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Plessy vs Ferguson
On June 7, 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy could easily pass for white but under Louisiana law, he was considered black (1/7 black) and therefore was required to sit in the "Colored" car.
In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case and held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional.
The Plessy decision set the precedent that "separate" facilities for blacks and whites had to be "equal" -
New Louisiana State Constitution
New Louisiana state constitution prohibits most African-Americans from voting. -
Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson met Tommy Burns at Rushcutter's Bay on the outskirts of Sydney on December 26, 1908. Few of the 20,000 spectators gathered there cheered Johnson as he dominated Burns and became the heavyweight champion of the world. -
The NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded in New York by prominent black and white intellectuals and led by W.E.B. Du Bois. For the next half century, it served as the country's most influential African-American civil rights organization, dedicated to political equality and social justice -
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. This literary, artistic, and intellectual movement fostered a new black cultural identity. -
Nine Scottsboro boys sent to jail for supposably raping to white girls
Nine black youths were indicted in Scottsboro, Alabama, on charges of having raped two white women. Even though the evidence was slim, the southern jury sentenced them to death. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions twice; each time Alabama retried them, finding them guilty. In a third trial, four of the Scottsboro boys are freed; but five are sentenced to long prison. -
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier when he is signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers by Branch Rickey to play in the 1945 season. -
Executive Order 9981
This executive order was issued on July 26, 1948 by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. -
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Civil Rights Movement
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Railroad Dining Cars
Supreme Court abolishes segregation in railroad dining cars in the case Henderson v. United States -
US Army
United States Army high command announces it will desegregate the Army -
"We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People"
William L. Patterson submitted this book-length petition. It documents hundreds of lynching cases and a clear pattern of government inaction or actual complicity. It charges that in the 85 years since the end of slavery more than 10,000 Blacks are known to have been lynched. -
Emmett Till
A fourteen year old boy, Emmett Till, was kidnapped, beaten, murdered, and thrown into a river after reportedly whistling at a white woman -
Montgomery Bus Boycott Started
The Montgomery Bus Boycott started when Rosa Parks rufused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus and was arrested. Blacks didn't ride busses or taxi, and they walked everywhere. Soon, the started carpooling when they found cars that they could buy. The boycott lasted just over a year. -
Mongomery Bus Boycott Ends
The boycott ended. Blacks where alowed to sit anywhere they wanted in the busses and the driver always stopped at every bus stop. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of Afican American students enrolled in Little Rock Centeral High School, causing an uprise. -
Little Rock Crisis
The Little Rock Crisis followed Little Rock Nine. The students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. The students attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower. -
SNNC
SNCC (Student Nonviolant Coordinating Committe) is founded -
JFK's speach
JFK’s Civil Rights Speech is given -
"I Have A Dream"
Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech -
Nobel Peace Prize
Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize -
Marches for voting rights
A series of marches takes place for voting rights and at the end of the marches Malcolm X is killed. -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court as an American jurist -
MLK Jr's dies
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
