1900s
1900–1999Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights revolution, and new systems of control.
Zoom in — decades
Key events
- 1916The Great Migration begins
Millions of Black Southerners begin moving north and west, fleeing terror and seeking opportunity.
- May 31, 1921The Tulsa Race Massacre
A white mob destroys the prosperous "Black Wall Street" of Greenwood, killing hundreds.
- June 13, 1933Redlining is institutionalized
Federal housing agencies map Black neighborhoods as "hazardous," denying them loans for generations.
- May 17, 1954Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court strikes down school segregation, igniting the modern Civil Rights movement.
- August 28, 1955The murder of Emmett Till
The lynching of a 14-year-old in Mississippi, and his mother's open casket, galvanizes the movement.
- December 5, 1955The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by Rosa Parks, a 381-day boycott launches Dr. King and mass nonviolent protest.
- September 4, 1957The Little Rock Nine
Nine students integrate Central High under federal troops as a mob and the governor resist.
- February 1, 1960The Greensboro sit-ins
Four students' lunch-counter protest sparks a wave of sit-ins across the South.
- August 28, 1963The March on Washington
250,000 gather as Dr. King delivers "I Have a Dream," pressing for jobs and freedom.
- July 2, 1964The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Landmark law outlawing segregation and employment discrimination.
- March 7, 1965Selma and Bloody Sunday
Marchers for voting rights are beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, spurring the Voting Rights Act.
- August 6, 1965The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Federal protection of the ballot finally enforces the 15th Amendment.
- October 15, 1966The Black Panther Party is founded
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale form the party for self-defense and community programs.
- April 4, 1968Dr. King assassinated
King is murdered in Memphis while supporting striking sanitation workers; uprisings follow nationwide.
Resources from this period
Primary sources·2
Books·11
The definitive narrative history of the Great Migration.
Mass incarceration as a system of racial control.
Life inside the antebellum slave market.
The book-length investigation into the CIA, the Contras, and crack.
Pulitzer-winning novel of slavery and memory.
One of the most influential memoirs of the 20th century.
Baldwin's searing essays on race in America.
National Book Award-winning novel of Black identity in America.
A landmark of the Harlem Renaissance.
Foundational essays on race and "double consciousness."
Washington's influential and contested autobiography.
Research·3
The agency's internal review acknowledging ties to traffickers.
Digitized 1930s redlining maps with the original appraisals.
The federal review of the 1921 destruction of Greenwood.
Articles·3
A landmark essay connecting slavery, redlining, and the wealth gap.
Scholarly overview of the destruction of Greenwood.
The 1939 concert and the DAR's refusal of Constitution Hall.
Newspapers·2
Documentaries·3
Documentary tracing the 13th Amendment loophole to mass incarceration.
The definitive documentary history of the Civil Rights movement.
The official home of the landmark 14-part civil-rights documentary.
Films·4
The 1965 voting-rights marches dramatized.
The 1839 shipboard rebellion and its trial.
Denzel Washington as the revolutionary leader.
The 54th Massachusetts, one of the first Black Union regiments.
Speeches·2
Music·4
The defining protest anthem of hip-hop, 1989.
A landmark of socially conscious soul.
An anthem of the Civil Rights movement.
A protest against lynching, 1939.
Websites·4
Records and photographs of the 1963 March on Washington.
Digitized photographs and documents of the Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance.
Documents on the 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert and Eleanor Roosevelt's DAR resignation.
The national monument and history of Emmett Till's murder and its legacy.