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NAACP was founded
The NAACP was founded by a diverse group of people. The group included white people, black people, and Jews. The goal of the group was to fight for civil rights in the U.S. -
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he became the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball in the 20th century, He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and was named Rookie of the Year. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
U.S.. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Bown vs. 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 her seat up
Rosa Parks was an African American woman who rode the bus home from work. Rosa was tired after spending the day at work as a department store seamstress. She got on the bus for the ride home and sat down in the colored section of the bus. The bus became crowded and the driver ordered Rosa and three other African Americans to move to the back. Rosa was then arrested and had to pay a fine of $10. -
Desegregation of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas
The desegregation of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, gained national attention on September 3, 2957, when Govenor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine Africa American students from integrating the high school. -
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957
The act establishes the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. -
Sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter
Four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, and they politely asked for service. Ther request was denied. When they were asked to leave, they remained in their seats. -
CORE "freedom ride"
The very first freedom ride took place on May 4, 1961. Seven blacks and six whites left Washinton, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. Their intention was to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton vs. Virginia, which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. -
Dr. King was thrown into Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. A court had ordered Dr. King not to hold protests in Birmingham. -
March on Washington
March on Wahington was a political demonstration held in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by civil rights leaders to protest racial discrimination and to show support for major civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. -
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark civil rights and U.S. labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
"Bloody Sunday"
600 civil rights marchers headed East out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge (six blocks away), where state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas. They then drove them back to Selma. -
Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was shot from his balcony. -
Voting Rights Act
U.S. legislation that aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.