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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a magazine interview. The case becomes a controversial issue of the civil rights movement. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest, the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, organized by Martin Luther King Jr., which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated on Dec. 21, 1956. -
The Establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students are blocked from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the "Little Rock Nine." -
The Founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1966–1967). -
Freedom Riders
Over the spring and summer, student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of "freedom riders," are attacked by angry mobs along the way. The program, sponsored by The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white. -
James Meredith became first black student at University of Mississippi
James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
"Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black protesters
During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black protesters. These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech
About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Birmingham bomb kills four black schoolgirls
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths. -
The Freedom Summer
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a network of civil rights groups that includes CORE and SNCC, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes known as the Freedom Summer. It also sends delegates to the Democratic National Convention to protest—and attempt to unseat—the official all-white Mississippi contingent. -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after the Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. After the 24th Amendment was passed, five southern states (Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi) still had poll taxes. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The act also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
