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the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were inherently unequal -
Rosa Parks took her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Due to segregation laws during this time Black passengers were supposed to sit in designated seats at the back of the bus and Parks complied to this rule. Until a white man got on the bus and due to no more seating in the white area Parks was instructed to give up her seat and her and three others refused. Due to this refusal Parks was arrested. This sparked the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
After Brown v. Board of Education and the desegregation of public schools a High School in Little Rock, Arkansas and asked for volunteers to attend the formerly segregated school. 9 Black students, known as "Little Rock Nine" arrived to begin classes and were met with threatening mobs. After a second attempt weeks later the students made it inside the school but had to leave shortly after. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the students to school though they still faced harassment -
13 "Freedom Riders" among them 7 Black and 6 White got on a bus in Washington D.C going on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They continued to receive hate and ridicule by white protesters and cops and were faced with a bus that had a bomb thrown in it. As they escaped the burning bus they could no longer find drivers to take them. Eventually, the result of their work helped enact regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals. -
On August 28th 1963 the March on Washington took place. Organized by the Civil Rights leaders more than 200,000 of all races attended the peaceful march. At this march Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech -
Lyndon B Johnson signs the civil rights act of 1964. This legislation was enacted by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination earlier that year. The signing of this legislation was seen by civil rights activists including MLK, this law guarenteed equal employment for all, and limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated -
On February 21st, 1965 in New York City Malcom X who was an African American Nationalist and religious leader was assassinated while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, at the age of 39 -
On March 7th 1965 around 600 people crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an attempt to begin the Selma to Montgomery march. In an attempt to stop the peaceful protest State troopers violently attacked the people using clubs and tear gas as they crossed the county line -
On August 6th 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The new law banned all voter literacy tests and provided federal examiners in certain voting jurisdictions. It also allowed the attorney general to contest state and local poll taxes. -
On April 4th 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. a civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner was assassinated on his hotel room balcony. This caused a line of protests and riots that put more pressure on President Johnson to push through with civil rights laws