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NAACP was founded
In 1909, Du Bois, Terrell, and others gathered in New York City, NY, where they founded the NAACP on February 12, 1909, to fight racism and violence against all people of color in the United States. -
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field for his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was the beginning of an unparalleled career in baseball. At the end of his explosive nine years as a Dodger, his record included a . 311 batting average, 137 home runs, 734 runs batted in, and 197 stolen bases. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case (1954), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. -
Desegregation of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas
The desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, gained national attention on September 3, 1957, when Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African American students from integrating the high school. -
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957
Civil Rights Act of 1957 - Wikipedia
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957. -
Sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter
On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats -
CORE “freedom ride”
During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. -
Dr. King was thrown into Birmingham Jail
On April 10, 1963, a state judge granted city officials an injunction banning all anti-segregation protest activity in the city of Birmingham. Dr. King and the Rev. Abernathy chose to lead a march in defiance of the injunction and were arrested on April 12, 1963. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on August 28, 1963, was a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., where over 250,000 people gathered to advocate for civil and economic rights for African Americans, culminating in Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Despite Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law just a few hours after it was passed by Congress on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
Bloody Sunday
The brutal attack on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965, and the shooting of unarmed civil rights protesters by British soldiers in Derry, Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972. -
The Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated
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 damage in over 100 American cities