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NAACP was founded
In 1909, Du Bois, Terrell, and others gathered in New York City, NY, where they founded the NAACP to fight racism and violence against all people of color in the United States. -
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, making him the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era, and he played for them from 1947 to 1956. -
Brown v. Board of Education
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. -
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her act of defiance helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights movement. -
Desegregation of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas
In 1957, the Little Rock Nine, nine African American students, attempted to integrate Little Rock Central High School, sparking a national crisis when Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent their entry, leading to President Eisenhower's intervention with federal troops. -
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957
the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation since 1875, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957. -
Sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter
Four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. -
CORE “freedom ride”
The Freedom Rides were a series of bus trips in 1961 that challenged segregation on interstate buses. The rides were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a nonviolent civil rights organization. -
Dr. King was thrown into Birmingham Jail
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama on April 12, 1963, for participating in a nonviolent march against segregation. He was jailed for "parading without a permit". -
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a political demonstration in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. It was a major civil rights event that advocated for the economic and civil rights of Black Americans. -
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and ended segregation in public places and federally funded programs. -
Bloody Sunday
the attack on civil rights protestors on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge that led to the Selma-to-Montgomery march and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m at age 39.