-
NAACP was founded
On February 12, 1909, a diverse group of social reformers including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Archibald Grimke, Mary Church Terrell, Henry Moskowitz, William English Walling, and Mary White Ovington founded the NAACP. The date was chosen to coincide with the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. -
Brown v. Board of Education
On May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional -
Rosa parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her courageous act of protest was considered the spark that ignited the Civil Rights movement. For decades, Martin Luther King Jr.'s fame overshadowed hers. -
Sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. -
CORE “freedom ride”
During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. -
Dr. King was thrown into Birmingham Jail
King and the Rev. Abernathy chose to lead a march in defiance of the injunction and were arrested on April 12, 1963. Dr. King spent eight days in jail before being released on bail, and during that time wrote his famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail." -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, more than a quarter million people participated in the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, gathering near the Lincoln Memorial. More than 3,000 members of the press covered this historic march, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -
“Bloody Sunday”
"Bloody Sunday" is most commonly associated with the event that occurred on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers violently attacked civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, marking a significant moment in the fight for voting rights; the event essentially ended on the same day as the attack took place, though its impact on the Civil Rights movement continued afterwards.