TeachMLK

Welcome to the timeline of Post-Civil War civil rights history.
(1868 ~ 1992)

Travel through time by dragging the timeline or use your mouse wheel to scroll.
1868
- 14th Amendment Passed
  Constitutional amendment forbids any state from depriving citizens of their rights and privileges and defines citizenship.
1896
- Plessy v. Ferguson decision
  Supreme Court rules that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. Gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws.
1901
- Booker T. Washington writes Up From Slavery
  Washington focuses on job training and suggest that self-respect and self-help would bring opportunities.
1905
- Niagara Movements
  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.
1915
- Grandfather clause outlawed by Supreme Court
  NAACP successfully challenges state laws that restricted black voting registration.
1919
- Race riots and lynchings claim hundreds of lives
  Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, and lynched in the South.
June 1941
- Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination in hiring
  FDR sets up Fair Employment Practices Commission to assure non-discrimination policies in federal hiring.
1942
- Japanese-Americans sent to concentration camps
  Concerned over potential disloyalty, FDR allows 110,000 to be rounded up in western states (though no in Hawaii).
1944
- Korematsu v. U.S.
  Supreme Court rules that concentration camps were a wartime necessity.
1947
- Jackie Robinson joins Brooklyn Dodgers
  Pasadena resident and UCLA alum Robinson breaks the color barrier by being the first black to play major league baseball in modern times.
1948
- Armed forces integrated
  President Truman issues executive order requiring integrated units in the armed forces.
1954
- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision
  Supreme Court reverses Plessy by stating that separate schools are by nature unequal. Schools are ordered to desegregate "with all deliberate speed."
1955
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
  Rosa Parks ignites 381-day bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King, Jr.
1956
- Southern Manifestor urges resistance to desegregation efforts
  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.
Fall 1957
- Little ROck Central High School desegregated
  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 the 1958-1959 school year.
1961
- Freedom riders oppose segregation
  Blacks and whites take buses to the South to protest bus station segregation. Many are greeted with riots and beatings.
1962
- James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi
  5000 federal troops are sent by President Kennedy to allow Meredith to register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
April 1963
- Desegregation drive in Birmingham
  King and Southern Christian Leadership Conference oppose local laws that support segregation. Riots, fire-bombing, and police are used against protestors.
April 16, 1963
- "Letter from Birmingham jail"
  In response to white ministers who urge him to stop causing disturbances, King issues articulate statement of nonviolent resistance to wrongs of American society.
June 1963
- Gov. Wallace stops desegregation of the University of Alabama
  Standing in the schoolhouse door and promising segregation "today, tomorrow, and forever," Wallace is forced by President Kennedy to allow blacks to enroll.
June 11, 1963
- Medgar Evers Murdered
  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 his is a land of the free except for Negroes.
August 28, 1963
- March on Washington
  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.
September 1963
- Bombing of Birmingham Church
  Four black girls and killed by bomb planted in church.
January 1964
- 24th Amendment Passed
  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 votes.
July 1964
- Civil Rights Act Passed
  Overcoming Senate filibuster, Congress passes law forbidding racial discrimination in many areas of life, including hotels, voting, employment, and schools.
Summer 1964
- Mississippi Summer Freedom Project
  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.
March 1965
- Selma to Montgomery March
  Despite attacks from police and interference from Gov. Wallace, marchers reach Montgomery. Pres. Johnson addresses nation in support of marchers
August 6, 1965
- Voting Rights Act Approved
  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 6% to 67%.
August 1965
- Watts Riots
  In first of more than 100 riots, Los Angeles black suburb erupts in riots, burning, looting, and 34 deaths.
February 1965
- Malcolm X Assassinated
  Rejecting integration and nonviolence, Malcolm splits off from Elijah Muhammad's Black Muslims and is killed by black opponents.
1967
- Race Riots in Detroit and Newark
  Worst riots in U.S. history results in 43 deaths in Detroit and and federal troops being called out to restore order.
April 4, 1968
- King Assassinated
  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.
1978
- Bakke v. Regents of University of California decision
  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.
May 1992
- Los Angeles RIots
  Following acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King, 600 buildings are torches and 50 people killed, and $1 billion in damage recorded.

To see the entire timeline, drag the contents of the window or use the mouse wheel to scroll!

POST-CIVIL WAR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMNET TIMELINE

Welcome to the timeline of Post-Civil War civil rights history.
(1868 ~ 1992)

1868

1896

1901

1905

1915

1919

June 1941

1942

1944

1947

1948

1954

1955

1956

Fall 1957

1961

1962

April 1963

April 16, 1963

June 1963

June 11, 1963

August 28, 1963

September 1963

January 1964

July 1964

Summer 1964

March 1965

August 6, 1965

August 1965

February 1965

1967

April 4, 1968

1978

May 1992

POST-CIVIL WAR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMNET TIMELINE

Welcome to the timeline of Post-Civil War civil rights history. (1868 ~ 1992)

1868

1896

1901

1905

1915

1919

June 1941

1942

1944

1947

1948

1954

1955

1956

Fall 1957

1961

1962

April 1963

April 16, 1963

June 1963

June 11, 1963

August 28, 1963

September 1963

January 1964

July 1964

Summer 1964

March 1965

August 6, 1965

August 1965

February 1965

1967

April 4, 1968

1978

May 1992

Welcome to the timeline of Post-Civil War civil rights history.
(1868 ~ 1992)