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NAACP is founded
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded by a group of African American and white activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois is the only one of the seven African American activists to serve on the NAACP board. -
Brown vs. Board of education
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as a justice. -
The Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett TIll was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14. His death was a wake up call to many about the needs for greater equal protection under the law for the African American Community. -
Montgomery bus boycotts
The bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama was sparked by the courageous Rosa Poarks who refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider. The movement continued after her arrest with Martin Luther King Jr as it's central leader. At the end of the boycott all buses in Montgomery were desegregated. -
SCLC is formed
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., helps found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to work for full equality for African Americans. -
Little Rock 9
The nicknamed "Little Rock Nine" consisted of Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals. These students were selected to begin integration at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. At first Alabama Governor Orval Faubus had troops stationed to prevent entrance to the school. President Eisenhower had to intervene by sending in federal troops as pictured. -
Sit-Ins
Sparked by a sit in at a Greensboro Woolworths people all over performed sit ins demanding that lunch counters become desegregated. At the end of the sit ins, all counters were desegregated at Woolworths and the employees of the Greensboro store were served at the counter first. -
Freedom Riders
United States Supreme Court decisions Boynton v. Virginia declared desegregation for interstate busing. A group of people some African American, some white decided to test this decision by busing from Washington D.C to New Orleans. The ride was intended to go through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. While encountering violence and hostility many were injured and they had to leave the buses behind to go to their New Orleans Rally. -
Malcom X
African American radical Malcolm X becomes national minister of the Nation of Islam. He rejects the nonviolent civil-rights movement and integration, and becomes a champion of African American separatism and black pride. At one point he states that equal rights should be secured "by any means necessary," a position he later revises. -
"I Have a Dream" speech
Also called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, this march was the second largest political rally for human rights in U.S History. Martin Luther King Jr spoke at the rally, delivering his famous 'I Have a Dream Speech' which called for an end to discrimination and spoke of hopes for future equality. -
Freedom summer
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), CORE and the NAACP and other civil-rights groups organize a massive African American voter registration drive in Mississippi known as "Freedom Summer." Three CORE civil rights workers are murdered. In the five years following Freedom Summer, black voter registration in Mississippi will rise from a mere 7 percent to 67 percent. -
Civil Rights Act
On July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, workplace and facilities that served the general public. -
Voting rights
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a national legislation that outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and other provisions that prevented African Americans from Voting. -
Watt Roits
The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests and over $40 million in property damage. After Marquette Frye and his mother and brother were arrested by police for suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol a crowd grew and attacked police officers. -
Martin Luther King JR. is assassinated
While speaking at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee Martin Luther King Jr, 39, was assassinted by James Earl Ray. -
Boston busing