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CORE
Founded in 1942 by an interracial group of students in Chicago, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) pioneered the use of nonviolent direct action in America’s civil rights struggle. CORE members provided advice and support to Martin Luther King during the Montgomery bus boycott. King worked with CORE throughout the late 1950s and into the mid-1960s, when CORE abandoned its dedication to nonviolence and adopted black separatist policies. -
Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed
On July 26, 1948, President Truman issues Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the Armed Services.
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." Executive Order 9981, July 26, 1948; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives. -
Dallas Bombing
In February 1950 series of bombings occurred in Dallas, TX. These bombings targeted African American homeowners who lived in white South Dallas Neighborhoods.
A house block outside a Black community close to Exline Park had just been purchased by Horace Bonner, his wife, and their mother-in-law. They were sleeping one night when a bomb was planted next to their home. Thankfully, they escaped the explosion unharmed, but their just new bought home was destroyed. -
Brown vs Board of Education
In the 1950s segregation laws in many states prohibited African American children from attending the same schools. For this reason, Linda Brown, an African American girl, was denied admission into a white elementary school. Her father, Oliver Brown, challenged Kansas's school segregation laws in the Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. -
Black Students In Dallas White Schools
In September 1955, the NAACP made sure that Black students in Dallas would show up at white schools to register for the term. Almost thirty Black students were turned away, and the NAACP immediately took the school district to court. -
NAACP Youth Council Picket Line, 1955 Texas State Fair
In the 1930s the State Fair would only allow black people to come to the fair on one day throughout the whole fair season. Then in 1953, the fair announced that African Americans could attend the fair on any day, but could only fully participate in the fair's enjoyments on Negro Achievement Day. Juanita Craft, NAACP Youth Council advisor for the Dallas branch, spearheaded a movement to end discrimination at the fair so that any person of any race could participate on any day they chose. -
Emmett Till
On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till is brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Emmett Till's murder brought attention to racial violence an injustice prevalent in Mississippi.
This image was taken during one of Emmett Till's funerals. The casket that contains his body was left open due to his mother wanting, " the world to see what they did to my baby." -
Montgomery Boycott
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Park boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and decided she would not sit in the colored seats. She took her seat in the white section of the bus and soon gained the attention of Martin Luther King, a twenty six year-old Harvard graduate. King took up her cause and led a Black Boycott of the bus system. Spring and Summer passed and they were winning. -
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
When sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful strategy and tactics of the recently concluded Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. -
Little Rock Nine
On 1957, Nine ordianry Afican American students stepped up to the front line in the battle for civil rights for all Americans to desegregate Little Rock entral High School. -
Sit-In
Four African American college students refuse to leave a restaurant that is “whites only” without being served. -
Freedom Riders
Groups of white and African American civil rights activists participated in Freedom Rides, and bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963 millions of people came together close to the Lincoln Memorial to protest racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. On this very same day, Martin Luther gave his infamous speech stating, ¨I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
Martin Luther. ¨I Have A Dream.¨ 1963. -
The 24th Amendment
On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials.
Before lower class citizens could not vote due to not being able to pay poll tax but now they can vote without having to worry about paying. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352. The Civil Right Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national or national origin. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an American Muslim human rights activist who was an important figure in the Civil Rights movement. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in the neighborhood of Washington Heights, where he was preparing to give a speech about the Organization of Afro-American Unity. -
March on Selma
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. -
Watts Riots
2 stepbrothers, Marquette and Ronald Frye were arrested when Marquette failed a sobriety test causing there to be a fight between him and the officer, his brother then joined to protect Marquette but was then stabbed. Rena, the brothers' mother, was also arrested when she tried pulling officers off of Marquette. By this time a crowd had formed and were angry at what they had witnessed. The Watts Rebellion resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 4,000 arrests. -
Black Power
Black Power was a branch of the civil rights movement reacting against its more moderate, mainstream, or incremental tendencies and motivated by a desire for safety and self-sufficiency that was not available inside redlined African American neighborhoods. -
George Floyd
46-year-old George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis Minnesota after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground under the knee of a police officer.
