Timeline of the civil rights movement facts for kids

A young woman at the Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C.

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a big effort in the mid-1900s. People worked in a peaceful way to get legal equality and fair treatment for people of color. They wanted everyone to have the same constitutional rights. The main goals were to end racial discrimination (unfair treatment based on race). They also wanted equal access to public places, better schools, fair housing, and the right to vote.

Early Steps for Civil Rights (1947–1953)

1947: Challenging Segregation

April 14 – In a case called Mendez v. Westminster, a U.S. court ruled that forcing Mexican-American students into separate "Mexican schools" was against the law. This was an important step against segregation.

1948: Fighting Unfair Rules

In Delgado v Bastrop I.S.D., the Texas Attorney General said that separating Mexican-American children in schools was illegal.
In Shelley v. Kraemer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that housing rules based on race could not be enforced by courts. This meant people could not be legally stopped from buying homes in certain areas because of their race.
A radio show called Destination Freedom started in Chicago. It told stories about freedom and justice.

1950: Miss America Changes Rules

For many years, the Miss America pageant had a rule that only white contestants could enter. This rule was removed in 1950.

1951: Students Protest for Better Schools

In April, students at Robert Russa Moton High School in Virginia went on strike. They were protesting the poor conditions and racial segregation at their "Colored" school. This strike led to a major lawsuit by the NAACP.

1952: NAACP Challenges "Separate but Equal"

The NAACP filed five lawsuits against school segregation. These cases challenged the idea of "separate but equal" schools, which had been allowed since 1896. These five cases were later combined into the famous Brown v. Board of Education case.

Major Victories and Resistance (1954–1959)

1954: Schools Must Integrate

May 3 – In Hernandez v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups deserved equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
May 17 – In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court said that "separate but equal" schools were unconstitutional. This meant public schools could no longer be segregated by race.
July 27 – Charleston, Arkansas, became the first school district in the former Confederate States to end segregation for all grades.
September 2 – In Montgomery, Alabama, 23 Black children were stopped from attending all-white schools.
September 7 – Washington, D.C., ended segregated education. Baltimore, Maryland, followed the next day.
September 16 – Mississippi tried to get rid of all public schools to avoid integration, but this plan failed.
October 30 – The U.S. Armed Forces finished desegregating all their units.
Frankie Muse Freeman was a lead lawyer for the NAACP in a case that ended legal racial discrimination in public housing in St. Louis.

1955: Rosa Parks and Bus Boycotts

January 15 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order to ensure fair hiring practices in federal jobs.
January 20 – Students successfully protested to desegregate Read's Drug Store in Baltimore, Maryland.
March 2 – 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman. This event helped lead to the Browder v. Gayle case.
May 31 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that desegregation must happen with "all deliberate speed."
August 28 – Teenager Emmett Till was brutally killed in Mississippi. This shocking event brought national attention to racial violence.
November 7 – The government banned bus segregation for travel between states. On the same day, the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in public parks and playgrounds.
December 1 – Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a major protest that lasted over a year.

1956: Resistance and Progress

January 9 – Virginia decided to use state money to fund private schools to keep them segregated.
February 3 – Autherine Lucy was admitted to the University of Alabama. White people rioted for days, and she was suspended.
February 24 – U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. from Virginia declared "Massive Resistance" to school integration.
March 12 – The "Southern Manifesto" was released. It was signed by many Southern politicians who opposed school integration.
April 23 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against bus segregation nationwide.
November 13 – In Browder v. Gayle, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Alabama laws requiring bus segregation. This was a big step in ending "Jim Crow laws" on buses.
December 20 – Federal officials enforced the ruling to desegregate bus systems in Montgomery.
December 25 – The home of civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed. He was only slightly hurt.

1957: King Leads SCLC

February 14 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed. Martin Luther King Jr. was named its chairman.
May 17 – The Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C., was the largest peaceful civil rights protest at the time. King gave his "Give Us the Ballot" speech there.
September 2 – Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, used the National Guard to stop integration at Little Rock Central High School.
September 24 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock Central High School to ensure the Little Rock Nine (nine Black students) could attend.
September 27 – The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was signed by President Eisenhower.

1958: Sit-ins and Court Rulings

June 29 – Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members.
June 30 – In NAACP v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NAACP did not have to share its membership lists.
July – The NAACP Youth Council held successful sit-ins at a Dockum Drug Store lunch counter in Wichita, Kansas, leading to desegregation.
August 19 – Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council led a large, successful sit-in at drug store lunch counters in Oklahoma City.
September 12 – In Cooper v. Aaron, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states had to follow the Court's decisions. In response, governors in Arkansas and Virginia closed high schools to avoid integration.

1959: Limiting Voter Rights

January 19 – A federal court ordered Virginia's schools in Norfolk to reopen. They did so with 17 Black students.
April 18 – Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the Lincoln Memorial for school integration.
November 20 – Alabama passed laws to make it harder for Black people to register to vote.

The Movement Grows (1960–1968)

1960: Sit-ins Spread

February 1 – Four Black students sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. This sparked the Greensboro Sit-Ins, which lasted six months.
February 13 – The Nashville sit-ins began. Students, trained in nonviolent protest, successfully integrated lunch counters in Nashville by May.
May 6 – The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
November 14 – Ruby Bridges became the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South (William Frantz Elementary School) in New Orleans. This event was shown in a famous painting by Norman Rockwell.
December 5 – In Boynton v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in bus terminals was illegal.

1961: Freedom Riders Face Violence

January 11 – Riots broke out in Athens, Georgia, when the first two African-American students were admitted to the University of Georgia.
May 4 – The first group of Freedom Riders left Washington, D.C., by bus. They aimed to integrate interstate buses and terminals.
May 14 – The Freedom Riders' bus was attacked and burned outside of Anniston, Alabama. Mobs beat the Riders in Birmingham and Montgomery. Many were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
May 29 – Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy asked the government to enforce desegregation in interstate travel.
September 23 – The government issued new rules to end discrimination in interstate travel, effective November 1.
November 1 – All interstate buses had to display a sign saying: "Seating aboard this vehicle is without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin."
December 15 – Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Albany, Georgia, to support the Albany Movement to desegregate public places. He was arrested the next day.

1962: Meredith Integrates Ole Miss

February 26 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated transportation facilities were unconstitutional.
September 20 – James Meredith was stopped from becoming the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
September 30 – October 1 – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black ordered James Meredith admitted to "Ole Miss." He enrolled, but a white riot followed in Oxford, Mississippi.
November 20 – President Kennedy signed an order banning segregation in housing funded by the federal government.

1963: Birmingham and the March on Washington

January 14 – Incoming Alabama governor George Wallace famously declared "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
April 3 – May 10 – The Birmingham campaign began. Peaceful protests against segregation in Birmingham led to mass arrests.
April 12 – King was arrested in Birmingham for "parading without a permit." He wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" while there.
May 2–4 – The "Children's Crusade" took place. Thousands of children and teenagers marched and were arrested. Images of police using fire hoses and dogs on the young protesters shocked the world.
June 11 – "The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door": Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of a schoolhouse door to try and stop two Black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama. He moved aside after being confronted by federal officials.
June 11 – President Kennedy gave a historic civil rights address, promising a new bill to Congress. He asked for "the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves."
June 12 – NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi.
August 28 – The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to a huge crowd.
September 15 – The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young girls. This terrible event led to more civil rights actions.

1964: Civil Rights Act Passed

January 23 – The Twenty-fourth Amendment made poll taxes illegal for federal elections. This helped more people vote.
March 30 – In Hamilton v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Black people must be addressed with the same courtesy as white people in court.
Summer – Freedom Summer took place in Mississippi. Volunteers worked to register Black voters, who were still largely prevented from voting.
July 2 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law. This landmark law banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex or national origin" in jobs and public places.
December 10 – King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bloody Sunday-officers await demonstrators

The Edmund Pettus Bridge on "Bloody Sunday" in 1965.

1965: Voting Rights Act and Selma

February 18 – After a peaceful protest in Marion, Alabama, a state trooper shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, who died days later.
February 21 – Malcolm X was assassinated in New York.
March 7 – "Bloody Sunday": Civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, were attacked by state troopers and police as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Many were badly hurt, including SNCC leader John Lewis.
March 15 – President Lyndon B. Johnson used the phrase "We Shall Overcome" in a speech to Congress, urging them to pass the voting rights bill.
March 21 – Participants in the third and successful Selma to Montgomery march began a five-day, 54-mile march to Alabama's capitol.
August 6 – The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Johnson. This law protected the right to vote for African Americans and other minorities.
August 11–15 – The Watts riots erupted in Los Angeles, following accusations of police mistreatment of the African-American community.

1966: Black Power and Open Housing

June 5 – James Meredith began a solitary "March Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi. He was shot and injured. Other civil rights leaders continued the march.
June 16 – Stokely Carmichael first used the slogan "Black power" in a speech during the continued march.
Summer – The Chicago Freedom Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. worked to end housing discrimination in Chicago.
October – The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California.

1967: Major Riots and Milestones

June 12 – In Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
June - August – Over 150 communities experienced riots during the "Long, Hot Summer of 1967." The largest riots were in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit.
October 2 – Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1968: King's Assassination and Fair Housing

February 8 – The Orangeburg massacre occurred during a university protest in South Carolina.
April 3 – King delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting sanitation workers.
April 4 – Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 4–8 – Riots broke out in over 100 U.S. cities, including Chicago and Washington, D.C., in response to King's assassination.
April 11 – The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed. This law, also known as the Fair Housing Act, banned discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
May 12 – The Poor People's Campaign set up camp on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for six weeks.
October 16 – At the Olympics in Mexico City, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute during their medal ceremony.