Name: Answer Key Date______Class period_____
Civil Rights Timeline
*While the peak of the Civil Rights movement began with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, KN decision and went through the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights movement encompasses the entire struggle of the African American race to gain equality and arguably is still going on today.
Use your textbook, internet, or other resources to complete the following Civil Rights timeline. These will be events directly related to African American history.
Date * Who/What More Details
Jan. 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in Confederate controlled areas
Jan. 31, 1865 (proposed) 13th amendment Made slavery illegal throughout the US
Dec. 18, 1865 (ratified)
1865 Freedman’s Bureau provide relief for all poor people—black
& white in the South
1866 (proposed) 14th amendment 1. All people born or naturalized in the US are
July 28, 1868 (ratified) Citizens.
2. Citizens guaranteed equal protection under the law
3. States could not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
4. Banned former Confederate officials from holding state or federal offices.
5. State laws are subject to review by federal courts.
6. Congress has power to pass any laws needed to enforce any part of amendment.
Proposed Feb. 1869/ 15th amendment gave African American men in US the
Ratified March 1870 right to vote
1875 Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed African Americans equal rights in
(later declared unconstitutional) public places like theaters & public
transportation
1881 Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T. Washington
to develop African American businesses
[economic power =social change]
late 1890s Ida B. Wells (-Barnett) A Red Record—3 yr. listing of lynchings of
blacks—named lynchers
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Declared that segregation was allowed if
(Supreme Court) “separate but equal” facilities were provided for
African Americans.
1909 National Association for the Civil Rights organization formed by W.E.B. DuBois Advancement of Colored People and others to fight discrimination and segregation
1914 UNIA—Universal Negro Founded by Marcus Garvey to promote
Improvement Association racial pride and unity & urged blacks to
become economically independent
1920s Harlem Renaissance An important period of African American
(after The Great Migration) artistic growth
Countee Cullen--poet
Zora Neal Hurston--author
Paul Robeson—singer/actor
December 1946 Committee on Civil Rights created by President Truman
Findings & recommendations: racial
discrimination throughout nation; should have
new laws to protect all voters, desegregation
of armed forces, permanent Fair Employment
Practices Commission
Truman’s 1948 actions: ended segregation in
Military; banned racial discrimination in
Hiring of federal employees
1950 Sweatt v. Painter (state) law schools must admit black
applicants who qualify even if a black
law school exists
May 17, 1954 Brown v. Board of Education major landmark Supreme Court case in which
Topeaka, KN racial segregation was unconstitutional
December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks and Parks refused to give up her seat to a
Montgomery Bus Boycott white passenger and was arrested.
Black leaders organized a boycott of the
Montgomery Bus System
1957 “The Little Rock Nine” at 9 black students selected to integrate
Central High School Central HS; Gov. Orval Faubus used
Little Rock, Arkansas National Guard to prevent students from
starting school; Pres. Eisenhower sent in
federal troops to force desegregation;
Ernest Green=1st Af. Am. to graduate from
Central HS; Little Rock schools closed the
next year rather than integrate
1957 SCLC—Southern Christian Founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. and 60 other
Leadership Conference ministers to coordinate non-violent protests
Feb. 1, 1960 Sit-Ins 4 black NC A&T students sit down at an all
(Greensboro, NC) whites lunch counter and were refused service;
returned the next day with even more African
American students; this triggers many other
similar non-violent protests in the South
April 1960 SNCC—Student Nonviolent formed in Raleigh, NC to organize peaceful Civil
Coordinating Committee Rights demonstrations; Stokely Carmichael leads
this group into a more radical organization
May 4, 1961 CORE—Congress of Racial began a series of Freedom Rides to protest
Equality segregation on buses and in southern bus
stations
1962 James Meredith won federal court case that allowed him to
(enroll) attend the all white University of
Mississippi (Ole Miss); caused riots; he
did graduate
April 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.’s King is jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for
Letter from Birmingham Jail participation in a series of protest marches
*May 1963 protests continued and Police Commissioner
Eugene “Bull” Connor used attack dogs and
fire hoses on protestors including children
seen on national TV, this outraged many and
raised awareness of the struggle for Civil Rights
June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers NAACP field secretary murdered outside of his
home in Jackson, Mississippi; Byron De La
Beckwith is tried twice for murder, both trials
Ending in hung juries—he is finally convicted in
1994
August 28, 1963 March on Washington 250,000 people on the Mall in front of Lincoln
Memorial for Civil Rights; MLK gave his now
Famous “I Have a Dream” speech
Sept. 15, 1963 4 little girls killed at Sixteenth bomb explodes at African American, known as a
Street Baptist Church popular Civil Rights meeting place, killing the
Birmingham, Alabama girls while they were attending Sunday school
July 2, 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned segregation in public places such as
Restaurants and transportation facilities; also
Prohibited discrimination by employers,
unions,or universities with federal
contracts/money
Summer 1964 Freedom Summer white college students traveled to Mississippi to
help African Americans register to vote
Aug. 5, 1964 Missing Civil Rights workers names: James Chaney(Af. Am.); 2 whites--
Found murdered Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
Situation: the 3 went to Mississippi to register
African Americans to vote
Feb. 21, 1965 Assassination of Malcolm X He had been a leader of the Nation of Islam,
which favored black separatism—social and
economic independence; in the beginning did not
discourage violence—“by any means necessary”
left Nation of Islam and was reconsidering his
ideas of integration when he was shot by three
members of the Nation of Islam in New York City
March 7, 1965 March from Selma to voter registration march organized by MLK
Montgomery, Alabama
Aug. 10, 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave federal government the power to inspect
voter registration procedures and protect all
citizens’ voting rights (final ban on literacy
tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc.)
Watts Riots riots in a neighborhood of Los Angeles
caused by anger over racism; lead to riots
in other parts of the country
April 4, 1968 Assassination of Dr. Martin James Earl Ray was convicted for shooting
Luther King, Jr. in Memphis Dr. King on the balcony of a Memphis hotel.
Tennessee His death caused riots in more than 100 US cities
April 11, 1968 Civil Rights Act of 1968 Prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and
financing of housing
April 20, 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg upholds busing as a legitimate means of
Board of Education achieving integration of public schools
also approves magnet schools, compensatory
education and other appropriate tools
March 22, 1988 Civil Rights Restoration Act expands the reach of non-discrimination laws
within private institutions receiving federal funds
(Congress overrides Pres. Reagan’s veto)
Nov. 22, 1991 Civil Rights Act of 1991 strengthens existing civil rights laws and
provides for damages in cases of intentional
employment discrimination
2001 Charlotte NC parents successfully seek an end to the desegregation
process and a bar to the use of race in making
student assignments
Define the following terms:
Prejudice: irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion THOUGHT
(holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convicts)
Discrimination: treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit
To act on prejudice ACTION
Segregation: separate by race
de facto: segregation that exists by practice and custom ex) white flight after WWII
de jure: segregation by law ex) Jim Crow laws
Integration: to open to people of all races or ethnic groups without restriction; desegregate