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Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation of public schools is unconstitutional. This is one of the first steps toward desegregation everywhere in America. -
Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She is arrested for this which sparks protest. The black comunity starts a bus boycott. -
Browder vs Gayle
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation of bses in Montgomery is unconstitutional. Buses are desegregated removing the "colored sections" and allowing all people to sit anywhere on the bus. The bus boycott is ended. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is established to work toward equality for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. is made its first president. -
The Little Rock Nine
Nine black students are prohibited from entering a school in Little Rock, Arkansas by Govenor Orval Faubus. The federal government sends soldiers to escort the students to school. -
Bethel Baptist Church Bombing
The Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. Four girls are killed in the resulting explosion. -
Virginia Schools
Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. of Virginia threatens to shut down any school if it is forced to integrate. He is not successful in doing so. -
Sit-in at Woolworth's Lunch Counter
Four black students stage a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. They are denied service but are not forced to leave. Students begin to stage sit-ins at segregated areas all over the country. -
Freedom Rides
Students begin to take bus trips through the South in order to integrate interstate public bus travel. These trips called "Freedom Rides" were sometimes responded to with violence. -
The Albany Movement
The Albany Movement is formed in Albany, Georgia in order to organize protests against racial inequality and promote desegregation. It gained nationwide attention but faced strong opposition that kept the movement from reaching its goals. -
University of Mississippi
James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississsippi. This results in violence and rioting that requires 5,000 federal troops to keep the peace. -
Letter From Birmingham Jail
Matrin Luther King Jr. is arrested during protests in Birmingham Alabama. From jail he writes "letter From Birmingham Jail" in which he states that it is a moral duty to break unjust laws. -
March on Washington, D.C.
Around 200,000 people congregate aroung the Lincoln Memorial in the March on Washington, D.C.. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous "I Have a Dream "speech. -
Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) are killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The resulting riots lead to the deaths of two more black youths. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson passsedsthe Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits all kinds of discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin.
