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Timeline: The Path of the Civil Rights Movement

January 20, 2009

Barrack Obama's inauguration

Barrack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, and the first African-American president in history.

1913-2009

September 15, 1963

Birmingham Church Bombing

The four girls killed in the bombing

Buses are bombed during the Freedom Rides

October 25, 2005

A bomb exploded in the stairwell of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church killing four young girls and injuring others. After the bombing, riots broke out and 2 African-American boys died. Robert Chambliss a Klu Klux Klan member, was arrested and tried for murder, but was acquitted until 1977. Later, 2 others were found to be involved. The church had been an active meeting place for civil rights and the bombing had been intended to hinder the activists however had the opposite effect by producing sympathy and support for the movement.

Rosa Parks Dies

May 4, May 20, May 25 1961

Rosa Parks had been diagnosed with progressive dementia the year before. Three days after her death, all of the city buses in Montgomery and Detroit had black ribbons on their front seats in Rosa's honor.

Freedom Rides

Parks' casket is honorably escorted

Students protest at Woolworth's lunch counter

An interracial group of Civil Rights activists involved with CORE left from Washington, D.C. on May 4, heading for New Orleans by bus. The riders met little resistance in the Upper South, however in Birmingham, Alabama on May 14, riders were met by a mob and severely beaten. Robert Kennedy instructed Greyhound to provide a new bus for a new set of riders from the SNCC, as well as protection from Birmingham to Montgomery, leaving on May 20. Once they arrived in Montgomery, they were brutally beaten. Ignoring Robert Kennedy's advice of a 'cooling off' period, the riders persisted and arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested on May 25. There were also several other Freedom Rides, including one by train in December after the November 1, 1961 court ruling enforcing interstate travel integration.

February 1, 1960

Greensboro, North Carolina Sit-ins

Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam due to its harsh religious teachings. He went on to found Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which encouraged black nationalism.

December 4, 1969

Four black college students sat at Woolworth's lunch counter and tried to order coffee, but were denied and told to leave. The students politely refused and the next day they returned with about 30 students, then by February 5, there were 300 participants. This event proved to be the inspiration for sit-ins throughout the country, and by the end of February, over 30 cities and towns in 7 states had sit-in strikes.

Malcolm X publicly announces his "Break from Muhammad" as the NY Times headlined

Malcolm X breaks from the Nation of Islam

Police Raid

March 8, 1964

May 17, 1957

Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom

Before dawn, police raid the Chicago apartment of the Panthers, leaving Fred Hampton and Mark Clark dead. Police were tipped of on Panther whereabouts.

Over 30,000 nonviolent demonstrators crowded on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Ed decision, thus also bringing to light the lack of action in many Southern states. The Pilgrimage was organized by A. Philip Randolph and included prayers, songs, and speeches by various leaders of civil rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his first national address. This was the largest gathering for civil rights of the time and set an example for future marches.

Crowds gathered in the capitol to hear speeches

Advertising the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom

2 left dead in police raid, Mark Clark and Fred Hampton

250,000 Americans gathered at Washington D.C. in front of the Lincoln Memorial in support for civil rights. Leaders made speeches, and MLK delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. John F. Kennedy was persuaded to support the march and made the leaders compromise by not criticizing the government. It was the pinnacle of the civil rights movement and helped raise public awareness of the issue.

March on Washington

August 28, 1963

September 25, 1957

Little Rock Nine enter Central High School

Civil Rights Act of 1964 document

The 101st Airborne escorts the Little Rock Nine into Central High School.

There was a mob outside the school yelling at the 9 black students and harassing them, and Governor Orval Faubus tried to prevent the students from entering the high school by ordering the Arkansas National Guard to block them. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, putting aside his own personal feelings on integration, ordered the Guard to stand down and sent 1,000 troops of the 101st Airborne Division from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky to oversee the integration. 8 of the 9 students completed the school year in Central High School. MLK applauds Eisenhower's action in enforcing the desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.

September 4, 1969

Chicago Eight Trial Begins

Civil Rights Act is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson after House approval. The law banned segregation in businesses and public places and outlawed discriminatory practices in employment.

Bobby Seale, Black Panther leader, and 7 others are tried for crossing state lines to ignite rioting at the 1968 Democratic convention.

December 5, 1955-December 20, 1956

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The citizens of Montgomery walk to work instead of taking the bus as protest.

On the day of Rosa Parks' court hearing, African-American citizens of Montgomery, as well as a few whites, came together to form the Montgomery Improvement Association, headed by young minister Martin Luther King, Jr. The commuters boycotted all Montgomery city buses and set up a carpool to protest segregation on buses. This was the first large-scale protest against segregation, and MLK emerged as a prominent civil rights leader. The boycott ended 381 days later after buses were integrated.

July 2, 1964

December 1, 1955

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat

Newspaper detailing Chicago Eight trial

MLK accepts his Nobel Peace Prize for achieving racial justice through nonviolence. He accepted the award in Oslo, Norway, and was the youngest man and second African-American to receive the award.

Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress, is tired from a long day of work and refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white person. She is arrested and fined. This action earned her the name "The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement."

Rosa Parks is fingerprinted after being arrested.

MLK accepts Nobel Peace Prize

MLK in casket

MLK accepts Nobel Peace Prize

April 4, 1968

Murder in Memphis

December 10, 1964

May 17, 1954

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling

Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine hotel. At the news of his death, violent riots broke out. On April 8, Coretta King, the widow, led a silent march through the streets. 100,000 mourners followed King's funeral procession. Later, on October 16, 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will be dedicated in his honor.

February 21, 1965

Malcolm X assassinated

Oliver Brown asked the NAACP for assistance when his daughter was denied admission to an all-white school in 1951. The U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall, as chief council for the NAACP, appealed the case and reached the Supreme Court. The Court finally reached a unanimous decision declaring public school segregation unconstitutional for creating a feeling of inferiority. No means of enforcement, however, were put in place, and in 1955, an edict was put out telling states to integrate "with all deliberate speed."

May 2, 1967

March on Capital of California

Malcolm X is shot and proclaimed dead at the hospital

In Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, as he was about to give a speech for the Organization of Afro-American Unity, a disturbance broke out in the back of the room, and a small fire was started. Malcolm X was then shot by 3 Nation of Islam members. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the hospital. Only a week earlier Malcolm's house was firebombed on the day of his hearing to reclaim his house from the Nation of Islam, which tried to take it away.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka official documented decision

In the first organized protest of the Black Panthers, members gathered in the California capitol to protest laws limiting their right to bear arms. They began carrying guns due to California law allowing unconcealed weapons.

Many march in protest from Selma to Montgomery

1952

August 11, 1965

Watts Riot

Malcolm Little changes his last name to "X"

Marquette Frye, a black driver, was pulled over by a white cop for being suspected of driving while intoxicated. A crowd formed and became violent with police officers. This spurred a large-scale riot in Watts, and impoverished African-American section of South Central Los Angeles that lasted 6 days. Car were burned, stores looted, and 14,000 National Guard troops were mobilized. 34 people were killed, 1000 were injured, and 4,000 arrested before order was restored on August 17. The riot was found to be the result of long-standing dissent of social and economic positions.

Newspaper detailing invasion of Capitol by Panthers

Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Muhammad influenced Malcolm greatly, including in his decision to change his name.

After Malcolm's release from prison, he visited Elijah Muhammad in Chicago, Illinois after converting to the Nation of Islam. He then changed his surname to "X" like many Nation of Islam members. He said "The Muslim's 'X' symbolized the true African family name that he never could know. For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears." Malcolm rose rapidly in the Nation of Islam and taught that blacks were the superior race.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the act into law, which prohibited discriminatory denial of the right to vote based on literacy tests or the like. Southern states where less than 50% of eligible voters were registered in 1964 would be more closely watched by the government.

The SCLC organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest resistance to black voter registration in Dallas County, Alabama. Led by John Lewis of the SNCC and Hosea Willliams, about 600 people marched through the street until they were attacked by patrolmen on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The incident was caught on television cameras, and this "Bloody Sunday" raised support for voter registration law. MLK led 3,000 supporters over the same bridge 2 weeks later on a 54-mile walk to the capital, guarded by the Alabama National Guard.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

August 6, 1965

Selma March

April 9, 1947

Journey of Reconciliation

March 7, 1965

October 1966

Black Panthers founded

To test the Supreme Court decision in Morgan v. Virginia the year before banning segregation on interstate bus travel, interracial CORE members journeyed through the South and were met with heavy resistance. They were beaten in North Carolina and arrested. The Journey broke down and segregation continued. This ride served as a precursor to the Freedom Rides of the '60s.

Members of the Journey of Reconciliation Worth Randle, Wallace Nelson, Ernest Bromley, James Peck, Igal Roodenko, Bayard Rustin, Joseph Felmet, George Houser and Andrew Johnson.

Originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, this was an African-American nationalist group founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California to promote civil rights and self defense.

Voting Rights Act Bill

January 15, 1929

Martin Luther King, Jr. is born

Mass panic emerged as fires were set in Watts

Born in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King.

Undated King family photo

Malcolm Little as a child

Black Panthers were pro-guns

May 19, 1925

Malcolm X is born

Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska to Earl and Louise Little.

February 4, 1913

Rosa Parks is Born

Born Rosa McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama to parents Leona and James McCauley.

Rosa Parks' Autobiography

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