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Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, was a nonviolent civil rights organization that was founded in 1942 by James Farmer and Bayard Rustin. It committed to the "Double V" campaign, which was the victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. It ended up becoming a major force in the civil rights movement after World War II. -
Jackie Robinson Enters Major League Baseball
Jackie Robinson entered the major leagues as the first black baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Before this, baseball was a completely segregated sport. After this, other blacks started to follow in his footsteps, and this caused baseball to start integrating both races into teams.
Not only that, but because of him doing this, over all baseball major league teams, his number (42) is retired and isn't allowed to be in use in honor of him. -
Executive Order #9981
President Harry S. Truman ordered the desegregation of the armed forces. This establishes equality of treatment and opportunity in Armed Services for people of all races, religions, or national origins. -
Malcolm X Joins the Nation of Islam
Malcolm X joins the Nation of Islam, which was a religious group (also known as Black Muslims) which was founded by Elijah Muhammad, to promote black separatism and nationalism and the Islamic religion. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Linda Brown was denied admittance to an all-white school close to her house by the Board of Education of Topeka (, Kansas). This court case overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declaring that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools to be desegregated. -
Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Seat
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white male in Montgomery, Alabama, and this ended up getting her arrested for Jim Crow rules on a bus. Her arrest triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott and further advancement into the national civil rights movement. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott resulted from Rosa Parks being arrested after refusing to give up her seat. In response, Martin Luther King, Jr. gathered a city-wide protest, and the boycott consisted of them walking, carpooling, riding taxis, or some other method of transportation instead of taking the bus. This ended up hurting the bus companies and lasted for a little of a year. It ended when the Supreme Court declared segregated public transportation unconstitutional. -
SCLC Founded
SCLC, or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was founded by Martin Luther King, Jr.. It was a group of ministers all across the South who promoted nonviolent protests and protested predominately via boycotts. -
Little Rock Nine
The Governor of Arkansas (Orval Faubus) prevented "Little Rock Nine" (nine black students) from entering and enrolling in Central High School by mobilizing the National Guard. President Eisenhower sent national military troops to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision and help escort the students to ensure that they could attend class. Therefore, Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend an all-white school. -
Ruby Bridges Desegregates Louisiana School
Ruby Bridges was the first African-American girl to go to an all-white public elementary school, and she had to have a police escort to and from school integration. Therefore, she desegregated that Louisiana school. -
SNCC Formed
SNCC, or the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was founded by Ella Baker. It was a group of college students who promoted nonviolent protests and protested predominately via freedom rides and sit-ins. It ended up bringing young, educated African Americans into the civil rights movement. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested when he took part in a nonviolent march against segregation. He wrote this letter to explain the civil rights movement to critics, to promote the doctrine of civil disobedience, which is a method of protests that urges blacks to ignore all laws that they believe are unjust, and to respond to criticism that racism should be fought in the courts not in the streets. This letter was published and circulated around the nation. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a massive civil rights rally in support of Kennedy-backed legislation to secure legal protections for American blacks, aka Civil Rights Bill in Congress. This is where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Lyndon B. Johnson. It ended discrimination of African Americans and women in the government job sector, voting requirements, and racial segregation in public schools. -
Malcolm X Assassinated
At first, he advocated for nationalism, self-defense, and racial separation, but he began publicly accepting the idea of cooperation between blacks and whites and ended up leaving the Nation of Islam. He was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam. -
Selma to Montgomery March
Martin Luther King, Jr. organized this nonviolent march for voting discrimination. The demonstrators were brutally attacked by the local police, and the violence received detailed television coverage. The Southern police brutality of peaceful demonstrators in Selma and Birmingham outraged many Americans, and therefore, the national outrage aided President Johnson in his decision to propose and win the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson after the Selma to Montgomery March. It expanded the 15th Amendment by prohibiting policies that kept blacks from voting. -
Watts Riot
The Watts Riot was a riot in the suburbs in Los Angeles that was influenced by the Black Panthers that happened after Black anger over police brutality during a routine traffic stop. President Lyndon B. Johnson had to order in National Guard troops to restore peace and order. The riot demonstrated to the nation that the African American grievances over racism were not confined to the South. -
Black Panthers Formed
The Black Panther Party was a group of black supremacists led by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, whom were militant, self-styled revolutionaries for Black Power. They resorted to extreme measures. Due to their extremism and willingness to violence, the government cracked down on them in 1968 and 1969, ending them. -
Kerner Commission
The Kerner Commission was created by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the riots and probable solutions to resolve that violence. It ends up blaming the riots on an "explosive mixture" of poverty, slum housing, poor education, and police brutality caused by "white racism" and advised federal spending to create new jobs for urban blacks, construct additional public housing, and end school segregation. -
MLK Assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated outside a Memphis hotel by James Earl Ray, whom was white man who resented the increasing black influence in society. King's murder set off a new round of riots across the country, while Both blacks and whites mourned the tragic death of a charismatic leader. But, despite his death, his message lives on today.
