The Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks Refuses to Give up Her Seat

Dec 1, 1955

<a href='http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715#synopsis' >
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which lasts for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference is Established

Feb 28, 1957

<a href='http://sclcnational.org/our-history/ ' >
Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made president. It becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence.

Sit-in at a Segregated Lunch Counter

Feb 1, 1960

<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in' >
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.

"I Have a Dream"

Aug 28, 1963

<a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ZgSK9yIbk' >
Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, around 200, 000 people listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Civil Rights Act

Jun 2, 1964

<a href='http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm' >
Signed by president Johnson, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

The Selma March

Mar 7, 1965

<a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-tfj6lp6w' >
Many black people begin a march from Selma in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them.

Voting Rights Act

Aug 10, 1965

<a href='http://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/vra/?referrer=https://www.google.bg/' >
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act, making it easier for Southern blacks to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict voting are made illegal.

Interracial marriage allowed

Jun 12, 1967

<a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlnS0Ng5H4' >
In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states are forced to revise their laws.

Civil Rights Restoration Act

Mar 22, 1988

<a href='http://lawhigheredu.com/31-civil-rights-restoration-act-of-1987.html ' >
Overriding President Reagan's veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.

Civil Rights Act Signed by Bush

Feb 16, 2016

<a href='http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/1990s/civilrights.html' >
After two years of debates, vetoes, and threatened vetoes, President Bush reverses himself and signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991, strengthening existing civil rights laws and providing for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.