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Plessy v Ferguson
A decision by the U.S Supreme Court that segregation would not violate the constitution. Segregated facilities must be equal in quality. A term that arose from this ruling was "separate but equal." -
19th Amendment
A major landmark in the women's suffrage movement providing more political equality for women, allowing people to vote regardless of sex. -
Executive Order 9981
President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order to ban segregation in the armed forces. It stated that "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Brown vs Board of Education
A decision by the U.S Supreme Court which ruled that racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional stating that "separate but equal" was inherently unequal. -
Emmett Till Death
Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. -
Little Rock 9
Nine African American students arrived at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They made their way through a crowd shouting obscenities and even throwing objects. They were prevented from entering the school and were told to go home. -
Civil Rights Act 1957
First federal civil rights movement legislation to be passed by the U.S congress since 1875. While not causing much impact it did increase voting rights and established the United States Commision on Civil Rights and the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. -
Freedom Riders
Groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides which were bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
Hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery. They marched to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting, to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. -
Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party was a Black Power political organization that emphasized Black pride, community control, and unification for civil rights. -
MLK Assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot by James Earl Ray while standing on a balcony outside his second floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Cesar Chavez
Cesar was a mexican-american civil rights activist and labor organizer that fought for the struggle of farm workers in the U.S to improve their working and living conditions. On May 1st, 1972 Cesar begins a hunger strike.