1865
The 13th Amendment is ratified, officially ending slavery in America.
A period of "Reconstruction” begins. African Americans work to create an economic base, independent towns and educational institutions.
1868
1870
1877
Compromise of 1877: Union troops are removed from the South, where they had been during "Reconstruction" to enforce new antislavery laws.
1881
Booker T. Washington founds Tuskegee Institute (Alabama), a vocational school for African Americans. Washington preached a message of self-reliance, urging African Americans to concentrate on improved economic conditions.1896
Plessy v. Ferguson - the Supreme Court upholds the concept of "separate but equal" public facilities. The Supreme Court's decision also endorses state-mandated discrimination in public transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.1905
The Niagara Movement is founded by W.E.B. Du Bois and Monroe Trotter. At a meeting attended by activists, they present a manifesto calling for “universal manhood suffrage” and the elimination of racial segregation.1909
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded. The organization focused on challenging Jim Crow laws and was successful in a few early cases, including its defeat of Oklahoma’s “Grandfather Law,” which exempted most white voters from requirements that excluded African-American citizens from the voting process.1910
The National Urban League (NUL) is founded to assist southern black emigrants to the North.1915
June 21 - In Guinn v. United States, the Supreme Court rules against "Grandfather clauses" used to deny blacks the right to vote.1918
"Red Summer" - The term coined by James Weldon Johnson describes the summer when more than 25 race riots occured and more than 100 people died.1925
May 8 - A. Philip Randolph organizes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.1929
Jan. 15 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is born.1935
Jan. 30 - Martin Luther King, Sr. leads a protest against segregated elevators at the Fulton County, Ga., Courthouse.August - Martin Luther King, Sr. and the Atlanta branch of the NAACP lead a voter registration drive in anticipation of a local school bond referendum.
1940
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. is created.1941
May 1 - A. Philip Randolph calls for a march on Washington to protest employment discrimination in the armed forces and war industry.June - President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Exec. Order 8802 forbidding racial discrimation in defense industries and in government services. The President's Committee on Fair Employment Practices is established.
1943
June - The Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) is founded.1944
April 24 - The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is founded.1946
The Womens Political Council is founded in Montgomery, Ala. (This group later initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott.)April 2 - Primus King v. State of Georgia removes legal barrier to black voting. (The "white primary" is declared unconstitutional.)
June 3 - Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Va. - Supreme Court bans segregation in interstate bus travel.
1947
April 9 - CORE and the Fellowship of Reconcililation (FOR) send the first "freedom riders" through the South to test compliance with Morgan v. Commonwealth ruling.1950
In the Sweatt v. Painter case, the University of Texas Law School is ordered to admit black students.
McLaurin v. Oklahoma abolishes segregation in school classrooms, libraries and cafeterias.
InHenderson v. United States, dining-car segregation is prohibited on trains.
1953
February - CORE begins sit-ins in Baltimore, Md.June 19 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana bus boycott begins.
1954
May 17 - Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court declares racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.1955
Aug. 28 - Emmett Till is murdered in Money, Miss.Dec. 1 - Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.
Dec. 5 - Montgomery Bus Boycott begins.
1956
Dec. 21 - Montgomery, Ala., buses desegregate.1957
The "Little Rock Nine" enter Central High, escorted by 1,000 paratroopers (under orders from President Dwight Eisenhower).1960
February sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., adds a new element to the movement geared at desegregating public eateries.1961
"Freedom rides" begin. Busloads of volunteers of all of races, travel across the country and through the deep South to integrate bus terminals.1962
Mississippi Riot - James Meredith, the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, was to enter the campus escorted by federal marshals, but a riot that killed two people broke out before they arrived.1963
May - Martin Luther King, Jr. writes his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." King spends three days in solitary confinement after being arrested for participating in a protest march. Sept. 15 - Four little girls are killed in Ku Klux Klan bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.Aug. 28 - March on Washington - More than 200,000 people of all races gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest civil inequities and hear King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Nov. 22 - President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
1964
April 3 - Malcolm X gives speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet," at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.July 2 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed, stating that African Americans can no longer be excluded from public facilities, such as restaurants, hotels, bus terminals, etc.
1965
February 21 - Malcolm X is assassinated.March 7 - "Bloody Sunday" - State troopers attack civil rights protestors in Selma, Ala., using tear gas and batons. Residents not participating in the demonstration are attacked, as well. One person is killed.
August 5 - Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
August 11-16 - Watts Riots - The violence leaves 34 people dead in Watts, Los Angeles.
1968
April 4 - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. (James Earl Ray is caught, tried and convicted of the murder and sentenced to 99 years in jail. Ray died in 1998.)June 5 - Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
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