Civil Rights Timeline- African Americans

  • The 13th Amendment

    The 13th Amendment
    The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed establishing slavery in the United States.
  • The 14th Amendment

    The 14th Amendment
    The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed, guaranteeing due process and equal protection rights to the citizens.
  • The 15th Amendment

    The 15th Amendment
    The 15th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution is passed, guaranteeing the right to vote for all U.S. citizens.
  • Plessy V. Fergerson

    Plessy V. Fergerson
    The Supreme Court "separate but equal" decision in Plessy V.Ferguson approved laws requiring racial segregation, as long as those laws did not allow for separate accommodations and facilities for blacks that were inferior to those for whites.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education
    Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
  • Murder of Emmett Till

    Murder of Emmett Till
    While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, the 14- year old African American from Chicago was murdered for allegedly flirting with a white women 4 days earlier.
  • The Montgomery Bus Boycott

    The Montgomery Bus Boycott
    Rosa Parks took a seat in the front row of the "colored" section of the Montgomery bus. As the bus filled up, the driver ordered Parks and three other African American passengers to empty the row they were occupying so that a white man could sit down without having to sit next to any African Americans. New of Parks arrest spread rapidly. Martin Luther King Jr. was elected to lead the bus boycott.
  • I Have A Dream Speech

    I Have A Dream Speech
    "I Have A Dream" is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. during the march on Washington for jobs and freedom, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights.
  • The Voting Rights Act

    The Voting Rights Act
    Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
  • Death of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Death of Martin Luther King Jr.
    Martin Luther King Jr., American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.