Civil Rights Timeline

  • 14th Amendment passed

    This amendment was passed and it secures citeznship for African Americans and defines citizenship.
  • Plessy V. Ferguson

    Supreme court case that rules in favor of the Jim Crowe laws, "seperate but equal"
  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision

    Brown goes up against the board of education because the school would not let his African American daughter into school to learn on the premises that she was black.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott Starting point

    This is the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. This movement was started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott Ends

    This Boycott, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. ends
  • Little Rock Central High School desegregated

    After Little Rock school board votes to integrate schools, National Guard troops prevent black children from attending school. 1000 federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace. Arkansas governor Faubus responds by closing schools from 1958 to 1959
  • March on Washington

    over 200,000 people both black and white gather to hear speeches and protest racial injustice
  • 24th Amendment passed

    Poll tax (a method to prevent blacks from voting) is outlawed which causes the black voting registration rates to go up.
  • Civil Rights Act passed

    This Act outlaws racial discrimination
  • Voting Rights act pproved

    After passage, southern black voter registration grows by over 50% and black officials are elected to various positions. In Mississippi, black voter registration grew from 7% to 67%
  • Bakke v. Regents of University of California decision

    Bakke is denied admittance to college even though he has high grades and test scoreswere higher than most because of the fact that he is black