Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement

By SimbadM

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    A landmark decision on U.S. Supreme court in support the doctrine of separate but equal

  • The Integration of Major League Baseball

    This is the debut day of Jackie Robinson into Major League Baseball on 1947 that integrated baseball and broke sixty year ban against African American baseball players.

  • Sweatt v. Painter

    Sweatt v. Painter was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later.

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    The landmark decision of the US Supreme Court to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson which marked the end of legal segregation in public schools. It was a key turning point in the Civil Rights Movement.

  • The Bus Boycott of Montgomery, Alabama

    In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

  • The Integration of Little Rock High School

    In September 1957 the school board in Little rock, Arkansas, won a court order to admit nine African American students to Central High a school with white students. The governor ordered troops from Arkansas National Guard to prevent them from entering the school. A mob violence pushed Eisenhower's patience to the breaking point. He immediately ordered the US Army to send troops to Little Rock to protect and escort them for the full school year.

  • The Civil Rights Acts of 1957

    Eisenhower passed this bill to establish a permanent commission on civil rights with investigative powers but it did not guarantee a ballot for blacks. It was the first civil-rights bill to be enacted after Reconstruction which was supported by most non-southern whites.

  • The Freedom Rides of 1960

    7 black and 6 white activists took bus journeys across the south, encountering enormous white violence in the form of beatings and firebombs demonstrating the ineffective laws that Morgan vs Virginia had

  • The Greensboro Four

    Four black students attempted to force the desegregation of a lunch counter in Woolworth's store
    They staged a sit in which lasted several days
    By the 4th day, 300 students had joined the sit-in
    By the end of the week the store had closed rather than desegregated

  • The Twenty-Fourth Amendment

    Prohibited states from requiring payment of a poll tax as a condition for voting in federal elections.

  • The March on Washington

    In August 1963, civil rights leaders organized a massive rally in Washington to urge passage of President Kennedy's civil rights bill. The high point came when MLK Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech to more than 200,000 marchers in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

  • Assassination of John F. Kennedy

    John F. Kennedy was the 35th president from 1961 until he was assassinated in 1963. He was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas

  • The Civil Rights Acts of 1964

    This act of Congress prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or ethnic origin in hotels, restaurants, and all places of employment doing business with the federal government or engaged in interstate commerce.

  • The Assassination of Malcolm X

    Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 while giving a speech in New York City. The assassins were said to be Black Muslims, although this was never proved.

  • The March on Selma, Alabama

    MLK organizes a march in Selma. Tens of thousands of black protesters petition for the right to vote outside of the city hall and are ignored. They then marched to the gov'na's mansion in Montgomery. Police meet them with tear gas and clubs. "Bloody Sunday" is highly publicized and Americans in the North are shocked.

  • The assassination of Martin Luther king jr

    Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

  • The Passage of Title IX

    A major landmark in women's right in education as Title IX banned sex discrimination in educational institutions. It promoted Gender equality by guaranteeing girls in schools the same opportunities as boys, especially in varsity high school and college sports.

  • The Appointment of The First Women Justice of The Supreme Court

    Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who served from her appointment in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan until her retirement in 2006. She was the first woman to serve on the Court.

  • The Presidential of Inauguration of Barack Obama

    The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

  • The Elimination of Combat Restriction for Women

    The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women have frequently found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • The Democratic Party Nomination of Hillary Clinton

    On July 26, 2016, the Democratic National Convention officially nominated Clinton for President and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for Vice President.