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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
Signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, -
The Tuskegee Airmen
Across the entire continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains. No African American had ever been a United States military pilot -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era.Once Robinson was allowed to demonstrate his ability in the big leagues, the doors appeared open to everyone. It was a message that only baseball – with its power to cut across cultures – could deliver. On Sept. 1, 1971, the Pirates became the first AL or NL team to field an all-black, or all-minority lineup. -
The Integration of the Armed Force
Truman authorized the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services,President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services -
The Supreme Court Decision of Sweatt v. Painter
signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
The Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education occurred after a hard-fought, multi-year campaign to persuade all nine justices to overturn the “separate but equal” doctrine that their predecessors had endorsed in the Court's infamous 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. -
The Death of Emmitt Till
His death happened in Mississippi. The sight of his brutalized body pushed many who had been content to stay on the sidelines directly into the fight. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks, in Montgomery, Alabama.
she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955 launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
The Little Nine Students, in Little Rock,Arkansas. When Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep the nine students from entering the school, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to insure the safety of the "Little Rock Nine" and that the rulings of the Supreme Court were upheld. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Eisenhower.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
The Greensboro Four, in Greensboro, North Carolina.The four people were African American, and they sat where African Americans weren't allowed to sit. They did this to take a stand against segregation. -
The Freedom Rides by Freedom Riders 1961
From Northern Cities to Southern Cities from May 4-Dec 10,1941.Through their defiance, the Freedom Riders attracted the attention of the Kennedy Administration and as a direct result of their work, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) issued regulations banning segregation in interstate travel that fall. -
The Twenty-Fourth Amendement
President Johnson.Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 24 – “Elimination of Poll Taxes” Amendment Twenty-four to the Constitution was ratified on January 23, 1964. It abolished and forbids the federal and state governments from imposing taxes on voters during federal elections. -
The Integration of the University of Mississippi
James Meredith.With his admission to the University of Mississippi in 1962, James 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
Vivian Malone & James A. Hood. That day changed Alabama and the nation when Malone and Hood walked through the doors of Foster Auditorium to enroll as students at The University of Alabama — marking the beginning of school desegregation in the state and moving forward a comprehensive federal civil rights act. -
The March on Washington & "I Have a Dream" Speech by MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. and 250,000 Americans. Widely considered turning points in the Civil Rights Movement, shifting the demand and demonstrations for racial equality that had mostly occurred in the South to a national stage. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
Lee Harvey Oswald, in Dallas, Texas.Fifty years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the nation seems to be experiencing a kind of fairy tale about itself, alternately bright and dark. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson
President Johnson.Despite Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law just a few hours after it was passed by Congress on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
Thomas Hagan, in New York City.After Malcolm X's assassination in 1965, his bestselling book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, popularized his ideas and inspired the Black Power movement. -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
Martin Luther King Jr. and 600 Civil Rights Marchers, in Selma, Alabama.They were protesting continued violence and civil rights discrimination — and to bring attention to the need for Federal voting rights legislation that would ensure African-Americans couldn't be denied the right to vote in any state. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
President Johnson.It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee
James Earl Ray, in Memphis,Tennessee.King's death energized the Black Power Movement. Black Americans felt even more distrustful of white institutions and America's political system. Membership in the Black Panther Party and other Black Power groups surged. Local organizations grew into national networks. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson.prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status.