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Brown v Board of Education
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
Emmitt Till Murder
The brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi, and the acquittal of his killers, shocked the nation and galvanized the Civil Rights Movement by exposing the violence of racism. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest, Black residents of Montgomery, Alabama, boycotted city buses for over a year, leading to a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. -
Little Rock 9
Nine Black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, under federal troop protection, testing the enforcement of school desegregation. -
Lunch Counter sit-ins (Greensboro)
Four Black college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, sparking a wave of nonviolent protests across the South. -
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Freedom Bus Rides
Interracial activists known as Freedom Riders rode buses into the segregated South to challenge non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings against segregated interstate travel, facing violent resistance. -
Birmingham Protests
Activists in Birmingham, Alabama, led mass demonstrations against segregation, enduring police brutality that drew national attention and accelerated civil rights legislation. -
March on Washington
250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for a massive civil rights rally where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, demanding jobs and freedom. -
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Freedom (Mississippi) Summer
Hundreds of volunteers, many of them students, went to Mississippi to register Black voters and establish Freedom Schools, facing violence and intimidation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This landmark federal law outlawed segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Selma Marches
Civil rights activists marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand voting rights, facing brutal police violence on “Bloody Sunday” and helping prompt passage of the Voting Rights Act. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This federal law banned discriminatory voting practices like literacy tests, dramatically increasing Black voter registration in the South.