The Right to Vote in Mississippi
Civil rights groups work to increase the number of blacks who are registered to vote in Mississippi, and face continuing harassment and violence. Enter the Timeline
The Struggle for Civil Rights
"We are confronted primarily with a moral issue."Civil rights groups work to increase the number of blacks who are registered to vote in Mississippi, and face continuing harassment and violence. Enter the Timeline
In order to draw national attention to the treatment of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth and other civil rights activists launch a campaign of mass protests, known as Project C (for confrontation). Enter the Timeline
Governor George Wallace upholds his promise to defend "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever" when he tries to block two black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama. Enter the Timeline
President John F. Kennedy addresses the nation, defining the civil rights crisis not only as a constitutional and legal issue, but as a moral one as well. He announces that major civil rights legislation will be submitted to the Congress. Enter the Timeline
President John F. Kennedy sends a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress and seeks support from congressional leaders and ordinary Americans. Enter the Timeline
More than 200,000 Americans of all races join the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Enter the Timeline
A bomb explodes in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young African American girls. The nation is shocked at the news. Enter the Timeline
Marian Anderson performs for 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her the opportunity to sing for an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. In protest of the DAR's decision, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the organization.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in federal hiring for war-related work.
In Chicago, James Farmer and other activists committed to nonviolent direct action establish the interracial Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
Courtesy of the Division of Political History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
President Harry S. Truman issues Executive Order 9981, desegregating the United States Armed Forces.
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas , the Supreme Court rules unanimously against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision of "separate but equal" in Plessy v. Ferguson.
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago, is brutally murdered in Mississippi. His killers are later acquitted.
Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Her arrest sparks a year-long boycott of city buses led by Martin Luther King Jr. In 1956, the Supreme Court rules in Browder v. Gayle that bus segregation laws are unconstitutional.
Martin Luther King Jr. and other clergy establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to work for full equality for African Americans.
Courtesy of the Division of Political History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends troops to Arkansas to enforce federal court-ordered integration at Little Rock’s Central High School.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957, establishing the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and a federal Civil Rights Commission. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 eliminates loopholes in the 1957 law.
Four African-American college students hold a sit-in to integrate a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launching a wave of similar protests across the South.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded during a conference organized by activist Ella Baker at Shaw University in North Carolina.
Courtesy of the Division of Political History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organizes Freedom Rides throughout the South to test the Supreme Court’s rulings banning segregation on interstate buses and in travel facilities. The Riders are met with violence throughout their journey.
James Meredith enrolls as the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi. A night of rioting and violence follows despite the presence of US marshals on campus. President Kennedy orders federal troops to the University. Find out more .
President Kennedy issues Executive Order 11063, preventing racial discrimination in "the sale or lease of housing facilities owned or operated by the federal government or housing built or purchased with federal aid."
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any poll tax in elections for federal officials.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination in public accommodations and other public places, and establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Civil rights organizations launch “Freedom Summer”, bringing volunteers from across the country to register black voters in Mississippi. Many civil rights workers are arrested and harassed, and three are murdered.
Civil rights demonstrators attempt a march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in what comes to be known as "Bloody Sunday." State and local law enforcement confront and attack them on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, empowering the federal government to oversee voter registration and elections, outlawing discriminatory literacy tests, and expanding voting rights for non-English speaking Americans.
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