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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy V. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". -
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen are a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. -
Intergration of Major League Baseball
The beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues. When Jackie Robinson stepped onto the Ebbets Fields as a Brooklyn Dodger on April 15, 1947 it signaled the end of segregation in Major League Baseball. It also signaled the beginning of the end of Negro League Baseball. -
Intergration of Armed Forces
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, creating the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the U.S. military. -
Supreme Court Decision of Sweatt V Painter
Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629, was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later. -
Brown v Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality -
Death of Emmitt Till
Emmett Louis Till was an African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States. -
Integration of Little Rock High School
The desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, gained national attention on September 3, 1957, when Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African American students from integrating the high school. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. -
The Greensboro Four Lunch Counter Sit-In
On February 1, 1960, four friends sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro. That may not sound like a legendary moment, but it was. The four people were African American, and they sat where African Americans weren't allowed to sit. They did this to take a stand against segregation. -
freedom rides by freedom riders of 1961
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme -
twenty-fourth amendment
Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 24 – “Elimination of Poll Taxes” Amendment Twenty-four to the Constitution was ratified on January 23, 1964. It abolished and forbids the federal and state governments from imposing taxes on voters during federal elections. -
Integration of University of Mississippi
In 1962, a federal appeals court ordered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, an African-American student. Upon his arrival, a mob of more than 2,000 white people rioted; two people were killed. -
Integration of the University of Alabama
The successful integration of The University of Alabama that began on June 11, 1963, opened doors not only to two Black students, but for decades of progress toward becoming an inclusive campus -
March on Washington & I have a Dream Speech by MLK
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the exalted "I Have a Dream" speech. Originally conceived by renowned labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, the March on Washington evolved into a collaborative effort amongst major civil rights groups and icons of the day. -
Assassination of JFK
about 12:30 PM, shots rang out. A bullet pierced the base of the neck of the president, exited through his throat, and then likely (according to the Warren Report) passed through Governor Connally’s shoulder and wrist, ultimately hitting his thigh. Another bullet struck Kennedy in the back of the head. The motorcade rushed to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital, reaching it quickly; however, doctors’ efforts were futile. Kennedy was officially declared dead at 1:00 PM. Connally survived his wounds -
civil rights act of 1964 signed by Johnson
By signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 in the East Room of the White House, President Johnson helped eliminate voting discrimination against African Americans. The act also abolished racial discrimination in public facilities and in public education. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was ambushed and fatally shot while delivering a speech. His wife and daughters were in the audience. Three men were convicted of his murder. -
selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, TN
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, 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 -
Voting Rights Act of 1968
The 1968 Act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968).