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14th Amendment passed
Constitutional amendment forbids any state from depriving citizens of their rights and privileges and defines citizenship -
Plessy v. Ferguson decision
Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws. -
Booker T. Washington writes Up From Slavery
Arguing that gradual progress is the best path for blacks, Washington focuses on job training and suggests that self-respect and self-help would bring opportunities -
Race riots and lynchings claim hundreds of lives
Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, are lynched in the South. -
Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination in hiring
FDR sets up Fair Employment Practices Commission to assure non-discrimination policies in federal hiring. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision
Supreme Court reverses Plessy by stating that separate schools are by nature unequal. Schools are ordered to desegregate "with all deliberate speed" -
Little Rock Central High School desegregated
After Little Rock school board votes to integrate schools, National Guard troops prevent black children from attending school. 1000 federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace. Arkansas Gov. Faubus responds by closing schools for 1958-59 school year -
"Letter from Birmingham jail"
In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing disturbances, King issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance to wrongs of American society -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 blacks and whites gather before Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches (including King's "I Have a Dream") and protest racial injustice -
Civil Rights Act passed
Overcoming Senate filibuster, Congress passes law forbidding racial discrimination in many areas of life, including hotels, voting, employment, and schools -
Watts Riots
In first of more than 100 riots, Los Angeles black suburb erupts in riots, burning, looting, and 34 deaths -
King assassinated
While supporting sanitation workers' strike which had been marred by violence in Memphis, King is shot by James Earl Ray. Riots result in 125 cities