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The Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. -
The men who killed Emmett Till were found not guilty even though everyone knew they did it. The all white jury let them walk free. The trial showed how unfair the justice system was for Black people. -
Emmett Till was a Black teenager who was killed in Mississippi for supposedly whistling at a white woman. His death shocked people around the country. It made more people support the civil-rights movement. -
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. She was arrested, and the Black community started a bus boycott. This helped start MLK’s leadership in the movement. -
"Today I am pleased to sign into law…the 'Civil Rights Act of 1991.' This historic legislation strengthens the barriers and sanctions against employment discrimination,"This was the first civil-rights law since Reconstruction. It created a federal commission to look into voting rights discrimination. It wasn’t perfect but it was progress. -
Students in Nashville also protested by sitting at segregated lunch counters. They were arrested and attacked, and even faced a bombing. Their efforts worked and some stores desegregated.
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Students created the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee after the sit-ins. They wanted young people to have more power in the movement. SNCC led major protests and voter registration drives.
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Four college students sat at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. They stayed until they were served. Their protest helped start sit-ins around the South.
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James Meredith became the first Black student to attend the University of Mississippi. The governor tried to stop him and riots broke out. Federal troops had to escort him for safety. -
Civil rights leaders organized a huge march for jobs and freedom in Washington, D.C. Thousands helped plan it. This is where MLK later gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
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Kenneth Gibson (1932–2019) was elected the first Black mayor of Newark, New Jersey, beating the two-term White mayor and becoming the first Black mayor of a major Northeastern U.S. city.
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President Richard Nixon signs an extension of the Voting Rights Act.
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New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm was the first Black person to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Her campaign was not successful. She was also the first Black woman to win delegates for a major party's presidential nomination.
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Jesse Jackson leads in delegates and votes after winning Michigan caucuses but loses the nomination to Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1991, signed by President George H. W. Bush after vetoing a stronger version, aimed to make it easier for plaintiffs to prove employment discrimination and to protect those facing intentional discrimination.
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Barack Obama is elected as the President of the US, the first African-American President. His main policy achievements included health care reform, economic stimulus, banking reform, consumer protections, and repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," allowing gay Americans to serve openly. -
Proposition 209 in California changed the constitution to ban affirmative action. It states that the government cannot discriminate against or give special treatment to anyone based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in jobs, education, or contracts.
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About 750,000 Black women organized their own event, the Million Woman March, in response to the Million Man March. It was held on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia and featured speakers such as Jada Pinkett Smith, Malcolm X's daughters, Atallah and Ilyasah Shabazz, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and others.
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Colin Powell is appointed the first Black secretary of state by George W. Bush, receiving unanimous confirmation and eventually serving four years in the position.
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Condoleezza Rice takes office as the first Black woman secretary of state, also serving under George W. Bush for four years