The Civil Rights Movement

Mass nonviolent organizing that dismantled legal segregation.

On the timeline

April 3, 1944
Smith v. Allwright
The Supreme Court bans the all-white primary, a key tool of disenfranchisement.
June 3, 1946
Morgan v. Virginia
The Supreme Court bars segregation on interstate buses.
May 3, 1948
Shelley v. Kraemer
The Court rules racially restrictive housing covenants unenforceable.
July 26, 1948
Truman desegregates the armed forces
Executive Order 9981 ends segregation in the US military.
May 17, 1954
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court strikes down school segregation, igniting the modern Civil Rights movement.
August 28, 1955
The murder of Emmett Till
The lynching of a 14-year-old in Mississippi, and his mother's open casket, galvanizes the movement.
December 5, 1955
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by Rosa Parks, a 381-day boycott launches Dr. King and mass nonviolent protest.
November 13, 1956
Browder v. Gayle
The Supreme Court affirms that bus segregation is unconstitutional, vindicating the boycott.
January 10, 1957
The SCLC is founded
Dr. King and allies form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
September 4, 1957
The Little Rock Nine
Nine students integrate Central High under federal troops as a mob and the governor resist.
September 9, 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
The first federal civil-rights law since Reconstruction, focused on voting.
February 1, 1960
The Greensboro sit-ins
Four students' lunch-counter protest sparks a wave of sit-ins across the South.
April 17, 1960
SNCC is founded
Student activists form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
November 14, 1960
Ruby Bridges integrates a New Orleans school
A six-year-old desegregates an elementary school under federal escort.
May 4, 1961
The Freedom Rides
Interracial riders challenge segregated buses and terminals, met with mob violence.
October 1, 1962
James Meredith integrates Ole Miss
Meredith enrolls amid riots and federal intervention.
May 2, 1963
The Birmingham Campaign
Children marchers face dogs and fire hoses; the images shock the nation.
June 12, 1963
Medgar Evers assassinated
The NAACP leader is murdered outside his Mississippi home.
August 28, 1963
The March on Washington
250,000 gather as Dr. King delivers "I Have a Dream," pressing for jobs and freedom.
June 21, 1964
Freedom Summer
Volunteers register Black voters in Mississippi; three are murdered by the Klan.
March 7, 1965
Selma and Bloody Sunday
Marchers for voting rights are beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, spurring the Voting Rights Act.
August 6, 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Federal protection of the ballot finally enforces the 15th Amendment.
June 12, 1967
Loving v. Virginia
The Supreme Court strikes down bans on interracial marriage.

Resources

Documentary· 1987

Eyes on the Prize

Henry Hampton

The definitive documentary history of the Civil Rights movement.

Documentary· 1987

Eyes on the Prize (PBS American Experience)

Henry Hampton

The official home of the landmark 14-part civil-rights documentary.

Primary source· Primary

Civil Rights History Project (oral histories)

Library of Congress / NMAAHC

1,200+ recorded interviews and transcripts with civil-rights participants.

Primary source· Primary

Rosa Parks Papers

Library of Congress

~7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs documenting Parks's life and the movement.

Website· Primary

Civil Rights Movement Archive

Civil Rights Movement Veterans

A primary archive built by veterans of the movement — documents, photos, and accounts.