-
The first 20 African slaves are sold to Virginia settlers as “indentured servants”
-
Three-Fifths Compromise: Slaves are considered ⅗ of a person, in order to form a national government that consisted of free and slave states.
-
Johnson v. McIntosh: The Supreme Court stated that Native American tribes could not grant land to anyone other than the federal government, and that the government held title to all Native American land.
-
Trail of Tears: 18,000+ Cherokee Indians are removed from their land and forced to move west of the Mississippi River
-
Dred Scott Case: slaves go to Supreme Court to file against their owners, but are not citizens and therefore are returned to their owners.
-
Civil War between North and South U.S on whether or not we should have slaves.
-
Emancipation Proclamation: On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln announced that slaves were no longer property of their owners. They were free people.
-
Chinese Exclusion Act: The U.S prohibited Chinese immigrants to come into the country for the next 10 years.
-
Plessy v Ferguson: U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation (of school, water fountains, restrooms, etc.) was constitutional and legal
“separate but equal” -
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924: After having thousands of Native American soldiers in WWI, Congress passed the Act. This Act grants American Indians with American citizenship.
-
With the continued discrimination of the Japanese in the U.S, the Japanese American Citizenship League is formed.
-
The U.S. Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act. This Act was implemented to protect Native Americans from losing their land, helped provide economic support, and reestablished tribal governments.
-
100 Native American people met and formed the National Congress of American Indians. The organization wanted to monitor federal policies and laws, and preserve Native American rights.
-
Jackie Robinson becomes first African American to play major league baseball in the U.S.
-
President Truman signs Executive Order 9981. The order stated that “ there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
-
After 71 years of record being kept, there were no reported lynchings of African Americans for the entire year.
-
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka: Supreme Court case that declare the segregation of schools unconstitutional
-
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus as required by city ordinance. This protest lead to a bus boycott, ultimately resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional
-
Little Rock Nine: Nine African American students were registered to attend Little Rock Central High School, a previously all-white high school.
The Governor brought in National Guard to prevent the students from attending the school, but President Eisenhower had paratrooper come to Little Rock to escort and protect the students while attending school. -
Ruby Bridges was the first black student to attend a pre-segregated all-white school.
-
On May 1, 1961 the Freedom Rides were launched. The Freedom Rides consisted of 13 white and African American civil rights activists. They traveled through the south on a bus and encountered a lot of violence along the way.
-
On April 16, Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for participating in anti-segregation protests.
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” -
Martin Luther King Jr. organized a March on Washington. More than 200,000 people joined the march. At the Lincoln Memorial that day, MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
-
On September 15, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed. The church was bombed right before the morning service. About 200 people were in the church and all but 4 girls were able to escape.
-
The 24th Amendment is passed on January 3rd. The Amendment abolished the poll tax which was used in 11 southern states, making it harder for poorer African American’s to vote.
-
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Ended public segregation and make it illegal to refuse someone a job because of their race, religion or gender.
-
On February 1, Malcolm X, black nationalist, was shot and killed while speaking at a rally.
-
In Selma, Alabama Jimmie Lee Jackson participated in the march led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jackson is killed by Alabama State Troopers when trying to protect/prevent his mother and grandfather from being beaten.
-
Bloody Sunday: Blacks began to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to support voting rights, but they are stopped on the Pettus Bridge by police. Many were harmed and hospitalized after the use of whips, tear gas, etc.
-
Voting Rights Act: Prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Law was signed and passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6. People marched from Selma to Washington D.C.
-
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246. The order enforced affirmative action, requiring contractors to take affirmative action towards hiring prospective minorities.
-
Loving v. Virginia: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage was unconstitutional. Even though this was the ruling, many states still banned interracial marriage.
-
On April 11, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Act prohibited discrimination in financing, sale, and rental of housing.
-
American Indian Movement: A group of mainly urban Native American wanted to confront and redress their grievances on civil rights. They believed the way to do that was through direct and militant confrontation.
-
Title IX requires schools to prevent and stop harassment of students by teachers and/or other students.
-
The Supreme Court Case Roe v Wade rules to implement restrictive abortion laws. This expand the right to a legal abortion.
-
First National Women Conference: Conference held in Houston, Texas. The conference called for reform to aimed at empowering women and helping achieve equality and equal opportunity.
-
On October 14th more than 100,000 people march for gay and lesbian civil rights.
-
The first reports of AIDS come out starting hysteria.
-
Overriding President Reagan's veto, congress passed the civil rights restoration act, which expanded the reach of non- discrimination laws within the private institutions receiving federal funds.
-
The American With Disabilities Act is passed, making it illegal to deny work to people based on their disabilities.
-
The first race riots in decades erupted in south-central Los Angeles after a jury acquits four white police officers for the videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.
-
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: President Clinton lifts the ban that prohibits gays from serving in the military.
-
September 11 terrorist attacks occurred resulting in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan (Global War On Terrorism)
-
The ringleader of the mississippi civil rights murders, Edgar Ray Killen, is convicted manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the crimes.
-
Emmett Till's 1955 murder case, reopened by the Department of Justice in 2004, is officially closed. The two confessed murderers, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were dead of cancer by 1994, and prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to pursue further convictions.
-
In the Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano, a lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, 18 plaintiffs, 17 white people and one Hispanic, argued that results of the 2003 lieutenant and captain exams were thrown out when it was determined that few minority firefighters qualified for advancement.
-
Arizona SB 1070: Arizona passed an illegal immigration law in order to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants.
-
The Black Lives Matter movement begins after the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen who was fatally shot by police officer George Zimmerman.
-
On August 9, an unarmed African American teenager, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by Darren Wilson a Ferguson police officer. This event lead to weeks of protest in the area.
