African-Americans history of civil rights Timeline

Mr. Omar Rodrguez Escuela Alternativa, ASPIRA University High School

The Dred Scott Decision (1857)

The U.S. Supreme Court declared that people of African descent (whether or not they were slaves) were not protected by the Constitution, could never become citizens and couldnt sue in court. The Supreme Court also declared that the U.S. Congress cant prohibit slavery in federal territories and that the government couldnt take slaves from their owners without due process.

U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)

In the spring of 1861, decades of tensions between the northern and southern United States over issues including states' rights versus federal authority, westward expansion and slavery exploded into the American Civil War. The election of the anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 caused seven southern states to secede from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.

13th Amendment (1865)

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

Civil Rights Act (1866)

In 1866 the Civil Rights Act sought to protect freedmen and grant full citizenship to those born on U.S. soil, except Indians (1924). Other Notable Events: *In 1868 the 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants citizenship to former slaves. *In 1870 the 15th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits states from denying the right to vote because of race.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was constitutional under the doctrine separate but equal. *Separate but equal was a legal

doctrine in United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation (Jim Crow laws). Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to remain equal.

NAACP (1909)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, is founded "to promote equality of rights and to eradicate caste or race prejudice among the citizens of the United States [].

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Thirteen parents in Topeka, Kansas file a class action law suit against the Board of Education resulting in the Supreme Court decision to outlaw segregation in public schools.

Third KKK (1950s-1980s)

In the 1950s the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement resulted in the third generation of Ku Klux Klan organizations.
* The KKK was founded in 1865 by veterans of the Confederate Army. The second Klan was founded in 1915.

Other factors
1955- Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passengers on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. 1956- After a boycott to public transportation led by Martin Luther King, a U.S. Supreme court ruling prompts Montgomery to desegregate its buses. 1960- The Congress of Racial Equality, begins sending student volunteers on bus trips to test the implementation of new laws prohibiting segregation in interstate travel facilities. They are known as "Freedom Riders. 1961- Martin Luther King is arrested during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, AL -he writes "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which argues that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. 1963- Over 200,000 people were present during Martin Luther Kings I have a dream speech. 1965- Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - making literacy tests, poll taxes and other requirements used to restrict blacks from voting, illegal. 1968- Martin Luther King is assassinated.