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Civil Rights Movement
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Brown vs. Board of Education; Topeka Kansas
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. This decision overturns the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of "separate but equal" schools. Major victory for Civil Rights Movement. -
Little Rock Nine
In wake of the decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, white citizens in Little Rock, Arkansas protest the admission of 9 black students into a previously white-only high school. Protests made it necessary to send federal troops to protect the students -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks is arrested for sitting in a white-only seat on a transit bus in Montgomery Alabama. This marks the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott, organized as a protest of the law of segregation of the city. This event gave more momentum for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. -
Nashville Sit-In Campaign
Lasting from February 13 and ending on May 10, 1960, over 150 black college students participated in a nonviolent campaign of sitting at lunch counters and refusing to leave or retaliate to violence from whites. -
Children's Crusade march
Beginning on May 2 and spanning over three days, hundreds of school students march the streets of Birmingham to protest segregation. Riots were ended when police and firefighters brought dogs and hoses to ward off protesters, many of whom were children. -
Civil Rights Bill
On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy submits his proposal of the Civil Rights Bill, a bill that was passed the next year. -
Sixteenth Street Church Bombing
Group of Ku Klux Klan members conspire to bomb a church in Birmingham, killing 4 young black girls. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Bill that President John F. Kennedy submitted the year before. This legislation was a monumental breakthrough for the civil rights movement and ooutlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities. -
Watt Riots, Los Angeles
Lasting from August 11 and ending on August 17, 1964, blacks, in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles lashed out at police over for police brutality. Thirty-four people were killed and property valued at about $30 million was destroyed, making the Watts Riots among the worst in American history. -
Selma March to Montgomery
Martin Luther King Jr. leads a 5 day, 64 mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery for racial equality in the South. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Lyndon B. Johnson signs the The Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law. This forbids the use of literacy tests and other voter tests as prerequisites for voting. It also authorized federal intervention to aid blacks in registering to vote in the South. -
Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This event causes a wave of riots in 29 states.
