Civil rights movement timeline

  • Brown vs. Board

    The Supreme court decided that separtate schools for blacks and whites were considered unconsitutional.
  • Emmit Till

    On August 28th, 1955 Emmit Till, a black boy was murdered for flirting with a white woman.
  • Rosa Parks

    Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person.
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    Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Blacks in Montgomery, Alabama refused to ride the city's buses in responce to Rosa Park's arrest and to protest against segregation.
  • Southern Manifesto

    A document signed by 101 members of Congress that argued that the Supreme Court's decision in Brown vs. Board contradicted the constitution.
  • The Supreme Court rules that segregation in transportation is unconstitutional

    In the court case Browder vs. Gayle, the Supreme Court found that segregation of public transportation was unconstitutional.
  • Little Rock

    Nine black students enrolled in a white school in Little Rock, Alabama
  • First sit-in in Greensboro, NC

    Four black college freshmen sat down at a white-only lunch counter and sat there untill closing time when they were refused service.
  • First Freedom Rides

    James Farmer arranged plans for an interracial Freedom Ride through the South to protest segregated interstate travel.
  • James Meredith attends the University of Mississippi

    James Meredith becomes the first black student at the University of Mississippi
  • Medgar Evers is killed

    Medgar Evers, an African American civil rights activist, was killed.
  • MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech

    MLK gives a speech in Washington DC that calles for an end to racism in the US.
  • Four little girs die in Birmingham church bombing

    A bomb that went off in a church in Birmingham, Alabama killed four black girls
  • JFK assassination

    President Kennedy was shot in his open top car
  • Congress passes the Civil Rights Act

    An act that outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and employment on basis of race, skin color, sex, religion, or national origin passed
  • Malcolm X is assassinated

    Malcolm X, a very influential civil rights activist, was assassinated
  • MLK's march from Selma to Montgomery

    MLK led a group of 600 marchers to march from Selma to Mongtomery in a civil rights demonstration
  • Voting Rights Act is signed

    The Voting Rights Act is signed by President Johnson which outlawed various practices that denied voter registration to minorities
  • Watts' riots

    Blacks and hispanics of Los Angeles rioted against segregation of neighborhoods
  • Riots in Detroit, Newark and New Jersey

    Riots that sparked up due to racial tensions
  • Thurgood Marshall is named to the Supreme Court

    Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American to be a Supreme Court Justice
  • MLK is assassinated

    MLK is assassinated in a motel in Memphis, TN
  • Robert Kennedy is assassinated

    Robert Kennedy who was a civil rights activist and a senator is assassinated in Los Angeles