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Armed forces integrated
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1948
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Pres. Truman issues executive order requiring integrated units in the armed forces
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision
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1954
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Supreme Court reverses Plessy by stating that separate schools are by nature unequal. Schools are ordered to desegregate "with all deliberate speed"
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Southern Manifesto urges resistance to desegregation efforts
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1956
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Over 100 southern members of Congress sign document attacking the Supreme Court decision. Only Lyndon Johnson, Estes Kefauver, and Albert Gore refuse to join protest
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Little Rock Central High School desegregated
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Fall 1957
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After Little Rock school board votes to integrate schools, National Guard troops prevent black children from attending school. 1000 federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace. Arkansas Gov. Faubus responds by closing schools for 1958-59 school year
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Montgomery bus boycott
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1955-1957
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Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Freedom riders oppose segregation
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1961
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Blacks and whites take buses to the South to protest bus station segregation. Many are greeted with riots and beatings
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James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi
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1962
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5000 federal troops are sent by Pres. Kennedy to allow Meredith to register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries
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Desegregation drive in Birmingham
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April 1963
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King and SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) oppose local laws that support segregation. Riots, fire-bombing, and police are used against protestors
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"Letter from Birmingham jail"
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April 16, 1963
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In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing disturbances, King issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance to wrongs of American society
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Gov. Wallace stops desegregation of the University of Alabama
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June 1963
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Standing in the schoolhouse door and promising segregation "today, tomorrow, and forever," Wallace is forced by Pres. Kennedy to allow blacks to enroll
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Medgar Evers murdered
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June 11, 1963
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Head of Mississippi NAACP is shot outside his home on the same night that Pres. Kennedy addresses the nation on race, asking "Are we to say to the world...that this is a land of the free except for Negroes"
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March on Washington
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August 28, 1963
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More than 200,000 blacks and whites gather before Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches (including King's "I Have a Dream") and protest racial injustice
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Bombing of Birmingham church
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September 1963
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4 black girls are killed by bomb planted in church
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24th Amendment passed
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January 1964
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Poll tax (which had been used to prevent blacks from voting) outlawed. Black voter registration increases and candidates begin to turn away from white supremacy views in attempt to attract black voters
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Civil Rights Act passed
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July 1964
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Overcoming Senate filibuster, Congress passes law forbidding racial discrimination in many areas of life, including hotels, voting, employment, and schools
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Mississippi Summer Freedom Project
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Summer 1964
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Civil rights workers seek to register blacks to vote. 3 are killed and many black homes and churches are burned. National outrage helps pass civil rights legislation
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Selma to Montgomery march
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March 1965
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King leads 54-mile march to support black voter registration. Despite attacks from police and interference from Gov. Wallace, marchers reach Montgomery. Pres. Johnson addresses nation in support of marchers
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Voting Rights Act approved
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August 6, 1965
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After passage, southern black voter registration grows by over 50% and black officials are elected to various positions. In Mississippi, black voter registration grew from 7% to 67%
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Watts Riots
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August 1965
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In first of more than 100 riots, Los Angeles black suburb erupts in riots, burning, looting, and 34 deaths
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Malcolm X assassinated
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February 1965
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Rejecting integration and nonviolence, Malcolm splits off from Elijah Muhammad's Black Muslims and is killed by black opponents
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Race riots in Detroit and Newark
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1967
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Worst riots in U.S. history results in 43 deaths in Detroit and federal troops being called out to restore order
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