Pictorial Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement

May 17,1954 Brown v. Board of Education overturns the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that “separate but equal facilities” were constitutional. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that separate schools were inherently unequal.

December 1,1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus as Southern law dictated. She was arrested and this sparked a bus boycott that lasted about a year.

September 1957 Nine African American students in Little Rock, Arkansas are sent to a formerly all white high school. The governor forbids their entrance and federal marshals are sent to escort the students safely.

February 1,1960 Four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina conduct a nonviolent sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter. Although they were refused service they were allowed to remain at the counter.

April 16,1963 Martin Luther King Jr. writes his famous seminal “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”. This argues that people have the moral right to disobey unjust laws.

August 28,1963 200,00 people join the March on Washington and gather at the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

July 2,1964 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. This law bans discrimination based on color, religion, and/or national origin.

August 10,1965 Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to vote. Restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests are banned.

June 12,1967 Loving v. Virginia decides that banning interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states with an interracial ban are forced to revise their laws.

April 11,1968 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law. This bans all discrimination is sale, rental, and financing of housing.