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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
the Court upheld the constitutionality of state-sponsored racial segregation, establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine, which legitimized Jim Crow laws for decades. -
The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators, trained at Tuskegee in Alabama, who served with distinction in World War II, earning numerous awards and paving the way for desegregation in the military. -
The integration of Major League Baseball
The integration of Major League Baseball (MLB), a landmark event in American history, began on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, becoming the first African American to play in the modern era. -
The Integration of the Armed Forces
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, creating the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the U.S. military. -
The Supreme Court Decision of Sweatt v. Painter
The Supreme Court ruled that in states where public graduate and professional schools existed for white students but not for black students, black students must be admitted to the all-white institutions, and that the equal protection clause required Sweatt's admission to the University of Texas School of Law -
The Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education
the Court unanimously ruled that state-sponsored segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. This decision was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement and paved the way for desegregation in other public facilities. -
The Death of Emmitt Till
Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old Black teenager from Chicago, was visiting family in a small town in Mississippi during the summer of 1955. Till was lynched for allegedely whistling at a white woman. His brutally beaten body was found floating in the Tallahatchie River. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott, sparked by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a bus, was a 381-day protest against segregation on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, that led to the Supreme Court declaring such segregation unconstitutional. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
Description: The desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, gained national attention on September 3, 1957, when Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African American students from integrating the high school. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. -
The Greensboro Four Lunch Counter Sit-in
Greensboro sit-in, act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, that began on February 1, 1960. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. -
The Freedom Rides by Freedom Riders of 1961
a series of bus trips through the segregated South, challenged the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court's ruling against segregation in interstate travel, leading to violence and ultimately forcing federal intervention to desegregate public transportation. -
The Integration of the Unisversity of Mississppi
a federal appeals court ordered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, an African-American student. Upon his arrival, a mob of more than 2,000 white people rioted; two people were killed. -
The integration of the University of Alabama
a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, saw Governor George Wallace famously stand in the schoolhouse door to block the enrollment of Vivian Malone and James Hood, but ultimately yielded to federal authority after President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard. -
The March on Washington & "I have a dream" Speech by MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a massive civil rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., advocating for equality and an end to racial discrimination. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
JFK was in Dallas on November 22, 1963, for a two-day, five-city tour of Texas, part of a larger effort to heal political divisions within the Democratic Party and to gain support for his 1964 reelection campaign. -
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment
prohibits the denial or abridgment of the right to vote in federal elections due to failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson
prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
Civil rights leaders and activists, including SNCC chairman John Lewis and SCLC's Hosea Williams, led a march from Selma to the state capital, Montgomery, to protest the denial of voting rights and the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was killed by police in Marion, Alabama, during a protest. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act is a landmark federal law enacted in 1965 to remove race-based restrictions on voting. It is perhaps the country's most important voting rights law, with a history that dates to the Civil War. -
the assassination of Martin Luther king Jr Memphis tennessee
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, was a pivotal event that shocked the nation and the world, marking a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and leading to widespread unrest and a period of national mourning. -
the Voting Right acts of 1968
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited racial discrimination in voting. The Act was later expanded to help protect the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country (mainly the South).