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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
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Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up on a bus, and then got arrested.
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The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that segregated seating was unconstitutional, and the federal decision went into effect on December 20, 1956.
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Nine African American students attended there first day of school at Little Rock Central High School.
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In the late Fall of 1959, the state of Alabama launches a politically-motivated audit of Dr. King's state income taxes covering the years during and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They accuse him of under-reporting his income to evade taxes.
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President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as president the same day.
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After North Vietnam goes into Laos, US moves 2 carriers offshore
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President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act outlaws discrimination in public facilities, such as parks, and in public accommodations, such as hotels and restaurants, and it prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender.
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Johnson approves Rolling Thunder in February, believing that a program of limited bombing in North Vietnam will deter support for Vietcong. Rolling Thunder continues for three years and eight months, involving 305,380 raids and 634,000 tons of bombs. Results include: 818 pilots killed and hundreds more captured; 182,000 civilians killed in North Vietnam.
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As antiwar protests grow, Johnson and American military leaders increase reliance on "search-and-destroy" missions in an effort to draw the Viet Cong into battles and inflict heavy casualties. But the Viet Cong prove difficult to pin.