| Event
| Date
| Significance
|
| 14th Amendment passed
| 1868
| Constitutional amendment forbids any state from depriving citizens of
their rights and privileges and defines citizenship
|
| Plessy v. Ferguson decision
| 1896
| Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different
races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws
|
| Booker T. Washington writes Up From Slavery
| 1901
| Arguing that gradual progress is the best path for blacks, Washington
focuses on job training and suggests that self-respect and self-help
would bring opportunities
|
| Niagara Movements
| 1905
| W.E.B. DuBois demands immediate racial equality and opposes all laws
that treats blacks as different from others. Leads to creation of NAACP
in 1909
|
| Grandfather clause outlawed by Supreme Court
| 1915
| NAACP successfully challenges state laws that restricted black voting
registration
|
| Race riots and lynchings claim hundreds of lives
| 1919
| Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in
Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, are lynched in the South
|
| Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination in hiring
| June 1941
| FDR sets up Fair Employment Practices Commission to assure
non-discrimination policies in federal hiring
|
| Japanese-Americans sent to concentration camps
| 1942
| Concerned over potential disloyalty, FDR allows 110,000 to be rounded
up in western states (though not in Hawaii)
|
| Korematsu v. U.S.
| 1944
| Supreme Court rules that concentration camps were a wartime necessity
|
| Jackie Robinson joins Brooklyn Dodgers
| 1947
| Pasadena resident and UCLA alum Robinson breaks the color barrier by
being the first black to play major league baseball in modern times
|
| Armed forces integrated
| 1948
| Pres. Truman issues executive order requiring integrated units in the
armed forces
|
| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision
| 1954
| Supreme Court reverses Plessy by stating that separate schools are by
nature unequal. Schools are ordered to desegregate "with all
deliberate speed"
|
| Southern Manifesto urges resistance to desegregation efforts
| 1956
| 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
|
| Little Rock Central High School desegregated
| Fall 1957
| 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
|
| Montgomery bus boycott
| 1955-1957
| Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther
King, Jr.
|
| Freedom riders oppose segregation
| 1961
| Blacks and whites take buses to the South to protest bus station
segregation. Many are greeted with riots and beatings
|
| James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi
| 1962
| 5000 federal troops are sent by Pres. Kennedy to allow Meredith to
register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries
|
| Desegregation drive in Birmingham
| April 1963
| King and SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) oppose local
laws that support segregation. Riots, fire-bombing, and police are used
against protestors
|
| "Letter from Birmingham jail"
| April 16, 1963
| In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing
disturbances, King issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance
to wrongs of American society
|
| Gov. Wallace stops desegregation of the University of Alabama
| June 1963
| Standing in the schoolhouse door and promising segregation
"today, tomorrow, and forever," Wallace is forced by Pres.
Kennedy to allow blacks to enroll
|
| Medgar Evers murdered
| June 11, 1963
| 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"
|
| March on Washington
| August 28, 1963
| 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
|
| Bombing of Birmingham church
| September 1963
| 4 black girls are killed by bomb planted in church
|
| 24th Amendment passed
| January 1964
| 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
|
| Civil Rights Act passed
| July 1964
| Overcoming Senate filibuster, Congress passes law forbidding racial
discrimination in many areas of life, including hotels, voting,
employment, and schools
|
| Mississippi Summer Freedom Project
| Summer 1964
| 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
|
| Selma to Montgomery march
| March 1965
| 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
|
| Voting Rights Act approved
| August 6, 1965
| 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%
|
| Watts Riots
| August 1965
| In first of more than 100 riots, Los Angeles black suburb erupts in
riots, burning, looting, and 34 deaths
|
| Malcolm X assassinated
| February 1965
| Rejecting integration and nonviolence, Malcolm splits off from Elijah
Muhammad's Black Muslims and is killed by black opponents
|
| Race riots in Detroit and Newark
| 1967
| Worst riots in U.S. history results in 43 deaths in Detroit and
federal troops being called out to restore order
|
| King assassinated
| April 4. 1968
| While supporting sanitation workers' strike which had been marred by
violence in Memphis, King is shot by James Earl Ray. Riots result in 125
cities
|
| Bakke v. Regents of University of California decision
| 1978
| Supreme Court rules that fixed racial quotas are illegal after Allan
Bakke is denied admission to UC Davis medical school even though his
grades and scores were higher than most minority applicants admitted
|
| Los Angeles riots
| May 1992
| Following acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King, 600 buildings
are torched and 50 people killed, and $1 billion in damage recorded
|
|
|
