Civil Rights Movement

  • 15th Amendment

    15th Amendment
    Gave the right for citizen of a different race or color the right to vote in the US. By 1869 amendments had passed to Abolish Slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Plessy v. Ferguson
    The Supreme Court rules that "separate but equal" facilities fall under consitutional guidelines. This ruling provides a legal basis for Jim Crow laws in the South and sets back African Americans civil rights for decades.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

  • Little Rock Nine

    Little Rock Nine
    Nine African American students were blocked many times, once from the Arkansas National Guard and once by a white mob, from entering Central High School.They didn't want them to get an education there. This prompted President Eisenhower to deploy federal paratroopers to escort the students into school.
  • Greensboro Sit-in

    Greensboro Sit-in
    Four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's. The sit-ins grow every day and eventually cause "kneel-ins" at churches, "read-ins" at libraries, and "wade-ins" at pools. After months of protests Woolworth's desegregates their lunch counters.
  • Freedom Riders

    Freedom Riders
    Groups of civil rights activist nicknamed "Freedom Riders" travel throughout the South to enter segregated bus terminals. They are frequently met with violence and receive little or no protection from law enforcement. President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the President, order federal marshals to protect the riders.
  • "I Have a Dream"

    "I Have a Dream"
    In an effort to lobby for the passage of civil rights legislation over 250,000 civil rights activists attend a rally in Washington D.C.. During the rally, Martin Luther King Jr. steals the show and delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the LInoln Memorial
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

     Civil Rights Act of 1964
    Outlawed forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. Giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, stores etc.