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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
upheld constitutionality of state sponsored racial segregation establishing the "Separate but equal" doctrine. -
The Tuskegee Airmen
The first African American military pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps. -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, becoming the first African American to play in the modern era. -
The March on Washington & "I Have a Dream" Speech by MLK
It is a massive civil rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., advocating for equality and an end to racial discrimination. -
The Integration of Armed Forces
a landmark achievement, was formalized by President Harry Truman's Executive Order 9981. Ended racial segregation and discrimination within the military. -
The Supreme Court Decision of Sweatt v. Painter
the University of Texas School of Law must admit Heman Sweatt, an African American applicant, because the state's separate law school for Black students was not equal to the University's law school, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
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. -
The Death of Emmitt Till
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store, an event that sparked the civil rights movement. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
began in 1955 after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
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
a law that established a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department and a Civil Rights Commission. -
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 Twenty-Fourth Amendment
It abolished poll taxes and other taxes as a requirement for voting in federal elections. -
The Integration of the University of Mississippi
In 1962 involved a federal court order for James Meredith, an African-American man, to enroll. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
In 1963, 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 Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade, with Lee Harvey Oswald being identified as the shooter by the Warren Commission, although the assassination has spawned numerous conspiracy theories. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2, 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
The Greensboro Four Launch Counter Sit-In
The act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X, a prominent civil rights leader and advocate of Black nationalism, was assassinated on February 21, 1965, while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, and his death remains a complex and controversial event. -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
The civil rights marchers brutally attacked by law enforcement while attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
It determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee
Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1968
It prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex.