Civil Rights Timeline

By Judecox
  • Creation of the NAACP

    Creation of the NAACP

    The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed to move the civil rights struggle into the courts.
  • Tulsa Race Massacre

    Tulsa Race Massacre

    A white mob attacked the affluent "Black Wall Street" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, destroying the community.
  • Scottsboro Boys

    Scottsboro Boys

    Nine Black teenagers were falsely accused of a crime in Alabama, and their subsequent trials became a landmark in the fight against legal injustice.
  • Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier

    Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier

    Robinson became the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • Brown vs. Board of Education

    Brown vs. Board of Education

    The Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" education was unconstitutional.
  • Murder of Emmett Till

    Murder of Emmett Till

    The brutal killing of 14-year-old Till in Mississippi and his mother’s decision to have an open-casket funeral shocked the nation.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Triggered by Rosa Parks, this year-long protest ended segregation on public buses in Montgomery, Alabama
  • The Little Rock Nine

    The Little Rock Nine

    Nine students integrated Central High School in Arkansas under the protection of federal troops.
  • Ruby Bridges Desegregates an Elementary School

    Ruby Bridges Desegregates an Elementary School

    At age six, Ruby Bridges became the first Black student to integrate William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans.
  • Letter from a Birmingham Jail

    Letter from a Birmingham Jail

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this eloquent defense of nonviolent civil disobedience while incarcerated.
  • Civil Rights March on Washington

    Civil Rights March on Washington

    The site of Dr. King’s "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for economic and civil rights.
  • Civil Rights Act Passed

    Civil Rights Act Passed

    Landmark legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.
  • Assassination of Malcom X

    Assassination of Malcom X

    The influential minister and human rights activist was killed in New York City in February.
  • Voting Rights Act Passed

    Voting Rights Act Passed

    Signed into law to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented Black citizens from exercising their right to vote.
  • Creation of the Black Panthers

    Creation of the Black Panthers

    Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale to monitor police activities and provide social programs in Black communities.
  • Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice

    Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice

    Marshall, who argued Brown v. Board, became the first Black justice on the nation's highest court.
  • Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to a period of national mourning and unrest.