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Emancipation Proclaimation
This was a proclamation that declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
14th Amendment
The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson became the first negro professional baseball player, integrating the sport forever. -
Jim Crow Laws
In the Southern States there were laws that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy who was accused of flirting with a white women & was brutally murdered for it by the woman's husband & half brother. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was a colored woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. She was arrested & this sparked the many boycotts against bus segregation. -
James Meredith
Meredith is known as the first African American to be enrolled at the University of Mississippi. -
"I Have a Dream" March
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech during the march on Washington for Jobs & Freedom. -
Alabama Church Bombing
Four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps of the church killing 4 young African American girls. -
Civil Rights Act
These were landmark civil rights that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Malcolm X Assassination
Former Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. -
Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act aiming to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. -
Black Panther Party
The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government. They formed the group because they believe Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent way of going about things had failed. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee early April 1968. Or did he survive the shooting, & was smothered in the hospital room? The world may never know.
