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Civil Rights Timeline

  • Brown v. Board Education

    Brown v. Board Education
    This law established that racial segregation in schools in unconstitutional. This law also ruled out "separate but equal".
  • White Citizens Council

    White Citizens Council
    Founded by Robert B. Patterson, a group of white supremacists was created in response to Brown v. Board Education act. They attacked the Freedom Riders and targeted MLK.
  • Brown v. Board Education 2

    Brown v. Board Education 2
    This law was created a year after the first Brown v. Board Education because not all the states followed the law. This law forced states to integrate the schools.
  • Emmett Till Lynching

    Emmett Till Lynching
    Till was brutally beaten and lynched in Money, Mississippi by two white men. He was killed for flirting with a white woman at a grocery store.
  • Rosa Parks Arrest

    Rosa Parks Arrest
    In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa refused to give her seat up to a white passenger on the bus. She was arrested for disobeying the law that African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus.
  • MLK House Bombed

    MLK House Bombed
    In Montgomery, Alabama, MLK's house was bombed by an unidentified white supremacist. This event tested MLK's commitment to nonviolence.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    Protests that consist of African Americans refusing to give their seat up to whites on the bus. This took place in Montgomery Alabama for a year. Rosa Parks sparked the boycott.
  • Bombing of Reverend Fred Shuttleworth's House

    Bombing of Reverend Fred Shuttleworth's House
    Shuttleworth's house was bombed by the KKK. He was there while his house was bombed along with his family and two other members of the Bethel Baptist Church.
  • SCLC Founded

    SCLC Founded
    Founded in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a Southern Christian Leadership Conference African American civil rights organization. The first president of this organization was MLK. This organization had a big role in the Civil Rights Movement.
  • Eisenhower sends troops to Little Rock

    Eisenhower sends troops to Little Rock
    Integration was taking place at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The white students were harassing the black students so the troops had to come and escort them.
  • Greensboro Sit-Ins

    Greensboro Sit-Ins
    In Greensboro, North Carolina, a group of young African Americans staged a sit in at Woolsworth lunch counter. They refused to leave when denied service. The students were arrested for disturbing peace but forced to Woolsworth and other places changed their segregation policies.
  • SNCC Formed

    SNCC Formed
    Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed to promote student commitment in the Civil Rights Movement. This committee as found at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Freedom Rides

    Freedom Rides
    Freedom Rides was a group of African American and White activists that rode interstate buses into the South. By doing this, they protested the segregated transportation laws.
  • White Mobs Attack Federal Marshals in Montgomery

    White Mobs Attack Federal Marshals in Montgomery
    At the Greyhound Bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, white mobs attacked the freedom riders with baseball bats and golf clubs as they arrived. There were no police present since it was Mother's Day.
  • Albany, Georgia Failure

    Albany, Georgia Failure
    The Albany Movement was created for desegregation and voting rights for African Americans. This movement attempted to desegregate public places in southwest Georgia but the Albany Police Chief outsmarted MLK's strategy. Instead of placing all the protesters in the main jail, they were placed in the neighborhood jails.
  • Bailey v. Patterson

    Bailey v. Patterson
    In this law the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in transportation was illegal. It was a group of African Americans that lived in Jackson, Mississippi and they were directed into transportation by their skin color. They challenged the court with this case and segregation in transportation was seen as unconstitutional.
  • MLK is arrested

    MLK is arrested
    Martin Luther Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. He was arrested for holding protests. The court had ordered that he could no longer hold protests in Birmingham.
  • Equal Pay Act

    This act abolished the wage gap between genders. It was signed by JFK as apart of his New Frontier Program.
  • Kennedy Sends in Federal Troops

    Kennedy Sends in Federal Troops
    Kennedy sent troops to the University of Alabama to force the school to desegregate. A day after, two African Americans, Vivian Malone and James were admitted.
  • Medgar Evers Assassination

    Medgar Evers Assassination
    Medgar Evers was a state field secretary for the NAACP and a WWII veteran. He had constant threats of death on him. In Jackson, Mississippi, he was assassinated the morning he arrived without his regular escorts. He came from a NAACP meeting and was shot in his driveway. Evers was the first African-American admitted to an all white hospital, but ended up dying.
  • March on Washington

    March on Washington
    This march was for jobs and freedom held in Washington, D.C. This also advocated for civil and economic rights for African Americans. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his infamous, "I have a dream" speech.
  • Bombing of Church in Birmingham

    Bombing of Church in Birmingham
    Also known as the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, was done by a group of white supremacists. This church was also a place where Civil Rights Leaders met.
  • JFK Assassination

    JFK Assassination
    John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Although he was rushed to the hospital, he ended up passing away. The person who committed the crime was, Lee Harvey Oswald.
  • Freedom Summer

    Freedom Summer
    Also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign. This campaign attempted to register as many African Americans as possible to vote in Mississippi.
  • 24th Amendment

    24th Amendment
    Prohibits Congress and states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed to Congress on August 27, 1962.
  • Killing of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

    Killing of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
    This event was also known as the Freedom Summer murders. These three activists were abducted and murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi. All three of these guys were associated with the Congress of Racial Equality. As the investigation of their death emerged, it was revealed that members of the Ku Klux Klan, Neshoba County Sheriff's Office, and the Philadelphia Police Department was involved in the incident.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    A law that outlaws discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or sex. It prohibits the unequal opportunity of voter registration requirements, segregation in schools, public accommodations and employment. This law was signed by President Johnson at the White House
  • Malcom X Assassination

    Malcom X Assassination
    Malcom was assassinated while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in Washington Heights, New York. He was assassinated by Black Rival Muslims.
  • Selma to Montgomery March

    Selma to Montgomery March
    This march was part of the series of civil rights movements. Protesters marched 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. They were confronted in the end with violence by authorities and white mobs. This march led by Dr. King raised awareness throughout the nation of the unfair treatment black voters faced.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Voting Rights Act of 1965
    This act prohibits racial discrimination in voting. This law was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.
  • Black Panthers Formed

    Black Panthers Formed
    Formed in Oakland, California. This is an organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. This political party was based on self-defense and black nationalism.
  • Loving v. Virginia

    Loving v. Virginia
    The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law of banning interracial marriages. The case involved Mildred Loving, who was African American and her husband who was white, Richard Loving. Their marriage was seen as violating Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The court however ended all race-based restrictions on legal marriage in the U.S.
  • Minneapolis Riots

    Minneapolis Riots
    On Plymouth Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, racial tensions that were taking place throughout the city led to violent events. Young African Americans set the storefronts on fire and the whole street was in flames.
  • Detroit Riots

    Detroit Riots
    Also known as the 12th Street Riot, involved confrontations between black residents and the Detroit Police Department. This event is known as one of the most violent riots in the U.S. 43 people died and 342 were injured.
  • MLK Assassination

    MLK Assassination
    Martin Luther king Jr. was assassinated at Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to the hospital, however, he still ended up passing away. He was killed by a fugitive, James Earl Ray. James was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
  • Robert F. Kennedy Assassination

    Robert F. Kennedy Assassination
    Robert was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The shooter that killed him was Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy ended up passing away at the hospital a day after being shot.