Civil Rights Time Line

By conleyr20

  • Brown vs. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all.

  • Rosa Parks

    In July, Rosa Parks goes to a workshop held at the Highlander Folk School for civil rights organizers.

  • The Montgomery bus boycott

    The first two months of the year, whites are angry about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, this anger results in the bombing of 4 African-American churches as well as the homes of civil rights leaders and E.D. Nixon and Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • The Civil Rights Act of 1957

    The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed by Congress. This act creates the Civil Rights Commission and also authorizes the Justice Department to look into cases of African Americans being deprived of their voting rights in the South.

  • Kennedy speech

    President Kennedy delivers a speech on June 11 from the Oval Office, discussing civil rights and explaining why he sent the National Guard in order to allow two African-American students into the University of Alabama.

  • Kennedy is assassinated

    Kennedy is assassinated on November 22, but Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, uses the country’s anger to pass civil rights legislation, using the legacy of Kennedy's memory to do so.

  • Martin Gets a Nobel peace prize

    Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10 by the Nobel Foundation.

  • Malcolm X assassination

    Malcolm X is assassinated on February 21 at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. King leads a march on March 9 to the Edmund Pettus bridge.

  • MLK Vietnam speech

    King makes a speech on April 4 against the Vietnam War in New York.

  • MLK assassination

    Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated on April 4 as he goes outside on the balcony of his motel room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.