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Dred Scott v. Sanford (Denial of Basic Rights to Blacks)
A major precursor to the Civil War, this controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision denied citizenship and basic rights to all blacks -- whether slave or free. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" takes effect proclaiming freedom from slavery for African-Americans -
school saygation
Linda Brown, an 8-year-old girl living in Topeka, Kansas, has to travel by bus to a distant school for African-American students, despite living within walking distance from an elementary school that is only for white children. This is due to segregation policies in the school districts. Linda Brown’s father sues the state school board of Topeka. The United States Supreme Court agrees to hear this case. -
Brown v Board of Education
The US Supreme Court rules an end to segregation in schools. It overturns the earlier Plessy v Ferguson (1896) decision that permitted “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites. In reality, of course, “separate” facilities were hardly ever “equal”. -
The Emmett Till murder
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till from Chicago is brutally murdered by whites while visiting relatives in Mississippi. His alleged crime is saying “Bye, baby” to a white woman in a store for a dare. The case causes outrage among America’s black population. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The first two months of the year, whites are angry about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, this anger results in the bombing of 4 African-American churches as well as the homes of civil rights leaders and E.D. Nixon and Martin Luther King, Jr. -
The Little Rock school crisis
Arkansas Governor Orval E Faubus prevents the desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School by calling out National Guard troops. President Dwight D Eisenhower sends in federal soldiers to allow nine black students to attend the school -
Freedom rides
Activists run integrated freedom rides on coaches across the South to test a US Supreme Court ruling forbidding segregated facilities in interstate transport. Passengers are beaten in transit, forcing President John F Kennedy’s administration to intervene. -
The Birmingham Campaign
King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) run their first community-wide non-violent direct action campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor’s men turn high power fire hoses and police dogs on demonstrators. The images provoke nationwide condemnation.
