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Jackie Robinson for Brooklyn Dodgers
Jackie Robinson is the first African American baseball player to play on a major league team. On 15 April, 1947, Robinson is player as the first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is a defining moment for the Civil Rights Movement and serves at a catalyst for black equality in America. -
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Civil Rights Movement
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Brown v. Board of Education
May 17, 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education overturns the courts ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson where separate but equal facilities were constitutional. This marked the beginning of the government taking steps to end racial discrimination. -
Emmitt Till Killed
At the age of 14, Emmitt Till, an African American boy, was murdered in Mississippi for flirting with a white woman. This murder receives notice around the country. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
An African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a public bus. Rosa was arrested but started a boycott revolution that led to the ruling that segregation on city busses was illegal. This also inspires the black community to use busses and other segregated services as a way to protest. -
Little Rock Crisis
President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborn to Little Rock, Alabama in order to take control of the rioting by white citizens. Nine African American students are enrolled at Little Rock Central High School causing massive backlash from the city. This is an example of the governent is taking steps to fight for equal rights. -
Sit-ins in Greensboro
Four black students sat in the "whites only" section at the Woolworth's Store lunch counter. They refused to leave after the store's manager, asked them too. This led to a series of sit-in around the country. -
Freedom Riders
Orginized by CORE, civil rights activists rode the bus into the segregated southern states to show the desire for desegregated services. One of many examples of protest from both black and white americans. -
Meredith and Ole Miss
Southern segregationists protested the enrollment of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Two people were killed and over 300 were injured. -
Civil Rights Protest in Birmingham
Members of the SNCC and NAACP performed lunch counter sit-ins as a way to protest segragation. Police force unfairly combatted the peaceful demonstrators. The sit-ins were inspired by the sit-ins in Greensboro, 3 years earlier. -
March on Washington
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963. 200,000 people gathered to protest for "jobs and freedom". -
Birmingham Church Bombing
Four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted 15 sticks of Dynamite at the Birmingham Church one month after the "I Have a Dream" speech. 4 young girls were killed and others were injured. -
Freedom Summer Project
The Freedom Summer Project was an attempt to register as many black voters as possible in Mississippi. SNCC and CORE face abuse form the white population and the KKK. -
Civil Rights Act
Congress outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin through the Civil RIghts Act of 1964. -
Selma March
SCLC led a nonviolent march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama to register as many black voters as possible. This led to the Votng Right Act 5 month later. -
Voting Rights Act
Signed by Johnson, this piece of legislation prohibited dirscriminatory voting barriers and strengthened the 15th admenement. The Selma March pushed Johnson toward the legislation.
