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The U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the racist policy of segregation by legalizing “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites.
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The U.S. Supreme Court unanimous decision that overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine in public schools.
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Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi.
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Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery City Bus and was arrested.
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
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The Little Rock 9 enter Central High School as federal troops oversee the situation sent by President Eisenhower.
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4 black college students sat at an all-white lunch counter and started a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s store.
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Ruby Bridges is the first African-American to attend a previously all-white grade school.
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Freedom riders begin a bus ride through the South to protest segregation.
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James Meredith becomes the first African-American to enroll at the previously all-white University of Mississippi.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham protesting in the “most segregated city in America.”
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NAACP president of Mississippi Medgar Evers who was influential in integrating James Meredith into the University of Mississippi was shot and killed.
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More than 250,000 people, march on Washington to demand immediate passage of the civil rights bill.
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A bomb set by a KKK member in an African-American Baptist church kills four girls.
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Ratification of the 24th amendment to the US constitution banns poll taxes which have prevented many poor African-Americans from practicing their right to vote.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the premier legislation for Civil Rights into law.
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Malcolm X was shot and killed in New York by members of the Nation of Islam.
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A march from Selma to Montgomery to fight for voting rights begins.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law outlawing literacy tests.
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One week after Voting Rights Act was signed, race riots erupt in Watts, California. (last 6 days)
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Huey Newton & Bobby Seale founded the “Black Power” political group known as the Black Panthers.
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Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American supreme court justice.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis.
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In his presidential campaign speech in Indianapolis, Robert F. Kennedy informs the masses about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and manages to keep them calm
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Robert F. Kennedy, Senator from New York, was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan in California.