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The 19th Amendment
This amendment gave women the right to vote. Hazzah! -
Executive Order 9981
This is an order issued by Harry Truman which ended racial descrimination in the US Armed Forces. This led to the integregration of the service. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This Supreme Court ruling made segregation in the public school system illegal. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till, a young African-American boy from Chicago visiting his grandparents in Mississippi, was murdered for "flirting" with a white girl. In reality he had just spoken with an older white girl but her husband didn't see it that way. He beat Emmett and disposed of him in the river. This caused an outpoor of sympathy and understanding for the Civil Rights movement. -
Rosa Parks
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the segregated bus to a white man and was arrested. This sparked outrage as she was a prominent member of the black community. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a civil rights organization that played a large role in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was their first president. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black student enrolled in the all-white Little Rock Central High School. This is a direct result of Brown v Board of Education and was initially prevented by Orval Faubus (govenor) until LBJ stepped in. -
Woolworth sit-ins
In Greensboro, North Carolina, students conducted a non-violent protest regarding the "equal but seperate" segregation in the Woolworth department stores. By simply sitting in the "white" section at the diner, the eventually got the Woolworth's to integrate the stores. These protests got incredibly violent (towards the protesters) and many protesters were arrested. -
SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was made up of northern students who raised money to help aide the civil rights cause in the south. They played a large role in organizing the March in Washington. -
Freedom Rides
Groups of both black and white civil rights advocated rode busses together across the south to challenge the segregation of public transportation. Riots often broke out when the bus would come into town. -
James Meredith
James Meredith was the first black student at the University of Mississippi. -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
This open letter was written in response to criticism by prominate southern pastors. Martin Luther King Jr. defends his policy of civil disobediance and opposition to segregation. -
“Bull” Connor Uses Fire Hoses on Black Demonstrators
During the final phase of Project C, tons of demonstrators came out to protest segregation. Eugene "Bull" Connor, Biringham, Alabama's Commisioner of Public Safety, authorized the use of fire hoses on the protesters, which did nothing to stop their protesting but continued for several days. -
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Burmingham, Alabama. 4 young African-American girls were killed in the bombin, which caused much of the country to reevaluate their priorities. -
March on Washington
Many Civil Rights advocated congregated on the steps of the lincoln memorial and - among other things - listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. -
24th Amendment
This made it illegal to make voting in federal elections conditional. This meant that states could no longer charge poll taxes - something that had discouraged many black citizens from voting. -
Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner
Attempting to register African-American voters, these men were shot by the KKK. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
This Act made illegal all forms of discrimination due to race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. -
Malcolm X assassinated
This hieghtened the zeal of those fighting for civil rights. -
Bloody Sunday
The Selma to Montgomery March was to march up to the capitol in protest of the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson and "exclusion from the electoral process". These marchers were attacked by state and local police in a day that became very bloody very quickly. -
Civil Rights Act 1965
This disallowed descrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. -
Los Angeles Race Riots 1965
This riot occured in a wealthy neighborhood to protest residential segregation. -
Executive Order 11246
Signed into law by LBJ, US government contractors were now legally bound to end all practices of racial, gender, or religional highering descrimination. -
Black Panthers founded
A group of black revolutionary socialists, they were against police brutality and took a more violent approach to the civil rights movement. -
Loving vs. Virginia
This court ruling invalidated all laws making interacial marriage illegal. -
MLK is assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His death encouraged some to continue his work while it encouraged others to end their non-violent ways. -
Civil Rights Act 1968
President LBJ signed this into law which allowed for equal housing oppertunities for everyone as well as assigned penalties for those who descriminated. -
Roe v Wade
This was a huge success for women's reproductive rights as it deemed the right to have an abortion protected under the US constitution. -
Voting Rights Act 1991
Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, allowed for the right to trial by jury on discrimination claims, opened the floor for emotional damages, and limited the amount a jury could award to someone in such cases. -
1992 Los Angeles Race Riots
After the aquittal of several white policeman who had been accused of police brutality against and African-American man, riots broke out in Los Angelos.
