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Creation of the NAACP
The NAACP, founded in February 1909, emerged as a response to the 1908 Springfield race riot and the ongoing struggle for civil rights, with an interracial group of activists, including W.E.B. Du Bois, joining forces to fight for equal rights and the advancement of African Americans. -
Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were nine Black teenagers accused of raping two white women in 1931. The case became a landmark legal case in the United States, raising issues of racism and fair trial rights. -
Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier
Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, breaking the color barrier in the sport and paving the way for future generations of Black players. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
The Murder of Emmitt Till
In August 1955 two Mississippians bludgeon and kill Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, for whistling at a white woman; their acquittal and boasting of the atrocity spur the civil rights cause. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a 13-month protest against racial segregation on Montgomery, Alabama's public transit system, sparked by Rosa Parks's arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. -
The Little Rock 9
nine African American students who, in 1957, bravely integrated Little Rock Central High School, facing immense opposition and racial abuse, and became symbols of the Civil Rights Movement -
Ruby Bridges desegregate elementary school in New Orleans
On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African American student to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, a previously all-white school, marking a pivotal moment in the desegregation of public schools in the South -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
a passionate defense of nonviolent direct action as a necessary tool for social justice and a critique of the white clergy's call for patience and gradualism in the face of racial injustice. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, ending segregation in public places and federally funded programs, and establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. -
Creation of the Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who met at Merritt College in Oakland. It was a revolutionary organization with an ideology of Black nationalism, socialism, and armed self-defense, particularly against police brutality -
Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice
On August 30, 1967, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court, after being nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King's assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property -
Election of Barack Obama
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.