Civil rights timeline

  • Creation of the NAACP

    Creation of the NAACP

    an interracial group aiming to end segregation and discrimination
  • The Tulsa race massacre

    The Tulsa race massacre

    More than 35 city blocks were burned to the ground and hundreds of Black citizens were killed, erasing what was known as Black Wall Street, a booming center of Black ingenuity and promise.
  • Scottsburg boys

    Scottsburg boys

    nine young African American men falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama in 1931
  • Brown vs board of education

    Brown vs board of education

    was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if the segregated facilities are equal in quality.
  • The murder of Emmitt till

    The murder of Emmitt till

    a 14 year old black boy from Chicago lynched in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman sparking a national outrage
  • Montgomery bus boycott

    Montgomery bus boycott

    the Montgomery bus boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
  • The Little Rock 9

    The Little Rock 9

    the Little Rock nine were nine African American students who became famous in 1957 for integrating Little Rock Central High School
  • Ruby bridges desegregated an elementary school in New Orleans

    Ruby bridges desegregated an elementary school in New Orleans

    In 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges desegregated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans
  • Letter from a Birmingham jail

    Letter from a Birmingham jail

    Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"argued for the urgent necessity of direct action and civil disobedience against unjust laws
  • The civil rights march on Washington

    The civil rights march on Washington

    a massive, peaceful demonstration in Washington, D.C., where over 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to advocate for civil and economic rights for Black Americans
  • Civil rights act passed

    Civil rights act passed

    The landmark Civil Rights Act was passed and signed into law on July 2, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, outlawing discrimination
  • Voting rights act passed

    Voting rights act passed

    was landmark federal legislation that outlawed discriminatory voting practices, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, preventing widespread disenfranchisement, especially of African Americans in the South
  • Assassination of Malcolm X

    Assassination of Malcolm X

    Malcolm X, a religious and civil rights leader, was assassinated during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan.
  • Creation of the black panthers

    Creation of the black panthers

    Black Panther was created to address a serious lack of major Black American comic book superheroes
  • Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice

    Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice

    Thurgood Marshall was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967, becoming the first African American Justice
  • Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr

    Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr

    Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. at age 39.
  • Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier

    Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier

    he put on a dodgers uniform, number 42