Civil Rights

By elizabethgarcia1120

  • The Emancipation Proclamation

    President Abraham Lincoln freeing the enslaved in the rebellious Confederate states.

  • The Thirteenth Amendment

    abolishing slavery in the United States.

  • The Fourteenth Amendment

    Guaranteeing all African-Americans the rights of full U.S. citizens.

  • The Fifteenth Amendment

    Guaranteeing the right to vote for all citizens regardless of race.

  • Jim Crow Laws

    Jim Crow laws become common in many southern states segregating blacks from whites.

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    The Supreme Court rules that segregation is legal in the Plessy v. Ferguson case using the "separate but equal" argument.

  • Founding of NAACP

    The NAACP is founded by African-American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells.

  • Jackie Robinson

    Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play major league baseball.

  • President Harry S. Truman

    President Harry S. Truman ends segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    The Supreme Court rules that segregation in the schools is unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education case, overturning the earlier ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

  • Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Rosa Parks is arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus. This sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasts for over a year. Eventually, segregation on the buses in Montgomery comes to an end.

  • Arkansas Nine

    Nine African-American students in Arkansas (nicknamed the Arkansas Nine) attend a previously all-white high school. Army troops are brought in to protect them.

  • The Freedom Riders

    protested by riding buses into the segregated southern states challenging their Jim Crow laws.

  • The Birmingham Campaign

    takes place in Birmingham, Alabama. Schoolchildren marching in non-violent protest are met with police dogs and fire hoses. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested and writes his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

  • The Civil Rights Act

    signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlaws discrimination based on race, national origin, and gender. It also outlaws segregation and the Jim Crow laws.

  • Nobel Peace Prize

    Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

  • Bloody Sunday

    Marchers in Selma, Alabama are met by police with tear gas. Several marchers are injured and the day is nicknamed "Bloody Sunday."

  • The Voting Rights Act

    signed into law making it illegal to prevent any citizen from voting regardless of race.

  • Watts Race Riots

    Race riots erupt in Watts, California.

  • Affirmative Action

    President Lyndon Johnson issues an order requiring "Affirmative Action" in hiring minorities for federal government work.