Civil Rights Movement Timeline by 2026Claudia DeLeo

1865- End of the American Civil War/Start of Reconstruction

9960396 — 2024-03-04 17:28:37 UTC

As the Civil War ended, the Southern States had to reconstruct government and society. The political and social rights of the millions of newly freed Americans would become an important part of the post-war period.

1865- 13th Amendment

9960396 — 2024-03-04 17:29:18 UTC

The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. In addition to banning slavery, the amendment outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude. Even though slavery was abolished, slavery could be used as a punishment for a crime.

July 9, 1868- 14th Amendment

9960396 — 2024-03-04 17:29:59 UTC

The 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to anyone born in the US borders and anyone who became a citizen of the country. This amendment included African Americans who were freed from slavery after the American Civil War.

February 3, 1870- 15th Amendment

9960396 — 2024-03-04 17:30:19 UTC

The 15th Amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. Almost immediately after ratification, African Americans began to take part in running for office and voting.

September 6, 1955- The Funeral of Emmett Till

9960396 — 2024-03-06 17:37:53 UTC

This was a funeral of a 14 year old black boy who was lynched because he was in the same room as a white woman for less than a minute. Emmett Till's mother wanted the funeral to be open to the public and a open casket so people could see the realities of the brutalities of lynching in the USA.

2022- Emmett Till Antilynching Law

9960396 — 2024-03-06 17:40:42 UTC

After decades of advocacy, in 2022, The Emmett Till Antilynching Law was signed. This law defines lynching as a hate crime and gives specific penalties for lynching under law.

May 17, 1954- Brown V Board of Education

9960396 — 2024-03-15 16:15:27 UTC

Through this court case, the Supreme Court decided that separating children in public schools based on race is unconstitutional. This case started the "separate but equal" case around America.

September 25, 1957- Little Rock 9

9960396 — 2024-03-15 16:15:39 UTC

In 1957, nine ordinary teenagers walked out of their homes and stepped up to the front lines in the battle for civil rights for all Americans. The media coined the name “Little Rock Nine" to identify the first African American students to desegregate Little Rock Central High School.

May 4, 1961- Freedom Rides

9960396 — 2024-03-19 17:10:55 UTC

During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. Unfortunately, due to extreme racism, on May 14th, 1961, when the Greyhound bus arrived to Alabama, an angry mob attacked the freedom riders. This drew attention to the incident drawing attention to the injustice showing the rest of the world how violent the Deep South is to Black Americans.

May 2, 1963 – May 3, 1963-Children's Crusade

9960396 — 2024-03-27 16:29:38 UTC

On May 2, 1963, more than one thousand students skipped classes and gathered at Sixth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. As they approached police lines, hundreds were arrested and carried off to jail in paddy wagons and school buses.

August 28th, 1963-March On Washington

9960396 — 2024-03-27 16:33:29 UTC

The March on Washington brought together many different civil rights groups, labor unions, and religious organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The March on Washington was one of the largest civil rights rallies in US history, and one of the most famous examples of non-violent mass direct action. The March on Washington was highly publicized in the news media and helped to gather momentum for the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

March 7th-21st 1965-Selma Voting Campaign

9960396 — 2024-03-27 16:37:29 UTC

The Selma to Montgomery march was part of a series of civil rights protests regarding voting rights protests that occurred in 1965 in Alabama, a Southern state with deeply entrenched racist policies. The historic march, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s participation in it, raised awareness of the difficulties faced by Black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act.

August 6th 1965-Voting Rights Act of 1965

9960396 — 2024-03-27 16:41:17 UTC

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed for no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. The government aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

February 1st, 1960-Greensboro Sit ins

9960396 — 2024-03-29 21:29:47 UTC

On February 1, 1960, four friends sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro. The four people were African American, and they sat where African Americans weren't allowed to sit. They did this to take a stand against segregation. The Greensboro sit-ins were non-violent protests led by four college students in 1960 at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Dec 5, 1955 – Dec 20, 1956-Montgomory Bus Boycott

9960396 — 2024-03-29 21:33:03 UTC

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling that bus segregation violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, which led to the successful end of the bus boycott on December 20, 1956.

July 2, 1964- The Civil Rights Act of 1964

9960396 — 2024-03-29 21:38:50 UTC

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction and is a hallmark of the American civil rights movement. The act gave federal law enforcement agencies the power to prevent racial discrimination in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities.

February 21, 1965-Malcolm X Assassination

9960396 — 2024-04-02 17:10:05 UTC

On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was ambushed and fatally shot while delivering a speech. His wife and daughters were in the audience. Three men were convicted of his murder.