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Plessy v. Ferguson (May 18)
It all started when passenger Homer Plessy refused to go in a Jim Crow Car, who later was brought in by Judge John H. Ferguson to the Criminal Court. As a result the constitutionality of racial segregation of laws for public facilities was upheld as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality. This was an important event since it was a the very first step towards gaining equality. -
Brown v. Board of Education (May 17)
State laws that segregated blacks and whites in schools caused the court case. The final decision was that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment it was unconstitutional. This was a big victory for the Civil Rights Movement and it set an example for future impact litigation cases. -
Murder of Emmett Till (August 28)
When 14 year old African American boy Emmett Till was going to visit his family, he was brutally murdered for flirting with a white girl. The two suspects for his murder, Bryan and Milam died of cancer later on. This was a big impact for the Civil Rights Movement since it pushed many others to fight back. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (December 1)
This was a Civil Rights protest in which African Americans refused to ride buses in Montgomery and were against segregated seating. All of this of course happened because of the Rosa Park's incident. The leader of the boycott was a young man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. that came to be the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Founding of SCLC and MLK (January 10)
After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the organization called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was created; Their goal was to coordinate the action of local protest groups throughout the South and to end all forms of segregation. As a result of their actions they made a lot of progress in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Little Rock Nine and Central High School (September 2)
Little Rock Nine was a group of nine black students that enrolled in a segregated school; And because of the 14th Amendment, any laws that segregated schools was considered unconstitutional. As a result of this event, it called for the desegregation of all schools. -
Greensboro Sit-In (February 1)
The Greensboro Sit-Ins were non violent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina; The group was organized by African students of an Agricultural and Technical State University. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, that spread throughout the South. -
Freedom Ride/ Freedom Riders (May 4)
Freedom Riders were a group of Civil Rights activists that consisted of white and black members; They would ride interstate buses to the segregated southern America. This event showed how much progress they had made since white members started to join the Civil Rights Movement. -
March on Washington (August 28)
More than 250,000 demonstrators went to the nation’s capital to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; These many people came because of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. This had a big impact on the Civil Rights Movement since it attracted a ton of people join on the movement towards equality. -
SNCC and Freedom Summer (April 1960- June 1964)
Freedom Summer, also known as the the Mississippi Summer Project, was a 1964 voter registration drive sponsored by civil rights organizations; Including the Congress on Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. The result was that it expanded black voting in the South. -
Civil Rights Act (July 2)
It was a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin; President Lyndon Johnson persuaded many reluctant members of Congress to support the law. This was another big victory for the American blacks and a huge step towards equality. -
Assassination of Malcolm X (February 21)
Malcolm X was an African American nationalist and religious leader; He was assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization. His death caused more people to join the Civil Rights Movement. -
Voting Rights Act (August 6)
This Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans their rights from the 15th Amendment; This act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states. As a result of this major event, it changed African American lives forever. -
Assassination of MLK (April 4)
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968; This event shocked the entire world and angered all African Americans in America. Furthermore, this speed up the way for an equal housing bill that would be the last significant legislative achievement of the civil rights era.
