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13th amendment
Slavery is abolished in the United States. -
15th amendment
African American men are granted the right to vote. -
Jim Crow laws
A group of local and state policies starts to legalize racial segregation. -
19th amendment
All American women are guaranteed the right to vote. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama protested against racial segregation in the city's public bus system after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and a group of other religious and activists formed the Southern Leaders Conference (which later became the SCLC) with the intent to coordinate nonviolent local protests against discrimination. The first convention was held in August 1957 in Montgomery, Alabama. -
Ruby Bridges
The 6-year old girl became the first African American student to attend an elementary school in a Southern state (Louisiana). Southern states continued to resist integration even after the Supreme Court had ruled to end racial segregation in public schools in 1954. -
The Birmingham Campaign
A movement led by SCLC with the intent to bring national attention to the efforts of black leaders that wanted to desegregate public facilities in Birmingham, Alabama. Among others, the campaign was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverends James Bevel, and Fred Shuttlesworth. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for violating a court injunction that prohibited public civil rights demonstrations. While imprisoned, he, his lawyers, and the Civil Rights Movement headquarters drafted a letter to local religious leaders due to their criticism of the Birmingham Campaign. The letter was later reprinted throughout the country and became part of American folklore and history. -
March on Washington
A. Philip Randolph, a social activist from the civil rights movement, was the main organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march had 200,000 to 300,000 participants. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd during the March on Washington, where he gave his famous speech known as "I Have a Dream". -
16th Street Baptist Church
The church in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, which was a key meeting place for the Civil Rights Movement, was bombed as an act of racial hatred. Four African American girls were killed and 20 other people were injured. -
Civil Rights Act
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It is also supposed to strengthen the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools, but not much is done. -
Jimmie Lee Jackson
The 26-year-old was shot by Alabama State Trooper James Fowler while they were breaking up a peaceful protest in Marion, Alabama. -
Voting Rights Act
The act finally becomes law in order to overcome local and state legal policies that prevented African Americans from practicing their right to vote. -
Bloody Sunday
On Sunday, March 7, around 600 protesters marched from Selma, Alabama to the state's capital Montgomery. The peaceful march wanted to protest the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson and fight the lack of voting rights for African Americans. Police and state troopers violently attacked men, women, and children with clubs, whips, and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire, and 56 black marchers were hospitalized. Later that evening, the event was broadcast to the entire country and the nation was horrified.