Civil Rights Movement Events
April 1948
Gladys Noel Bates, a teacher in the Jackson Public School system, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Jackson Public School Board for its refusal to pay black teachers and administrators salaries equal to those paid to whites with similar experience and educational background.
May 17, 1954
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The court argued that segregation hurt both black and white students by instilling in each group false feelings of inferiority and superiority, respectively. The court added that the damage segregation did to blacks was “likely never to be undone.” This ruling opened the floodgates of civil rights activity and led to more than a decade of protest against inequality and injustice in other areas of American life.
September 13, 1954
Medgar Evers (later the state director of the NAACP) applied to University of Mississippi Law School but was denied admission because he lacked “the right kind” of recommendation letters. As a result, Ole Miss remained closed to blacks until the admission of James Meredith in 1962.
December 1954
Medgar Evers becomes NAACP Field Secretary
May 7, 1955 —
Reverend George Lee shot and killed
December 5, 1955 —
Montgomery Bus Boycott
August 1955 —
Lamar Smith shot in Brookhaven
August 28, 1955 —
Emmett Till murdered
1956 —
State Legislative Session establishes Mississippi State Sovereignty Commision
September 9, 1957 —
Civil Rights Act of 1957
1957 —
Clyde Kennard attempts to enroll
September 24-25, 1957 —
Little Rock crisis
Civil Rights Act of 1960 —
allowed for the federal supervision of local registrars
February 1, 1960 —
Initiation of student sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina
November 8, 1960 —
Election of JFK
January 1961 —
James Meredith applies for admission to the University of Mississippi.
May 4, 1961 —
Freedom Rides
March 27, 1961 —
Arrest of Tougaloo 9
September 25, 1961 —
Murder of Herbert Lee
October 4, 1961 —
high school students jailed in McComb
Anniston bus bombing
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/
civilrights-55-65/freeride.html
August 28, 1963 — March on Washington, D.C.June 11, 1963 — Assassination of Medgar Evers
Civil Rights Act of 1964
1964 —
Freedom SummerJune 21, 1964 —
Neshoba County killingsAugust 6, 1965 —
Voting Rights Act1969 — Meridian church bombingJanuary 1966 —
Murder of Vernon Dahmer
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