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Plessy v. Ferguson
Was a constitutional law case between Homer Plessy and John Ferguson that upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine "separate but equal." -
Formation of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
This was formed by WEB DuBois, Mary White Ovington, and Moorfield Storey as a bi-racial organization to advance justice for African Americans in fields like politics, education, and economics. -
Brown VS BOE of Topeka
A landmark Supreme Court case which led to the desegregation of all public schools, allowing black students to get the same education as white students. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the Montgomery public transit system, after the arrest of Rosa Parks from 4 days before (she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man). -
Formation of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
This is a regional organization that coordinates segregation protests in the South including the adoption of nonviolent mass action as the cornerstone of strategy, the affiliation of local community organizations with SCLC across the South, and a determination to make the SCLC open to people of all ages, genders, races, and backgrounds. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
A voting rights bill for African Americans which was also the first federal civil rights legislation passed since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. -
Integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Led by Daisy Bates, the Little Rock Nine broke through racial barriers to become the first black students to attend the formerly all-White Central High. -
Greensboro Sit-In
Series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, NC, leading to the Woolworth department store chain removing its racial segregation policy in the southern US. -
Formation of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)
A large organization with many Northern supporters who raised funds for work in the South, allowing SNCC workers to have a $10 per week salary. -
Boynton v. Virginia
Overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a "whites only" bus terminal. -
First Freedom Ride
Interstate buses with African Americans were being driven to segregated US states as a protest to challenge the non-enforcement of the Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia decisions. The first Freedom ride was from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, and was to arrive on May 17. -
James Meredith Enrolls in Ole Miss
After am intense riot, a 29 year old African American man named James Meredith becomes the first black student to be enrolled at the University of Mississippi. -
Birmingham Protests
The campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. -
March on Washington
This march occurred on the grounds of wanting to stand up against the unfair, unequal rights of African Americans, and wanting to do something about it, such as trying to earn their equal rights. This march is known for Martin Luther King Jr. giving his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial -
Malcolm X Leads the Nation of Islam
When he was 20, Malcolm was sent to jail for larceny, and six years later, he converted to the Nation of Islam, where he became one of the most influential leaders of that religion until he left in 1964. -
24th Amendment Passed
This amendment prohibited any poll tax in any federal officer election, adding another civil right for African Americans earned. -
Freedom Summer
A volunteer campaign in the United States to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi. This all started with the murders of three Mississippi civil rights workers: James Chaney, Michael "Mickey" Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman (shown in the picture). -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark civil rights and US labor law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Malcolm X Assassinated
Malcolm left the Nation of Islam in 1964, and on February 12, 1965, when he converted to Sunni Islam, he led a rally until he was shot by three Nation of Islam members at Washington Heights, New York. -
Selma March
Alabama Protest marches from Selma to Montgomery organized by activists to exercise the African Americans' constitutional right to vote in defiance of segregation repression. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed discriminatory voting practices adopted by southern states after the Civil War, such as literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Black Panthers Founded
The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization whose core practice was to arm citizen patrols to monitor the behavior of officer at the Oakland Police Department and challenge police brutality in Oakland. -
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination
MLK Jr. was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis and died at 7:05 PM at St. Joseph's Hospital. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
This act defined housing discrimination as the "refusal to sell or rent any dwelling to any person because of his race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated
Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of deceased president John F. Kennedy and presidential candidate, was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election, and died the next day while he was hospitalized.
