civil rights timeline

Supreme court outlaws school segregation

May 17, 1954

In the previous cout case, Plessy vs. ferguson, segregation of blacks with seperate but equal facilities was ruled ok.The reason the Brown vs. Board of education case was started was because of a case in Topeaka Kansas. they ruled that it was ok for the school to segregate the black students. However, during the brown vs. board of education case, they ruled it unconstitutional to segregate schools.

Rev. George Lee killed

May 7, 1955

He was killed for registering blacks and himself to vote. His death occurred in Belzoni,Mississippi

Lamar Smith murdered

Aug 13, 1955

He was murdered because he organized black voters in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

Emmett Louis Till Murdered

Aug 28, 1955

He was mrdered by a man for speaking to his wife, a white woman. This all occured in Money, MIssissippi.

John Earl Reese slain

Oct 22, 1955

He was slain by nightriders that were against school improvements.

Rosa Parks arrested

Dec 1, 1955

She was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks was in her seat on a bus when a white man told her to move so vthat he could sit there. when she refused they put her in jail.

Montgomery bus boycott

Dec 5, 1955

The boycott began this date.

Seat segregation on buses banned

Nov 13, 1956

The supreme court banned segregated seating on montgomery buses.

Willie Edwards Jr. killed

Jan 23, 1957

Willie Edwards Jr. was killed by a klansmen in Montgomery, Alabama.

Civil Rights act passed

Aug 29, 1957

Congress passed the first civil rights act since reconstruction. The act increased the protection of voting rights and laid the foundation of federal enforccement.

Desegregation in schools enforced

Sep 24, 1957

President Eisenhower orders federal troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. this was due to the integration of 9 African Americas at Central High. There were many protest by white students.that was when president Eisenhower sent in troops to escort the nine students in for their protection.

Mack Charles Parker Lynched

Apr 25, 1959

Mack Charles Parker was taken from jail and lynched in Poplarville, Mississippi

Black students stage a sit-in

Feb 1, 1960

Several black students staged a sit-in at a "whites only" lunch counter. The sit-in occured in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Segregation in bus terminals outlawed

Dec 5, 1960

The supreme court outlawed segregation in bus terminals on December 5th, 1960

Freedom riders attacked

May 14, 1961

Freedom riders were attacked in Alabama while testing compliance with bus segregation laws. the freedom riders rode interstate buses to test the supreme court ruling on segregated interstate travel. they included African Americans and Whites. Two main groups helped organize the freedom riders,The Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comitte.

Voter registration worker killed

Sep 25, 1961

Herbert Lee ( a voter registration worker) was killed by white legislator in Liberty, Mississippi.

Civil rights groups join forces

Apr 1, 1962

They joined forces to launch a voter registration drive.

Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr. killed

Apr 9, 1962

Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr. was taken from a bus and killed by the police.

Riots erupt at Ole Miss

Sep 30, 1962

Riots of white students broke out when James Meredith, a black student, enrolled into Ole Miss. President Kennedy called out about 31000 national guards men and other forces to return things back to order.

Paul Guihard killed

Sep 30, 1962

Paul Guihard, a french reporter, was killed during an Ole Miss riot in Oxford, Mississippi.

William Lewis Moore slain

Apr 23, 1963

William Lewis Moore was slain during a one-man march against segregation in Attalla, Alabama.

Police attack children

May 3, 1963

Birmingham police attack marching children with dogs and fire hoses.

George wallace stops integration

Jun 11, 1963

George Wallace ( governor of Alabama) stands in schoolhouse doors to stop university integration.

Medgar Evers assassinated

Jun 12, 1963

Civil rights leder, Medgar Evers, was assassinated in Jaclkson, Mississippi. He became the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. He was shot in the back in his driveway in Jackson. He was then rushed to the hospital but died within a hour.

March on Washington

Aug 28, 1963

About 250,000 Americans marched on washighton to urge Congress to pass civil rights legislation. When everyone got to Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speeche.

School girls killed in aa bombing

Sep 15, 1963

Addie Mae Collins, Denise Mcnair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were schoolgirls killed in a bombing of the sixteenth street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama.

Virgil Lamar Ware killed

Sep 15, 1963

Virgil Lamar Ware Youth was killed during a wave of racist violence in Birmingham, Alabama.

Poll tax outlawed

Jan 23, 1964

Poll taxes were outlawed in federal elections.

Louis Allen assassinated

Jan 31, 1964

The witness to a civil rights worker's murder, Louis Allen, was assassinated in Liberty, Mississippi.

Reverend Bruce Klunder killed

Apr 7, 1964

Reverend Bruce Klunder was killed protesting the construction of segregated schools in Cleaveland, Ohio.

Henry Dee and Charles Moore killed

May 2, 1964

Henery Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddir Moore were killed by klansmen in Meadville, Mississippi.

Freedom Summer

Jun 20, 1964

Freedom Summer brings 1,000young civil rights volunteers to Mississippi.

Civil rights workers abducted

Jun 21, 1964

civil rights wrokers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were abducted and slain by klansmen in Philidalphia, Mississippi.

Civil Rights Act

Jul 2, 1964

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights act of 1964. the act outlawed any "really bad" forms of segregation against african Americans.

Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn killed

Jul 11, 1964

Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn was killed by klansmen while driving north in Colbert, Georgia.

Civil rights marcher killed by police

Feb 26, 1965

Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed by a state trooper in Marion, Alabama.

State troopers beat marchers

Mar 7, 1965

State troopers beat back marchers at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

Reverend James Reeb killed

Mar 11, 1965

Reverend James Reeb, a march volunteer, was beaten to death in Selma Alabama.

Voting rights march completed

Mar 25, 1965

Thousands complete the march from Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. The reason why the march took place was to boycott the transit system because the blacks had to sit in the back. this ultimately made the Montgomery transit system. During the march some people were attacked by police. They often used dogs or fire hoses to attack the protestors.

Viola Gregg Liuzzo

Mar 25, 1965

Viola Gregg Liuzzo was killed by klansmen while transporting marchers on the selma Highway in Alabama.

Oneal Moore killed

Jun 2, 1965

Oneal Moore, a balack deputy, was killed by nightriders in Vernado, Louisiana.

Voting rights act of 1965

Jul 9, 1965

Congress passed the Voting rights act of 1965.

Willie Brewster killed

Jul 18, 1965

Willie Brewster was killed by nightriders in Annistan, Alabama.

Jonathan Daniels killled

Aug 20, 1965

Jonathan Daniels, a seminary student, was killed by a deputy in Hayneville, Alabama.

Samuel Young Jr. killed

Jan 3, 1966

Samuel Young Jr., a student civil rights activist, was killed in a dispute in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Vernon Dahmer killed

Jan 10, 1966

Vernon Dahmer, a black commujnity leader, was killed in a klan bombing in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Ben Chester White killed

Jun 10, 1966

Ben Chester White was killed by klansmen in Natchez, Mississippi.

Clarence Triggs killed

Jul 30, 1966

Clarence Triggs was slain by nightriders in Bogalusa, Louisiana.

Wharlest Jackson killed

Feb 27, 1967

Civil rights leader, Wharlest Jackson, was slain after a promotion to a "white" job in Netchez, Mississippi.

Benjamin Brown killed

May 12, 1967

Civil rights worker, Benjamin Brown, was killed when polive fired on protestors in Jackson, Mississippi.

Thurgood Marshall

Oct 2, 1967

Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black supreme cout justice. Before becoming Supreme court Justice he was the first black U.S. solicitor general. This is significant because he was a black man in the court. He also helped win many cases.

Samuel hammond and Delano Middleton killed

Feb 8, 1968

Samuel Hammond Jr. Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith were students that were killed when highway patroll men fired on protestors in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King killed

Apr 4, 1968

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed on his hotel balcony when a sniper shot him in the cheek. following this were riots of anger. The death had such a big impact because he inspired so many people and was an advocate for nonviolent protests but his death was violent.