The Civil Rights Movement

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    The Civil Rights Movement

  • Brown vs. Board

    Brown vs. Board
    U.S. Supreme Court declares school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus as required by city ordinance; boycott follows and bus segregation ordinance is declared unconstitutional. Federal Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation on interstate trains and buses.
  • Resistance of Desegregation Rulings

    Resistance of Desegregation Rulings
    Coalition of Southern congressmen calls for massive resistance to Supreme Court desegregation rulings.
  • Little Rock Crisis

    Little Rock Crisis
    Arkansas Gov. Orval Rubus uses National Guard to block nine black students from attending a Little Rock High School; following a court order, President Eisenhower sends in federal troops to ensure compliance.
  • Sit-ins

    Sit-ins
    Four black college students begin sit-ins at lunch counter of a Greensboro, North Carolina, restaurant where black patrons are not served. Congress approves a watered-down voting rights act after a filibuster by Southern senators.
  • Freedom Rides Begin

    Freedom Rides Begin
    Freedom Rides begin from Washington, D.C., into Southern states.
  • James Meredith

    James Meredith
    President Kennedy sends federal troops to the University of Mississippi to quell riots so that James Meredith, the school's first black student, can attend. The Supreme Court rules that segregation is unconstitutional in all transportation facilities. The Department of Defense orders full integration of military reserve units, the National Guard excluded.
  • Medgar Evars

    Medgar Evars
    Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is killed by a sniper's bullet. Race riots prompt modified martial law in Cambridge, Maryland.
  • "I Have a Dream" Speech

    "I Have a Dream" Speech
    King Jr. delivers "I Have a Dream" speech to hundreds of thousands at the March on Washington.
  • Church Bombing

    Church Bombing
    Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, leaves four young black girls dead.
  • Missing Civil Rights Workers

    Missing Civil Rights Workers
    Three civil rights workers disappear in Mississippi after being stopped for speeding; found buried six weeks later.
  • 75-day Long Filibuster

    75-day Long Filibuster
    Congress passes Civil Rights Act declaring discrimination based on race illegal after 75-day long filibuster.
  • Malcolm X

    Malcolm X
    Malcolm X assassinated.
  • Selma to Montgomery

    Selma to Montgomery
    March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand protection for voting rights; two civil rights workers slain earlier in the year in Selma.
  • Voting Rights

    Voting Rights
    New voting rights act signed.
  • Edward Brooke

    Edward Brooke
    Edward Brooke, R-Massachusetts, elected first black U.S. senator in 85 years.
  • Thurgood Marshall

    Thurgood Marshall
    Thurgood Marshall first black to be named to the Supreme Court.
  • Black Mayors in Major Cities

    Black Mayors in Major Cities
    Carl Stokes (Cleveland) and Richard G. Hatcher (Gary, Indiana) elected first black mayors of major U.S. cities.
  • Dr. King Assassinated

    Dr. King Assassinated
    Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee; James Earl Ray later convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
  • Poor People's March

    Poor People's March
    Poor People's March on Washington -- planned by King before his death -- goes on.