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The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement is a mass popular movement to secure rights for African-Americans. -
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American Civil War
The American Civil War is a war that lasted from 1861 to 1865 fought between the northern and southern states of the United States of America. The southern states wanted to keep slaves while the northern states wanted to abolish slavery, and so the country split into two and fell into war. After four years of fighting the north prevailed and slavery was abolished, with the price of thousands of lives. The states unified once again and worked to keep peace. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation made by Abraham Lincoln on January first, 1863 in light of the events of the American Civil War. This proclamation was meant as a war strategy directed towards the areas of rebellion and the executive branch of the United States of America. While this proclamation did not outlaw slavery it declared the presidents intent to eradicate slavery and unite the union. -
Fifteenth Amendment Ratified
The fifteenth amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, gave African American men the right to vote. While this freedom was not fully recognized until the Voting Rights act of 1975, it was still there, just disfranchised by the southern states use of poll taxes and literacy tests to keep African Americans from voting. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875 signed
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was a United States federal law that gave African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations and transportation. Also known as the Enforcement or Force Act, it prohibited African Americans exclusion from jury service. -
Ida B. Wells Publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its phases
Ida B. Wells was a black journalist intent on seeing a change in the world. She actively spoke out against lynching and segregation, even when threatened with her life. A black women in a time dominated by white men, she, while not well known, is a significant women figure in the civil rights movement. In 1892 Wells published Southern Horrors after one of her close friends died at the hands of a lynch mob, using the title to mock "southern honor", a commonly used justification for lynching. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson Case
Plessy vs Ferguson OverviewPlessy vs Ferguson ImpactPlessy vs. Ferguson was a Supreme Court case in which Homer Plessy, a fair skinned African-American man, refused to sit in the black car. Arrested for his violation the Supreme Court found him guilty on the grounds of "separate but equal" facilities. This case allowed for "separate but equal" , also known as segregation to become law in the United States. Following this case Jim Crow laws ran rampant across the US, and racism spread like wildfire. -
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The First Great Migration
The First Great Migration was the relocation of over one million African-Americans from the South to the North, West, and Midwest from 1910 to 1930. This migration took place due to impoverished conditions in the South due to the segregated Jim Crow laws, and caused blacks to come together and build an urban culture that would have an enormous impact in the decades to come. -
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The Great Depression
The Great DepressionThe Great Depression, lasting from 1929 to 1940 was a severe worldwide economic depression preceding World War II. The Great Depression began in 1929 on black Tuesday, when the stock market crashed, and ended in 1940, when World War II kicked American industry into high gear. -
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The Second Great Migration
The Second Great Migration took place during World War II, from 1940 to 1970, and involved the migration of over five million African-Americans from the South to the North, Midwest, and West. This migration was due to Jim Crow and segregation laws in the South, and impoverished conditions there. This migration was much larger than the First Great Migration in 1910. -
To Kill a Mockingbird Published
To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a story set a small town that displays a time during the Great Depression where racism was ever present. Harper Lee shows segregation throughout her book, giving examples throughout her story as to how blacks were treated unfairly, unjustly, cruelly. This book not only gives us a glimpse into life of the past, but also opened up the eyes of many to what was going on around them. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. One of the most sweeping civil rights legislations since the reconstruction, this act prohibited discrimination in public places, provided the integration of public schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits discrimination in voting. This document bans any sort of racial segregation in response to the Southern States, who had been finding ways to cheat African-Americans from their vote for years. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is first celebrated
Martin Luther King Junior Day celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Junior, a prominent black civil rights activist. King protested against segregation and discrimination his entire life, but never used violence to achieve his goals. Martin Luther King Junior Day is still celebrated today on the third Monday of January, around the time of King's birthday, January 15th. -
Civi Rights Restoraction Act of 1988
The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 is an United States law that clarifies that entities receiving federal funds must follow civil rights laws in all areas of the entity. In other words it addresses the applicability of federal non-discrimination laws to companies, corporations, and institutions. -
Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th President of the United States
Barack Obama sworn in for second termBarack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Now serving his second term, Obama is the first African-American President, a huge leap past segregation.
