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13th Amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment forbids any state from depriving citizens of their rights and privileges and defines citizenship. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws -
Race riots and lynchings claim hundreds of lives
Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, are lynched in the South. -
Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination in hiring
FDR sets up Fair Employment Practices Commission to assure non-discrimination policies in federal hiring -
Mendez vs. Westminster School District of Orange County
A 1947 federal court case that challenged racial segregation in Orange County, California schools. -
Jackie Robinson joins Brooklyn Dodgers
Pasadena resident and UCLA alum Robinson breaks the color barrier by being the first black to play major league baseball in modern times. -
Brown v. Board of education
Supreme Court reverses Plessy by stating that separate schools are by nature unequal. Schools are ordered to desegregate "with all deliberate speed" -
Montgomery bus boycott
Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. -
Little Rock Central High School desegregated
After Little Rock school board votes to integrate schools, National Guard troops prevent black children from attending school. 1000 federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace. -
Freedom riders oppose segregation
Blacks and whites take buses to the South to protest bus station segregation. Many are greeted with riots and beatings -
"Letter from Birmingham jail" is written
In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing disturbances, MLK issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance to wrongs of American society -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 blacks and whites gather before Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches (including King's "I Have a Dream") and protest racial injustice -
Bombing of Birmingham church
4 black girls are killed by bomb planted in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. -
Civil Rights Act passed
Overcoming Senate filibuster, Congress passes law forbidding racial discrimination in many areas of life, including hotels, voting, employment, and schools.