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The Supreme Court Declares Bus Segregation Unconstitutional
A Federal District Court then ruled that segregation on the buses was illegal. The Supreme Court affirmed that decision, Browder v. Gayle, in November 1956, handing NAACP lawyers a major victory. The following month, when the Supreme Court indicated that it would not hear an appeal of that decision, all avenues to delay bus integration had been exhausted. The next day, December 21, 1956,thousands of black riders were on the buses again and sitting in any seats they chose. -
The 1960 Presidential Election
In October of that year, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at a sit in in Atlanta. "It's time for all of us to take off our Nixon button," Martin Luther King said after the Kennedy brothers show of support. Republicans had attracted African American votes since the days of Abraham Lincoln, emancipation, and the Fifteenth Amendment. Now that tradition of support vanished Kennedy received 68 percent of the black vote and won the presidency -
The Desegregation of Interstate Travel
In the months following John F. Kennedy's inauguration, civil rights activists were disappointed that the president did not introduce any new legislation on the issue. However, the Supreme Court had issued a ruling in December 1960 that interstate buses and bus terminals were required to integrate. This legal development inspired members of the Congress of Racial Equality to ride Greyhound buses from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana. -
The Supreme Court Orders Ole Miss to Integrate
In Brown vs. Board of Edu., the Supreme Court order the integration of public schools. The decision ended separate but equal treatment of African Americans that in practice had proven anything but equal. Southern States defied the courts decisions. Many African American applicants were denied admission to Ole Miss. James Meredith applied, when he got it back he took his case to court .The ended up before the Supreme Court who ruled that James should be allowed to attend the state funded school. -
The March on Washington
African American activist A. Philip Randolph had been fighting for equality since he founded a union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. In 1941, he planned a march on Washington to demand jobs for African Americans in the booming wartime economy. On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million black and white people more than twice as many as had been expected marched to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in a show of unity, racial harmony and support for the civil rights bill. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The landmark 1964 act banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in public facilities such as restaurants, theaters, or hotels. President John F. Kennedy had introduced the bill before his assassination. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed it into law on July 2, 1964. It achieved many of the aims of a Reconstruction-era law, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which was passed but soon overturned. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law with Alabama NAACP activist Rosa Parks by his side. Laying out the importance of the bill, Johnson said, "The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men." -
Bloody Sunday
The march was aimed at fighting the lack of voting rights for African Americans. Approximately 600 protesters were to travel from Selma on U.S. Highway 80 to the state capital on March 7, 1965. Police violence against protesters brought the march to a shocking end. Footage of the brutality broadcast across the nation sparked public outrage and boosted support for the civil rights movement. -
Lyndon Johnson's "We Shall Overcome" Speech
On March 15, 1965, just days after the "Bloody Sunday", President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress and the American people in a nationally televised speech. He announced the voting rights legislation he would be introducing. In his closing words, the president invoked a rallying cry of the civil rights movement. -
The Kerner Commission Report
As soon as the Kerner Commission Report was published, controversy emerged when a host of the social science researchers who worked on the study protested that the report had eliminated their major finding: the riots were actually protests against racial oppression. The Kerner Commission's recommendations for reform included suggestions for economic empowerment that came with a large increase in the federal budget. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed by a sniper while standing on the second-floor balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder set off riots in hundreds of cities across the country, and it also pushed Congress to pass the stalled Fair Housing Act in King’s honor on April 11. After that victory, some of King’s supporters carried on his activities, including staging the Poor People’s March in Washington, D.C., that spring. -
Fair Housing Act of 1968
The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, just days after King’s assassination. It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era. -
Civil Rights Restoration Act
Overriding President Reagan's veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds. -
Civil Rights Act of 2008
Senator Edward Kennedy introduces the Civil Rights Act of 2008. Some of the proposed provisions include ensuring that federal funds are not used to subsidize discrimination, holding employers accountable for age discrimination, and improving accountability for other violations of civil rights and workers' rights. -
Black Lives Matter
A Black Lives Matter movement emerges after George Zimmerman is acquitted of the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012.The "BlackLivesMatter" phrase is used as a hashtag on social media to express anger at the treatment of African-Americans by the justice system. In 2014, Alicia Garza,Patrisse Cullors,and Opal Tometi, formed Black Lives Matter into a civil rights organization with a focus on police brutality and racism.It has since become a global social movement with a wider focus on human rights.