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Creation of the NAACP
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded on February 12, 1909, as an interracial organization dedicated to advancing justice for African Americans. The founding occurred in New York City, with key figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, -
Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American male teenagers accused of raping two white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. -
Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball's modern era when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. Exactly 50 years later, on April 15, 1997, Robinson’s groundbreaking career was honored -
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, decided in 1954, declared state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional, -
The Murder of Emmitt Till
In August 1955, a 14-year-old Black boy allegedly flirted with a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Emmett Till, a teen from Chicago, didn't understand that he had broken the unwritten laws of the Jim Crow South until three days later, when two white men dragged him from his bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and then shot him in the head. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a significant event in the Civil Rights Movement, a 381-day protest against segregation on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956. Sparked by Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger, the boycott saw African Americans refusing to ride the buses until they were integrated. -
The Little Rock 9
The Little Rock Nine were nine African American high school students who were the first to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. -
Ruby Bridges desegregate elementary school in New Orleans
On November 14, 1960, a 6-year-old girl walked into William J. Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. That seemingly mundane moment would shake the community and change the city forever. -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
The "Letter from Birmingham Jail", also known as the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and "The Negro Is Your Brother", is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
US black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965, at the age of 39. The BBC reported on the reaction in his adopted home of Harlem, New York, as thousands of people queued to pay their last respects. -
Creation of the Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who met at Merritt College in Oakland. It was a revolutionary organization with an ideology of Black nationalism, socialism, and armed self-defense, particularly against police brutality. -
Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice on August 30, 1967, becoming the first African American to serve on the Court. He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Marshall served for 24 years, retiring in 1991. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King's assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property -
Election of Barack Obama
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.