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Plessy V Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
NAAC
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established, 1909. America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Formed in New York City by white and black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country. During the civil rights, 1950-1960s, the group won major legal victories, and today the NAACP has more than 2,200 branches and some half a million members worldwide. -
Malcolm X Begins Leading The Nations Of Islam
Wallace Ford founded the nation of islam in the 1930s. Christianity was the white man's religion, declared Fard. -
Desegregation Of The Military
On July 26, 1948, black leaders convinced President Truman to address discrimination in the armed services. Black americans served in the military in every major war since the inception of the United States. But only in June 1941 did President Franklin D. Roosevelt make the first, tentative step toward ending segregation in the armed forces. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. -
Dwight Eisenhower
President in the US. from 1953 to 1961. Promised to stop the war between north and south Korea in 1953, which he managed to do. He also fought for blacks rights, brown-"- -
Brown V. Board Of Education
a consolidation of five cases into one, is decided by the Supreme Court, effectively ending racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained segregated. -
Eisenhower Signs The Civil Rights Act
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. -
The Murder Of Emmitt Hill
While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. -
SCLC
SCLC is based on the huge bus boycott (rosa parks) now a nation wide organization made up of chapters and affiliates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans: north, south, east and west. Its sphere of influence and interests has become international in scope because the human rights movement transcends national boundaries. -
Rosa Parks
refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her defiant stance prompts a year-long Montgomery bus boycott. -
The Southern Christian Leadership
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed in 1957 just after the Montgomery Bus Boycotthad ended. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) main aim was to advance the cause ofcivil rights in America but in a non-violent manner. From its inception in 1957, its president was Martin Luther King – a post he held until his murder in 1968. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine,” are blocked from integrating into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. -
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee is formed
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. -
Sit-ins
Four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. Their nonviolent demonstration sparks similar “sit-ins” throughout the city and in other states. -
The Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers—as well as horrific violence from white protestorscause. -
George C. Wallace Refuses Two Black Students To Enter Their schoolbuilding
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus. -
March Of Washington
Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives the closing address in front of the Lincoln Memorial and states, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” -
Civil Rights Act Of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. -
Freedom Summer Project
Freedom Summer, also known as the the Mississippi Summer Project, was a 1964 voter registration drive sponsored by civil rights organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Aimed at increasing black voter registration in Mississippi, the Freedom Summer workers included black Mississippians and more than 1,000 out-of-state, predominately white volunteers. -
Race Riots In Watts And Other Cities
The rioters eventually ranged over a 50-square-mile area of South Central Los Angeles, looting stores, torching buildings, and beating whites as snipers fired at police and firefighters. Finally, with the assistance of thousands of National Guardsmen, order was restored on August 16. -
Martin Luther King's Assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, an event that sent shock waves reverberating around the world. A Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King had led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of impassioned speeches and nonviolent protests to fight segregation and achieve significant civil-rights advances for African Americans. -
Rodney King Trail
The acquitted police officers were later convicted of violating Rodney King’s civil rights in a federal court trial. Reginald Denny’s attackers were identified through the helicopter videotape, arrested, and convicted of assault and battery. However, the jury declined to convict on attempted murder charges, apparently due to the defense’s argument that the defendants had only fallen prey to uncontrollable mob rage.
