The Civil Rights Movement

Click any event to learn more about what happened and why it mattered.

1. 1896Plessy v. Ferguson

   Supreme Court allows 'separate but equal.'

   May 18, 1896

   The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as facilities were 'equal.' In real life they almost never were. This decision locked Jim Crow segregation into American law for nearly 60 years.

   Read about segregation →
2. 1954Brown v. Board of Education

   Supreme Court strikes down school segregation.

3. 1955Rosa Parks Arrested

   She refuses to give up her bus seat in Montgomery.

4. 1960Greensboro Sit-ins

   Four students sit at a 'whites only' counter.

5. 1961Freedom Rides Begin

   Activists ride buses to test desegregation.

6. 1963March on Washington

   250,000+ march; Dr. King gives 'I Have a Dream.'

7. 1964Civil Rights Act of 1964

   Bans discrimination and segregation in public life.

8. 1965Voting Rights Act of 1965

   Protects the right to vote for all Americans.

9. 1968Dr. King Assassinated

   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is killed in Memphis.