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Creation of the NAACP
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded on February 12, 1909, in New York City by an interracial group of activists in response to the 1908 Springfield race riot in Illinois. This organization was established to advocate for the civil and political rights of African Americans, inspired by the Niagara Movement. -
Scottsboro Boys
The "Scottsboro Boys" refers to nine African American teenagers who were falsely accused of rape in 1931 and subjected to a series of highly publicized and controversial legal battles. The case became a landmark example of racial injustice and highlighted the struggle for equal rights in the American legal system. The case also led to several Supreme Court rulings that addressed the right to counsel and the need for fair trials. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court ruled that state-sponsored segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball's modern era when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. -
The Murder of Emmitt Till
In August 1955, two Mississippians bludgeoned and killed Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, for whistling at a white woman; their acquittal and boasting of the atrocity spurred the civil rights cause. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil rights protest where African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses to protest segregated seating -
The Little Rock 9
nine African American teenagers who enrolled at Little Rock Central High School in 1957, becoming the first to desegregate the school. -
Ruby Bridges desegregate elementary school in New Orleans
She was the first African American child to attend formerly whites-only William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. She is the subject of a 1964 painting, The Problem We All Live With, by Norman Rockwell. -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
The "Letter from Birmingham Jail", also known as the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and "The Negro Is Your Brother", is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the United States. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary, Muslim minister, and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. -
Creation of the Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who met at Merritt College in Oakland. It was a revolutionary organization with an ideology of Black nationalism, socialism, and armed self-defense, particularly against police brutality -
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. -
Thurgood Marshall Named Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall was named to the U.S. Supreme Court on June 13, 1967, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 30, 1967, and became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. He served on the court for 24 years, retiring in 1991. -
Election of Barack Obama
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.