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Seneca Falls Convention
In the first women’s rights convention organized by women, the Seneca Falls Convention is held in New York, with 300 attendees -
Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to graduate from medical school and become a doctor in the United States. -
Sojourner Turner
A former slave turned abolitionist and women’s rights activist, Sojourner Truth delivers her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. -
National Woman Suffrage Association
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association, which coordinated the national suffrage movement. -
Wyoming
The legislature of the territory of Wyoming passes America’s first woman suffrage law, granting women the right to vote and hold office. In 1890, Wyoming is the 44th state admitted to the Union and becomes the first state to allow women the right to vote. -
The Society for Human Rights
The Society for Human Rights is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. It is the first documented gay rights organization. -
The Mattachine Society
The Mattachine Society is formed by activist Harry Hay and is one of the first sustained gay rights groups in the United States. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Ruling that ended racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained segregated. -
Emmet Till
A 14-year-old from Chicago is brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with a white woman. His murderers are acquitted, and the case bring international attention to the civil rights movement. -
Rosa Parks
AN African American woman refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her defiant stance prompts a year-long Montgomery bus boycott. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine Black students known as the “Little Rock Nine” are blocked from integrating into Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. -
Greensboro Sit-ins
Four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. -
Freedom Riders
Throughout 1961, Black and white activists, known as freedom riders, took bus trips through the American South to protest segregated bus terminals and attempted to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters. -
Illinois
Illinois becomes the first state to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing their sodomy laws. -
March on Washington
Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives his “I Have A Dream” speech as the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial. -
Birmingham Bombing
A bomb at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls and injures several other people prior to Sunday services. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. -
Christopher Street Liberation Day
Community members in New York City march through the local streets to recognize the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots. This event is named Christopher Street Liberation Day and is now considered the first gay pride parade. -
Lambda Legal
Lambda Legal becomes the first legal organization established to fight for the equal rights of gays and lesbians. Lambda also becomes their own first client after being denied non-profit status; the New York Supreme Court eventually rules that Lambda Legal can exist as a non-profit.