TIMELINEOF THE
CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT
Separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks.
"Colored balconies" in movie theaters.
Seats in the back of the bus.
Soldiers called out to protect little children who were trying to go to school.
It may be difficult to believe these were examples of conditions in America less than 40 years ago.
The struggle to change these conditions, and to win equal protection under the law for citizens of all races, formed the backdrop of Martin Luther King's short life.
1954
Brown v. Board of Education
In the 1950s, school segregation was widely accepted throughout the nation. In fact, it was required by law in most southern states.
In 1952, the Supreme Court heard a number of school-segregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
It decided unanimously in 1954 that segregation was unconstitutional, overthrowing the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had set the "separate but equal" precedent.
1955
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks, a 43 year old black seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man.
The following night, fifty leaders of the Negro community met at Dexter Ave. Baptist Church to discuss the issue.
Among them was the young minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The leaders organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which would deprive the bus company of 65% of its income, and cost Dr. King a $500 fine or 386 days in jail.
He paid the fine, and eight months later, the Supreme Court decided, based on the school segregation cases, that bus segregation violated the constitution.
1957
Desegregation at Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock Central High School was to begin the 1957 school year desegregated.
On September 2, the night before the first day of school, Governor Faubus announced that he had ordered the Arkansas National Guard to monitor the school the next day.
When a group of nine black students arrived at Central High on September 3, the were kept from entering by the National Guardsmen.
On September 20, judge Davies granted an injunction against Governor Faubus and three days later the group of nine students returned to Central High School.
Although the students were not physically injured, a mob of 1,000 townspeople prevented them from remaining at school.
Finally, President Eisenhower ordered 1,000 paratroopers and 10,000 National Guardsmen to Little Rock, and on September 25, Central High School was desegregated.
1960
Sit-in Campaign
After having been refused service at the lunch counter of a Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, Joseph McNeill, a Negro college student, returned the next day with three classmates to sit at the counter until they were served.
They were not served. The four students returned to the lunch counter each day.
When an article in the New York Times drew attention to the students' protest, they were joined by more students, both black and white, and students across the nation were inspired to launch similar protests.
1961
Freedom Rides
In 1961, bus loads of people waged a cross-country campaign to try to end the segregation of bus terminals.
The nonviolent protest, however, was brutally received at many stops along the way.
1962
Mississippi Riot
President Kennedy ordered Federal Marshals to escort James Meredith, the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, to campus.
A riot broke out and before the National Guard could arrive to reinforce the marshals, two students were killed.
1963
Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most severly segregated cities in the 1960s.
Black men and women held sit-ins at lunch counters where they were refused service, and "kneel-ins" on church steps where they were denied entrance.
Hundreds of demonstrators were fined and imprisoned.
In 1963, Dr. King, the Reverend Abernathy and the Reverend Shuttlesworth lead a protest march in Birmingham.
The protestors were met with policemen and dogs.
The three ministers were arrested and taken to Southside Jail.
1963
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, the civil rights movement reached its height of attention and impact with a huge March in Washington, D.C.
The March on Washington attracted more than 200,000 marchers to the Lincoln Memorial.
At the march, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
In it, he said: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Those words remain famous to this day.
A. Philip Randolpf and Bayard Rustin organized the historic event that would come to symbolize the civil rights movement.
A reporter from theTimes wrote, "no one could ever remember an invading army quite as gentle as the two hundred thousand civil rights marchers who occupied Washington.
Megar Evers
Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he is convicted for murdering Evers.
Church Bombing
Four young girls attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings.
Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.
Three Mississippi civil-rights workers are officially declared missing, having disappeared on June 21. The last day they were seen, James E. Cheney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been arrested, incarcerated, and then released on speeding charges. Their murdered bodies are found after President Johnson sends military personnel to join the search party. It is later revealed that the police released the three men to the Ku Klux Klan. The trio had been working to register black voters.
1965
Selma
Outraged over the killing of a demonstrator by a state trooper in Marion, Alabama, the black community of Marion decided to hold a march.
Martin Luther King agreed to lead the marchers on Sunday, March 7, from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital, where they would appeal directly to governor Wallace to stop police brutality and call attention to their struggle for suffrage.
When Governor Wallace refused to allow the march, Dr. King went to Washington to speak with President Johnson, delaying the demonstration until March 8.
However, the people of Selma could not wait and they began the march on Sunday.
When the marchers reached the city line, they found a posse of state troopers waiting for them.
As the demonstrators crossed the bridge leading out of Selma, they were ordered to disperse, but the troopers did not wait for their warning to be headed.
They immediately attacked the crowd of people who had bowed their heads in prayer.
Using tear gas and batons, the troopers chased the demonstrators to a black housing project, where they continued to beat the demonstrators as well as residents of the project who had not been at the march.
Bloody Sunday received national attention, and numerous marches were organized in response.
Martin Luther King lead a march to the Selma bridge that Tuesday, during which one protestor was killed.
Finally, with President Johnson's permission, Dr. King led a successful march from Selma to Montgomery on March, 25.
President Johnson gave a rousing speech to congress concerning civil rights as a result of Bloody Sunday, and passed the Voting Rights Act within that same year.
1965
Malcolm X Makes His Mark
During the early 1960s, Malcolm X gained recognition as the spokesman for the Nation of Islam, a group of Black Muslims who supported the idea of creating a separate black nation.
Malcolm X spoke out forcefully against the unfair treatment of black Americans and encouraged them to use "any means necessary," including the use of violence, to achieve equality.
In 1964, Malcolm X traveled to the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Inspired by his pilgrimage, or journey to a sacred place,
Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and changed his views, choosing a more peaceful route to accomplish his goals.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot and killed in New York City by Black Muslims who didn't agree with his new ideas.
Today, he remains a hero to many people of all colors and races.
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote.
Literacy tests and other such requirements that tended to restrict black voting become illegal.
1968
Martin L.King Shot
In 1968,Martin Luther King Jr.,who many believe was the most important leader of the civil rights movement.at the age of 39, was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis Tennessee.
A week of rioting in at least 125 cities across the nation followed King's death.
In 1983,President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill declaring Martin Luther King Jr.Day a national holiday.
It was first observed in 1986.
Every year,on the third Monday in January,the nation honors King"s memory and spirit
and the great strides he made toward equality for all Americans.
Although escaped convict James Earl Ray later pleads guilty to the crime, questions about the actual circumstances of King's assassination remain to this day.
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
1971
The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools.
Although largely unwelcome (and sometimes violently opposed) in local school districts, court-ordered busing plans in cities such as Charlotte, Boston, and Denver continue until the late 1990s.
1988
Overriding President Reagan's veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.
1991
After two years of debates, vetoes, and threatened vetoes, President Bush reverses himself and signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991, strengthening existing civil rights laws and providing for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.
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