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Zora Neale Hurston Context

  • The Fifteenth Amendment

    Grants black men the right to vote.
  • Jim Crow Laws

    Declared unconstitutional by the supreme court.
  • The National Association of Colored Women is formed.

    "To furnish evidence of the moral, mental and material progress made by people of color through the efforts of our women."
  • Plessy vs. Ferguson

    Established "sparate but equal"
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created

  • World War I

    Ended 1918
  • East St. Louis - Race Riots

    40 African Americans, and 8 whites were killed. Tied the African Americans working during wartime.
  • Harlem Renaissance

    Began in about 1917, and lasted until about 1935 (the mid-1900s). It was a cultural, social, and artistic movement. And explosion of creativity.
  • The Nineteenth Amendment

    Grants women the right to vote.
  • The Great Depression

    Lasted ten years. It was a difficult time for everyone, but especially African Americans.
  • National Council of Negro Women is established

    A group of black women who's aim is to fight against discrimination, racism, and sexism.
  • World War II

    Ended in 1945
  • Truman signs Executive Order 9981

    "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
  • Brown vs. Board of Education

    Segregation in schools is declared unconstitutional. Zora was actually against desegregation, and believed that separate could really be equal. She grew up in an all black community, and felt that by integrating white and black students, African Americans would lose their traditions.
  • Emmett Till is murdered

    He is accused of whistling at a white women. Two white men murder him, and dump him in the Tallahatchie River. The men are aquited by an all white jury.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycot

    Rosa Parks refuses to move from her seat. Her resistance sparks a year long boycott of the Montgomery bus system.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits major forms of discrimination of any kind.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. is Assassinated

    Memphis, Tennessee