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President Harry Truman
President Truman issues an Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the Armed Services. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Transcript of Brown v. Board of Education [https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=87&page=transcript] -
Integration of Clinton High School in Tennessee
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, federal judge Robert Taylor ordered Clinton High School to desegregate with "all deliberate speed" in the fall of 1956. The integration of Clinton High School was forced to be first among Tennessee public schools. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The decision of one woman helped change a nation. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks] -
Atlanta Meeting
Sixty black pastors and civil rights leaders from several southern states including Martin Luther King, Jr. meet in Atlanta, Georgia to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. -
Desegregation at Little Rock
Nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine,” are blocked from integrating into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration] -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. [http://crdl.usg.edu/events/civil_rights_act_1957/?Welcome] -
Woolworth's Lunch Counter Greensboro, NC
Four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. Their nonviolent demonstration sparks similar “sit-ins” throughout the city and in other states. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18615556] -
Nashville Sit-ins
Nashville sit-ins were part of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville. The sit-in campaign was notable for its early success and emphasis on disciplined nonviolence. It was part of a broader sit-in movement that spread across the southern United States in the wake of the Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina. [https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/nashville-sit-ins-1960/] -
Freedom Ride
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-rides] -
University of Alabama Foster Auditorium
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door] -
The March on Washington
Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial and states, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/march-on-washington] -
Birmingham Church Bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was an act of white supremacist terrorism which occurred at the African-American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing] -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. Title VII of the Act establishes the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to help prevent workplace discrimination. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964] -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. [https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr]
