The Civil Rights Movement 1947-1968

Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in major league baseball. April 1947

To Secure These Rights, the report by the President’s Committee on Civil Rights is released. The committee calls for the elimination of segregation. October 29, 1947

President Harry S Truman issues an executive order desegregating the armed forces. July 26, 1948

In Brown v. Board of Education the Supreme Court declares separate facilities “inherently unequal.” May 17, 1954

Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person; the action triggers a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. December 1, 1955

MLK, Jr. and a number of southern black clergymen create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SCLC. January 11, 1957

On the orders of Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, Arkansas National Guardsmen block 9 black students from entering Central High School. September 4, 1957

Sit-in campaigns by college students in St Sit-in campaigns by college students in St. Louis, Chicago, Bloomington, ID, and Nashville help to desegregate eating facilities. Feb. 1, 1960: Woolworth’s lunch counter 1959-1960

April 1960 Ella Baker Stokely Carmichael The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is formed in Raleigh, NC. Ella Baker Stokely Carmichael April 1960

James Meredith files suit claiming racial discrimination after being denied admission to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). May 1962

President Kennedy signs an executive order barring racial discrimination in federally funded housing. November 20, 1962

Birmingham police chief Eugene “Bull” Connor turns police dogs and fire hoses against nonviolent demonstrators. King composes his Letter from Birmingham City Jail. 1963

June 11, 1963: Radio and TV address on Civil Rights “I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was rounded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” June 11, 1963: Radio and TV address on Civil Rights

Over 250,000 Americans gather at the Lincoln Memorial to urge the passage of civil rights legislation and hear MLK, Jr. deliver his “I have a dream speech.” Malcolm X dismisses the march as “the Farce on Washington.” August 28, 1963

SNCC and CORE work to register thousands of black voters. Three civil rights works Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney are murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi. “Freedom Summer” 1964

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination in most public accommodations. MLK, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1964

Malcolm X is assassinated while addressing a rally of his followers in NYC. Three black men are ultimately convicted of his murder. February 21, 1965

“Bloody Sunday” 600 marchers outside Selma, Alabama are attacked by state troopers with nightsticks and tear gas. March 7, 1965

President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which outlaws literacy tests and empowers the Justice Department to supervise federal elections in seven southern states. August 6, 1965

Rioting in the black ghetto of Watts in Los Angeles leads to 35 deaths, 900 injuries, and over 3,500 arrests. August 11-16, 1965

H. Rap Brown Stokely Carmichael replaces John Lewis as chairman of SNCC. SNCC votes to exclude whites from membership SNCC 1966 John Lewis

James Meredith is shot by a sniper while on a one-man “march against fear” in Mississippi June 6, 1966

The Black Panther Party (BPP) is founded in Oakland California. October 1966

Rioting at all black Jackson State College in Mississippi leads to one death and two serious injuries. May 10-11, 1967

Rioting in the black ghetto of Newark, NJ leaves 23 dead and 725 injured. Newark: July 1967

The Kerner Commission February 29, 1968 Warns that the nation is “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal” White racism is responsible Jobs, education, housing barriers still remained Police brutality an issue for many

Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee, precipitating riots in more than 100 cities. April 4, 1968