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Jackie Robinson Plays His First Major League Game
Became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base. As the first major league team to play a black man since the 1880s, the Dodgers ended racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades. -
Brown v. Board of Education Decided
a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. The Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
Rosa Parks Arrested
In Montgomery, Parks was arrested for refusing to move from her seat. She spurred the Bus Boycotts that would soon follow. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
A political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. Many important figures in the civil rights movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. -
Browder v. Gayle Decided
A case on Montgomery and Alabama state bus segregation laws. The case was heard by the United States Supreme Court. It upheld the lower court ruling in a landmark decision, stating that that bus segregation was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment protections for equal treatment.. Three days later, it ordered Alabama to desegregate the buses. -
Little Rock Integration Crisis
In 1957 nine black students integrated into the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The students were dubbed the “Little Rock Nine.” Arkansas governor, Orval Faubus, tried to block the integration of the school by calling in the state National Guard, so President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborn to ensure the students could safely attend the school. -
Greensboro Sit-ins
A series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina which led to the Woolworth department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. While not the first sit-ins of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in US history. -
The First Freedom Riders Depart
Organized by CORE, two integrated groups of Freedom Riders enter Alabama on May 14, 1961. One bus is ambushed and burned by a racist mob outside of Anniston. The second bus arrives in Birmingham where another mob brutally assaults the riders. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement. -
Birmingham Campaign Begins
A movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct actions culminated in widely publicized confrontations between black youth and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. -
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
One of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C..Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism. The march is credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act. -
JFK Assassinated
Kennedy was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling in a presidential motorcade by Lee Harvey Oswald. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in two hours and eight minutes after President Kennedy was assassinated. -
Malcolm X Joins the Movement
Malcolm X , national representative of the Nation of Islam, formally broke with that organization, and made a public offer to collaborate with any civil rights organization that accepted the right to self-defense and the philosophy of Black nationalism. Malcolm now encouraged Black nationalists to get involved in voter registration drives and other forms of community organizing to redefine and expand the movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Enacted
A landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations"). -
Selma to Montgomery Marches Begin
All three marches were attempts to walk for 54 miles along the highway from Selma to the Alabama state capitol of Montgomery. The 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, also known as "Bloody Sunday" and the two marches that followed, led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Enacted
A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. -
MLK Assassinated
Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 39 by James Earl Ray. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of race riots in Washington D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities.