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President Truman signs the Executive Order 9981
President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Brown v. Board of Education
In Topeka, Kansas on May 17, 1954 the decision of separate but equal which was ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson was ruled unconstitutional. Oliver Brown, African American, parent of a child who was denied access to a white school claimed that Topeka's racial segregation violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause because the city's black and white schools weren't equal. -
Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up her seat.
December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to get up for a white passenger on a bus and she was arrested. This started the Montgomery Bus Boycott-which was very successful. She was considered the first woman in the civil rights movement. -
Events at Little Rock, Arkansas
On September 4,1957, 9 brave black students who had enrolled at a previously all white school in Little Rock, Arkansas.The governor called the national guard to prevent the students from entering the school.The white students and people from all around created an angry mob in front of the schools and yelled derogatory comments to the black students as they walked up to the school.The government had to take action after one of the black students were lynched and sent in federal troops. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
On September 9, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. This act stated that everyone had the same right to vote. So it was less of a new law and more of a protection of another law. -
North Carolina sit-in
4 black students from a North Carolina College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities. -
Attack of the Freedom Riders
The Freedom riders were a group of 7 blacks and 6 whites organized by CORE, they traveled around the south where segregation still occurred and used white only restrooms, counters, buses, and waiting rooms. -
James Meredith Enrolls at Ole Miss
In late September riots broke out on the Ole Miss campus after African American war veteran James Meredith attempted to enroll at the college. The Kennedy Administration sent 31,000 federal troops, and national guardsmen to enforce order after 2 were killed and hundreds were wounded/arrested. -
Medgar Evers Assinated
Medgar Evers a African American civil rights leader was shot in the back in his driveway by a white supremacist named Byron De La Beckwith, his two small children watched him get shot. -
The March on Washington
On August 28, 1963 about 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington D.C. for a political rally for jobs and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech "I Have a Dream" was spoken it called for racial justice and equality. -
Abolishment of Poll Tax
The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
On July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law stated the it was unconstitutional to discriminate against sex and race. This made it easier for African Americans and women to get jobs. -
Malcom X is Assassinated
Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam. -
March to Selma
The March to Selma was organized in protest to the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was shot by a state trooper. Nearly 50,000 protesters were turned away by the national guard blocking the road. In result to this, the government came up with the Voting Rights Act, the Act guaranteed the right to vote for everyone. -
Black Power is Introduced
Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the SNCC, uses the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience. -
Thurgood Marshall first black Supreme Court Justice.
On October 2, 1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court Justice. Before he became justice Thurgood was part of the NAACP, and in 1954 he argued before the Supreme Court that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. This showed that the protests were working and that the whole movement was worth it, it also gave even more hope to the people involved in the protests and people who were for the civil rights movement. -
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968 MLK Jr. was shot and killed while he was standing on his balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis TN. This had a huge impact on the Civil Rights Movement, people lost a lot of their hope. The movement continued but lost a lot of support and lacked organization.