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Indian Removal Act
Singed into law by Democratic Presiden Andrew Jackson, the act allowed the federal government to remove Natives from their own land and place them on reservations west of the Mississippi River. The act led to the "Trail of Tears." -
House of Representatives Passes the "Gag Rule"
The House of Representative institutes a “gag rule” to prevent the abolition of slavery from being discussed; John Quincy Adams was one of the strongest opponents to the gag rule. -
World Anti-Slavery Convention Meets
American delegates include William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Stanton and Mott met at this convention. They, along with other female delegates, were forced to wait in a seperate area and were not allowed to participate in the convention proceedings. -
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is published
Fredrick Douglas publishes his autobiography and uses the money he earns to officially purchase his freedom. Douglas became the most prominent African American abolitionist in the 1800’s. -
Senecca Falls Convention
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton host a convention in Senecca Falls, New York. At the convention, they write "The Declaration of Sentiments" which declares "...all men and women are created equal..." In attendance was the noted ex-slave and abolitionist, Fredrick Douglas. Further solidifying the link between abolitionists and women's equality. -
Republican Party holds first Convention
The nascent party is a amalgamation of smaller parties into a larger party. All of the parties that came together to form the Republican Party opposed slavery. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Also known as the "Dredd Scott decision." The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens. The decision also invalidated a portion of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which made it very difficult for Congress to pass any legislation to alleviate tension between the slave and free states. The decsion essentially said that the entire U.S. now had to allow at least the presence slavery in every state. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected first Republican President
Before Lincoln is inaugurated, South Carolina will become the first southern state to secede. After his inauguation, Fort Sumter is attacked and the Civil War officially begins. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Only freed the slaves in states that were controlled by the Confederate government at that time. The four slave states who did not rebel during the Civil War (Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and Missouri) were not affected by the Emancipation Proclamation. Additionally, Tenessee and what would become West Virginia were under the control of the United States government so the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to it even though it had seceeded. -
Lee Surrenders to Grant
Confederate General, Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General, Ulysses S. Grant at Appamatox Court House in Virgina. The Civil War is over and the country now begins the process of Reconstruction. -
13th Amendment Ratified
Since the Emancipation Proclamation was extremely limited and because it did not free all of the slaves, the status of slaves and freed slaves remained unclear at the end of the Civil War. Therefore, the Constitution was ratified to include the 13th Amendment which explicitly forbade slavery everywhere in the United States with no exceptions. -
14th Amendment Ratified
The 14th Amendment stated anyperson born in the United States was a citizen. The amendment overturned the Dredd Scott decision which said that African Americans were not citizens regardless of slave status. The amendment also included a phrase, "equal protection of the law..." which would become instrumental to the Civil Rightls Movement that began in the 1950's. -
15th Amendment Ratified
States cannot prevent former slaves from voting because of their race or former slave status -
Compromise of 1877
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President of the United States after promising to remove federal troops out of the south. The removal of federal troops from the south effectively ends Reconstruction. -
Civil Rights Cases
The Supreme Court strikes down a series of Civil Rights Acts that were passed during Reconstruction with the intention of creating full political equality for African Americans. -
Dawes Act
Also known as the General Allotment Act. It prohibited communal ownership of lands. It broke land into parcels that were distributed to families or individuals. The remaining Native land was sold to white investors. This was an effort to assimilate Native Americans into Anglo-American society -
Wounded Knee
Over 150 Natives were killed by federal troops at the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. -
Atlanta Compromise
Booker T. Washington urged African Americans to forgo civil rights issues such as voting and equality and to instead focus on economic issues like securing a job with a livable wage. Washington assured the city’s white leadership that if they would grant decent paying jobs to African Americans then African Americans would remain in a subordinate position to whites. -
Plessy v. Fergusson
Supreme Court rules that a policy of “separate but equal” does not violate the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment. With this decision in place, many southern states passed laws that call for segregation. These laws would become known as “Jim Crow” laws. -
Curtis Act
Stated that the United States government would no longer recognized the authority of tribal governments created by Native Americans. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Founded
W.E.B Dubois and Ida Wells Barnett are among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP actively works to secure rights for African Americans - in opposition to Washington - and runs a magazine called “Crisis” to bring issues to the public’s attention. -
19th Amendment Ratified
States cannot prevent someone from voting on account of sex, -
League of United Latin American Citizens Formed
LULAC advocates for equal rights for its Mexican-American members. -
The Indian Reorganization Act
Also known as “The Indian New Deal;” it allowed for some restoration of tribal autonomy. -
Executive Order 9066
People of Japanese descent are forced into internment camps during World War II even though 2/3 of the people forced into the camps were American Citizens. -
Smith v. Allwright
Thurgood Marshall arguing for the NAACP was able to convince the Supreme Court that all white primary elections were unconstitutional. -
American G.I. Forum Founded
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, who was a renounced surgeon during World War II, co-found the AGIF as an organization for Hispanic veterans since they were being excluded from other veterans groups at the time. -
Mendez v. Westminster
A decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled California could not force children of Mexican descent to attend a separate school only on account of race. -
Executive Order 9981
President Truman integrates the military by Executive Order. Until this time, the military had been segregated. The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American pilots who flew some of the most dangerous missions during World War II. -
Delgado v. Bastrop ISD
Gustavo Garcia, a lawyer working for LULAC, convinces a federal court judge the Texas’ practice of segregating Mexican-American students was unconstitutional. -
Sweatt v. Painter
A Supreme Court case argued by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP. Marshall establishes the idea of intangible equality to argue that the University of Texas must allow Herman Sweatt into their law school in spite of the existence of a “separate but equal” law school that existed for African Americans in Texas. The Court agreed that even if the law schools were tangibly equal they were intangibly unequal. This established a precedent that would be used in Brown v. Board of Education. -
Hernandez v. Texas
The first Supreme Court case which dealt specifically with Mexican American rights. The Court ruled that the 14th Amendment applied to all racial and ethnic minorities. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court agreed with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP that separate schools were not equal. The decision effectively overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white patron in Montgomery, Alabama
When Parks was arrested, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began a bus boycott that would launch his career as a civil rights activist. In 1955, the Supreme Court would rule that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional in Browder v. Gayle -
Southern Manifesto
Officially called the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles,” it was created by the congressional bloc of Southern Democrats who wanted to publicly show their anger at the Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. co-founds the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The SCLC practiced encouraged civil disobedience through non-violent acts as way to bring civil rights issues to the public’s attention. -
- Arkansas Governor, Orval Faubus, refused to allow Little Rock School District to integrate
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Civil Rights Act of 1957
Passed by Congress in an effort to secure voting rights for African Americans in the south and to show Congressional support for the Brown decision. -
Ceasar Chavez co-founds the United Farm Workers Association
Chavez, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used non-violence to bring attention to the plight of migrant workers -
Feminine Mystique Published
Betty Friedan publishes “The Feminine Mystique” which prompted a new generation of women to undertake the cause of feminism. The central premise of the book was that there was a lot of unhappiness among middle class women. Friedan called this, “…the problem that has no name.” -
Dr. King writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Dr. King argues that African Americans - and all people - have a moral responsibility not to follow racist laws and that they should do so in a non-violent way. -
King delivers his “I Have a Dream Speech”
The speech was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial. Dr. King harkened back to the “Declaration of Independence” when he said “All men are created equal.” The speech challenged Americans to see past their prejudices so that they could achieve something that had been enshrined at the inception of the nation. -
Alabama Governor, George Wallace refuses to integrate public schools in Huntsville and Birmingham.
Wallace was a Democrat and a segregationist. Upon becoming Governor, during his inaugural address, he declared, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Signed into law by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson after the assissination of President John Kennedy. The law Forbade segregation in public on account of race. -
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed into law by Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson. The law forbade the use of poll taxes, literacy test and other forms of discrimination the south used to prevent African Americans from voting. It also forced the south to obtain preclearance from the Justice Department in order to change its voting practices. -
National Organization for Women Founded
NOW was founded to promote equal rights for women. Betty Freidan was one of its founders. -
Black Panther Party Founded
The party became known due to its use of armed patrols and had at times been militant towards police officers. However, it instituted a variety of social programs for the community which included free breakfast for children. -
Lester Maddox becomes Governor of Georgia after losing the popular vote.
Maddox was the Democratic and segregationist candidate who became Governor after the Democratically controlled legislature placed him there. When Dr. King was assassinated, Maddox refused to allow him to lay in state. -
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American Supreme Court Justice.
Marshall was appointed by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson -
American Indian Movement Founded
AIM was created as an advocacy group for Native Americans that focused on the numerous injustices Natives had suffered by the United States government. -
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first Female Supreme Court Justice
O’Connor was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan. -
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
Signed into law by Republican President Reagan, the law apologized for the internment of legal residents or American citizens of Japanese descent and allowed survivors to receive reparations. -
Edgewood v. Kirby
The Texas Supreme Court agreed with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund that the way Texas funded its public schools was unconstitutional according to the Texas Constitution. The Court ordered the legislature to devise a more equitable system of funding public schools. The solution reached by the legislature was the Robin Hood Plan. -
Barrack Obama becomes President of the United States
President Obama, a Democrat, becomes the first African American President of the United States. -
Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice
Appointed by Democratic President, Barrack Obama, Sotomayor becomes the first Hispanic (and Latina) Supreme Court Justice. -
President Obama is Inaugurated to a Second Term
President Obama is able to retain his office due to unprecedented number of minority participation. -
Shelby County v. Holder
The Supreme Court declares a portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to be Unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act put southern states and other jurisdictions into preclearance based off of formula created in 1965. The Court stated that preclearance was constitutional but the formula congress was using to determine which states were under preclearance was not. This essentially means that the preclearance provision currently does not apply to any state or jurisdiction.
