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A group of African American pilots that fought in World War II. They were the first African American aviators in the United States armed forces.
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Jackie Robinson broke the color line when he became the first African American to play in the Major League for baseball in his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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stated that "...there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
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Came to the conclusion that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
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Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. In response to her arrest the black community launched a bus boycott that lasted a year.
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The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was established and Martin Luther King, Jr became the president. The SCLC was monumental in the Civil Rights Movement. and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience.
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Nine black students are blocked from entering an all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Eisenhower sends in federal troops and the National Gaurd to protect the students.
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Four college students sit-in at a restaurant that refused them service. This event sparked many other nonviolent protests throughout the South. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.
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200,000 people meet at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington to hear Martin Luther King, Jr deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
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Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote.
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At age 39 Martin Luther King, Jr was shot on the balcony outside his hotel room.
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Black Panthers formed.
