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Executive Order 9981
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 mandating full integration in all branches of the U.S. military. By the time the Korean conflict ended in the following decade, this had largely been achieved. -
Brown vs Board of Education
The Brown decision initiated educational and social reform throughout the United States and was a catalyst in launching the modern Civil Rights Movement. Bringing about change in the years since the Brown case continues to be difficult. But the Brown v. Board of Education victory brought this country one step closer to living up to its democratic ideas. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to let a white passenger take her seat on a Montgomery, AL, bus, African Americans began a prolonged boycott of the bus company by walking or carpooling for more than a year. On Dec. 21, 1956, black passengers once again rode Montgomery City Lines. -
Little Rock Nine
After the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), many public school systems were slow to adapt to the new legal reality. In 1957, nine courageous students became the first African Americans to attend Central High School in Little Rock, AR, where they endured virulent harassment and received the protection of federal troops. -
Luch Counter Sit-Ins
When four African-American college students placed an order at a "whites only" lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, in 1960, they sparked acts of civil disobedience in many other cities -
March on Washington
More than 250,000 people marched in Washington, DC, for racial justice in 1963, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. -
Civil Rights Act
Designed to provide broad protections against discrimination on the basis of race, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Among its other provisions, the law prohibited discrimination in public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants and theaters -
Voting Rights Act
With leaders of the civil rights movement standing by, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, strengthening the federal government's ability to prevent state and local governments from denying citizens the right to vote because of their race. -
Selma March
In the spring of 1965, demonstrators demanding an end to discrimination gathered in Selma, AL, to march to the state capital, Montgomery, 50 miles away.
