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Brown vs. Board of Education
Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Emmit tills murder
Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African American youth who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. -
Montgomery bus boycott
The boycott began on December 5, 1955, the day after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. The boycott was a major event in the civil rights movement, demonstrating the power of nonviolent protest to challenge segregation -
little rock nine
On September 4, 1957, nine Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, arrived at Central High School to begin classes but were instead met by the Arkansas National Guard (on order of Governor Orval Faubus) and a screaming, threatening mob. The Little Rock Nine tried again a couple of weeks later and made it inside, but had to be removed for their safety when violence ensued. -
civil acts rights of 1957
This legislation established a Commission on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights violations and also established a Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 authorized the prosecution for those who violated the right to vote for United States citizens. -
freedom riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.[3] The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. -
Birmingham campaign
Led by Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Fred Shuttlesworth and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. -
March in washington
the March on Washington was held in Washington, D.C on August 28, 1963 The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, final speaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism and racial segregation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964—legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination—into law on July 2 of that year. King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated. -
Marten Luther king Jr assassination
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King's assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property damage -
gay rights of the 70s
What was the gay rights movement fighting for against in the 1970s?
In addition to a place to live, work, and play, this mobilization enabled gay and lesbian activists to gain a new prominence in City politics. Spurred on by widespread police harassment, gay rights proponents continually agitated for increased protection against discrimination to be incorporated into municipal law. -
1970s women's rights movements
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s[1] and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s.[2] It occurred throughout the Western world and aimed to increase women's equality by building on the feminist gains of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. -
occupation of Alcatraz
The Occupation of Alcatraz (November 20, 1969 – June 11, 1971) was a 19-month long occupation by 89 Native Americans and their supporters of Alcatraz Island and its prison complex, classified as abandoned surplus federal land.[1] The occupation was led by Richard Oakes, LaNada Means, and others, while John Trudell served as spokesman. The group lived on the island together until the occupation was forcibly ended by the U.S. government. -
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm
New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm is the first Black person to campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Chisholm’s bid is unsuccessful. Chisholm, who had been the first Black woman in Congress when she was elected to the House of Representatives in 1968, knows she cannot win the nomination, which eventually goes to George McGovern, but she is running to raise issues she feels are important. -
National Black Feminist Organization formation
The National Black Feminist Organization is formed by Florynce "Flo" Kennedy and Margaret Sloan-Hunter and supported by Eleanor Holmes Norton, then head and attorney of New York's Human Rights Commission. The group, which emerges from meetings these women held at the New York offices of NOW in May and August 1973, seeks to address problems of discrimination faced by Black women due to their race and gender.