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President Lincoln was an anti-slavery repulican. He signed the Emanciplation Proclamaion and was able to passing the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery.
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This is my timeline of events that occured during the African American Education Reform movedment beginning when Lincoln was elected President.
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The Department of Education is created in order to help states establish effective school systems.
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The Civil Rights Act is passed, banning segregation in all public accommodations. (The Supreme Court then rules it unconstitutional in 1883.)
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Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old African American, challenges the state of Louisiana's "Separate Car Act," arguing that requiring Blacks to ride in separate railroad cars violates the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Supreme Court's ruling of the case of Plessy v. Ferguson makes "separate but equal" policies legal. It becomes a legal precedent used to justify many other segregation laws, including "separate but equal" education.
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The Progressive Education Association is founded with the goal of reforming American education.
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The U.S. Supreme Court announces its decision in the case of Brown v. Board. of Education of Topeka, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thus overturning its previous ruling in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson." It is a historic first step in the long and still unfinished journey toward equality in U.S. education.
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Rosa Parks, a Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a Caucasian passenger and is subsequently arrested and fined. The Montgomery bus boycottfollows, giving impetus to the Civil Rights Movement. A year later, in the case of Browder v. Gale, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated seating on buses unconstitutional.
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Federal troops enforce integration in Little Rock, Arkansas as the Little Rock 9 enroll at Central High School.
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The Civil Rights Act becomes law. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin.
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The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is passed on April 9. Part of Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," it provides federal funds to help low-income students, which results in the initiation of educational programs such as Title I and bilingual education.
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Project Head Start, a preschool education program for children from low-income families, begins as an eight-week summer program. Part of the "War on Poverty," the program continues to this day as the longest-running anti-poverty program in the U.S.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Nobel Prize winner and leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, observed on the third Monday of January, celebrates his "life and legacy.”
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Federal Judge Arthur Garrity orders busing of African American students to predominantly white schools in order to achieve racial integration of public schools in Boston, MA. White parents protest, particularly in South Boston.
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The Oakland, California School District sparks controversy as it proposes that Ebonics be recognized as the native language of African American children.
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The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. The law, which reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and replaces the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels, and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB.
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President Barack Obama announces on September 23 that the U.S. Department of Education is inviting each State educational agency to request flexibility regarding some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
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Chicago Public Schools announce that they will be laying off 663 employees, including 420 teachers. A month later, they lay off another 2100 employees including more than 1000 teachers! CPS blames the layoffs on "the state's failure to enact pension reform.”
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President Barack Obama signs the 1.1-trillion dollar bipartisan budget bill. The bill restores some, but not all, of the cuts to federal education programs that resulted from sequestration. It is the first budget to be agreed to by our divided government since 2009.
