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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
Landmark decisions establish a significant new legal principle or concept or otherwise that substantially changes the interpretation of existing law.
The Supreme Court's decision set a precedent that led to successful challenges of employment and housing discrimination, school segregation, and voting rights barriers against Mexican Americans. -
The Tuskegee Airmen
Credited with the training of over 900 airmen at the Tuskegee Institute, Anderson's flying squadron helped persuade President Harry Truman, in 1948, to end segregation in the U.S. military, thus opening America to a new social order. -
the integration of major league baseball
The interest in integration in the 1940s was sparked by several factors—the increasing economic and political influence of Black people in urban areas, the success of Black ballplayers in exhibition games with major leaguers, and especially the participation of African Americans in World War II -
The integration of the armed forces
it ended segregation and racial discrimination within the military, paving the way for a more inclusive and effective fighting force, while also advancing the broader civil rights movement -
The Supreme Court Decision of Sweatt v. Painter
The Sweatt v. Painter Supreme Court decision, which ruled that the University of Texas's racially separate law school was unequal, paved the way for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which declared "separate but equal" in public education unconstitutional. -
The supreme court decision of brown v. board of education
The Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine established in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case by ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
The Death of emmit till
The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, and the subsequent acquittal of his killers, served as a powerful catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, galvanizing activists and sparking widespread outrage over racial injustice and violence. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955 launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens. A Supreme Court ruling and declining revenues forced the city to desegregate its buses thirteen months later. Parks became an instant icon, but her resistance was a natural extension of a lifelong commitment to activism. -
The integration of little rock high school
In response to Faubus' action, a team of NAACP lawyers, including Thurgood Marshall, won a federal district court injunction to prevent the governor from blocking the students' entry. With the help of police escorts, the students successfully entered the school through a side entrance on 23 September 1957. showcasing the struggle for desegregation and the federal government's role in enforcing civil rights. -
The civil rights act of 1957
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
They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sit-in movement, in which 70,000 people participated. This sit-in was a contributing factor in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). -
The Freedom Rides by Freedom Riders of 1961
Their goal was to challenge state laws that enforced segregation in transportation and call upon the federal government to enforce the recent Supreme Court Boynton v. Virginia ruling prohibiting the segregation of interstate travel. -
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment
“By 1962, most states had discontinued poll taxes, but they remained in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia.” “The 24th Amendment ended such measures. Thus, ensuring every U.S. citizen had the right to vote in elections without financial barriers.”Oct -
The Integration of the University of the Misissippi
With his admission to the University of Mississippi in 1962, James Meredith became one of the heroic figures in the American Civil Rights Movement, succeeding against every legal, political and bureaucratic obstacle that blocked his path to becoming the university's first African-American student. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
The successful integration of The University of Alabama that began on June 11, 1963, opened doors not only to two Black students, but for decades of progress toward becoming an inclusive campus. -
The March on Washington & "I Have a Dream" speech by MLK
t marked a watershed moment in the Civil Rights movement and set the stage for the Civil Rights reforms that would be passed under LBJ. The speech was a beautiful painting of non-violence and civil obedience in order to gain not only justice, but credibility in a very tough world. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
For a brief moment, Kennedy's death produced a kind of national unity not seen since World War II, opening up political space for the new president, Lyndon Johnson, to push through watershed civil rights and voting rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson
He immediately carried out the civil rights agenda set by the slain president and created his own complementary plan for a "Great Society." Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protected voting rights, guaranteed access to public accommodations and allowed the withholding of federal funds from programs -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
His martyrdom, ideas, and speeches contributed to the development of Black nationalist ideology and the Black Power movement and helped to popularize the values of autonomy and independence among African Americans in the 1960s and '70s. -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
With the leadership of groups such as the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Selma Marches would become a watershed moment that led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -
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. in Memphis, Tennessee
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. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1968
Congress adopted the law to ensure that states followed the 15th Amendment's guarantee that the right to vote not be denied because of race. The law fundamentally opened political opportunities for Black and brown communities to participate in all aspects of the political system on an equal basis.