The National Association of Colored People worked to secure full legal equality and remove barriers for all Americans by challenging segregation laws throughout the country, the legal team was headed by Thurgood Marshall.  

The NAACP won many legal battles regarding housing and education, the most famous was Brown v. Board of Education

In 1954 the supreme court led by Earl Warren, ruled segregation in the schools unequal, and therefore unconstitutional. This made it so that all public schools in the United States could no longer segregate

The ruling was significant because it reversed the declaration of 1986 in Plessy v Ferguson where schools could be "separate but equal".

Starting in December 1955, Blacks in Montgomery, Alabama, and partly throughout the rest of the South, Boycotted buses for 381 days. This was in response to Rosa Parks getting arrested for refusing to give up her seat; which violated Jim Crow laws.

This boycott was very significant because it not only marked the rise of leader Martin Luther King Jr. but it also was the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

In response to Brown v. Board of Education, in September 1957, the Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering a white school (Little Rock Central High School). However, with the need to uphold the supreme court ruling, Eisenhower sent U.S. army troops to escort the children to their classes.

The Little Rock Nine was significant because they were the first African American students to integrate a school which was a courageous act of defiance in the face of segregation and the first of its kind.

CORE was founded in 1942 by black and white student activists in Chicago, Illinois. They were a well known civil rights organization that are said to have popularized the use of nonviolent protests. They put together protests such as freedom rides and sit-ins to fight back against segregation and promote equality throughout the United States but mostly in the South.

CORE was significant because it was a key organization in the Civil Rights Movement and one of the first of it's kind. It was also the first to really use nonviolent protests as a way to fight back against racism.

SCLC was founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King Jr., and align with his beliefs, they were an African-American civil rights organization that promoted nonviolent protest to fight racial segregation and injustice. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, they focused on desegregation and voter rights.

SCLC was significant because of how important it was in the Civil Rights Movement due to the great leadership by Martin Luther King Jr. He was able to organize very important protests through the SCLC like the March on Washington. All this helped lead to change for the better racially.

SNCC was founded by Ella Baker in April 1960 at Shaw University in North Carolina. The organization was student-led and focused on nonviolent protests and direct action to challenge segregation. They participated in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and voter registration drives.

SNCC was significant because it empowered young people to lead nonviolent protests; playing a key role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Starting in the 1960s, African American civilians, but mainly students, began to sit-in at restaurants. A sit-in is a nonviolent protest where blacks sat at segregated lunch counters and demanded to be served. This peacefully challenged racial segregation, although it didn't always end peacefully for them as they would often get beat and even arrested.

Sit-ins were significant because they challenged segregation in public spaces, and helped spread civil rights activism.

The Freedom Riders were a group of interracial activists that traveled on interstate buses through the South in 1961 to challenge segregation at bus terminals.

The Freedom Riders were significant because the attention they brought, led to the federal enforcement of desegregation laws in bus terminals.

In October 1962, James Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the college of Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) in Oxford, Mississippi.

This enrollment was a major victory for blacks desegregation in higher education, however, it brought on violent protests as result.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and his SCLC organized protests and boycotts throughout Birmingham, Alabama as an act against segregation. These protests resulted in violent police lash back that drew national attention.

The protests and boycotts exposed the brutal tactics used against peaceful protesters and helped to get national support for civil rights legislation.

On August 28th, 1963, over 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to hear Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech, which advocated for racial equality.

The "I Have a Dream" speech became a defining moment in the African-American civil rights movement across the U.S.

In July of 1964, while in Washington, D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

This major legislation was crucial in the fight to end segregation and inequality in public and at work.

In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. with the help of activists from SCLC and SNCC led a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in order to demand black voting rights.

The march helped to bring even more light to the violence Blacks faced to attempt to get voting rights, which then led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In Washington, D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned all discriminatory voting practices, ensuring oversight in Southern states to protect African American voters.

The law gave blacks a sure voice in the government as they would finally be able to vote normally.

Congress, with a signature from President Lyndon B. Johnson, ratified the 24th Amendment, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in federal elections.

The 24th amendment removed a key barrier that had prevented many African Americans from voting.

In 1952, black rights activist Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, which was an organization that that helped advocated for Black nationalism, self-defense, and empowerment while converting to Islam.

Malcolm X's new involvement with the Nation of Islam inspired many new African Americans to follow his teachings of black empowerment, the advocacy for self-reliance, racial pride.

Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California in 1966. Their group addressed police brutality, promoted Black self-defense, and created community programs for empowerment.

The Black Panther Party utilized the carrying of arms for self-defense, the confrontation of police brutality, and in order to become a symbol of militant black resistance.

On April 4th, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray, in Memphis, Tennessee on his second-floor motel balcony.

The assassination was a pivotal moment in American history, as it led to widespread riots, grief, and most importantly, a greatly renewed push for civil rights legislation and justice.