American Civil Rights Movement

By Luke Hagenow

  • Integration of the Armed Forces

    Also known as the Executive Order 9981 is an executive order issued by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished racial discrimination in the armed forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services.

  • Emmett Till is murdered

    Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, on August 24, 1955, when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury issued them as non-guilty.

  • Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat in Alabama

    In 1955 a black woman in Alabama called Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man. For this action, Parks was arrested by the police. After that, the Black people didn’t want to sit in the back of the bus anymore, that started a boycott of the bus system.
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    Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded

    The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The SCLC had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement.

  • First Black to enroll at the University of Mississippi

    James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy sent 5,000 federal troops to contain the violence and riots surrounding the incident.

  • Dr. King Jailed

    Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala. He was jailed, because he protested without a permit. He writes "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which advocated nonviolent civil disobedience.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream" Speech

    In this speech, Dr. King asks for an end for racism in the United States. He states what it would be like if all the races would cooperate.

  • March on Washington

    More than 200,000 blacks and whites gather before Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches and protest racial injustice

  • Bombing of Birmingham church

    4 black girls are killed by bomb planted in church.

  • 24th Amendment passed

    Not long ago, citizens in some states had to pay a fee to vote in a national election. This fee was called a poll tax. On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials.

  • President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act

    President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin

  • Malcolm X assassinated

    Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated.

  • President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968

    President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

  • First African-American in space

    Guion Bluford Jr. was the first African-American in space. He took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the space shuttle "Challenger" on August 30.