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Plessy v. Ferguson
Had to deal with the Jim Crow Laws. Also dealt with the idea of "seperate but equal". -
Desegregation in the Armed Forces
President Truman signs an Executive Order which states, "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." -
Brown v. Board of Education
Court case about segregated schools in America. Went all the way the Supreme Court. Ended with insegregated schools. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by Rosa Parks, the Bus Boycott was started to end segregation on public transportation. The boycott was lead by Martin Luther King Jr. Ended segregation on bus shuttles and other public transportation. -
Emmit Till
Emmit TillBlack fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a magazine interview. -
Rosa Parks Won't Give Up Bus Seat
Rosa Parks NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students are blocked from entering the used-to-be all white school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sent federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the "Little Rock Nine." -
Sit-ins at the lunch counter...
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. -
Jailed For the Wrong Reasons
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
I Have Dream...
I Have A Dream SpeechAbout 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
James Meredith
James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops. -
Black Panthers
(Oakland, Calif.) The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. -
MLK is shot
MLK is shotMartin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime. -
Finances and Housong For Everyone!!
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. -
L.A Riots in anger
LA Riots
The first race riots in decades erupt in south-central Los Angeles after a jury acquits four white police officers for the videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.
