negroes" -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 blacks and whites gather before Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches (including King's "I Have a Dream") and protest racial injustice -
Malcom X Assassinated
Rejecting integration and nonviolence, Malcolm splits off from Elijah Muhammad's Black Muslims and is killed by black opponents -
Voting Rights Act approved
After passage, southern black voter registration grows by over 50% and black officials are elected to various positions. In Mississippi, black voter registration grew from 7% to 67% -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
While supporting sanitation workers' strike which had been marred by violence in Memphis, King is shot by James Earl Ray. Riots result in 125 cities
