Timeline of African American Civil Rights 1865-1992

1865: The Thirteenth Amendment is passed by Congress (Established the freedom of African Americans and provided them with some basic human rights.)

1868: The Fourteenth Amendment is passed by Congress (Gave all freed blacks their united states citizenship and equal protection under the law).

1870: The Fifteenth Amendment is passed by Congress (Forbade the denial of the vote to any man on the basis of colour, race or 'previous condition of sercitude).

Congress pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Asserts that all races, including African Americans were full citizens of the United States even if they had previously been slaves).

March 1865: the Freedman's Bureau was set up by the Federal Government (Its purpose was to support freed slaves in the short term and provide the basis for their long term security. The Bureau promoted the work of black self- help groups, that provided education of children and supported adults financially. This would help train black lawyers, scientists and teachers, thus indirectly fostering future black leaders.)

1873: The Slaughterhouse Case (The Supreme Court judged that the rights of individual citizens should stay under state control. It ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment protected a person's individual rights but not their state civil rights.)

1865-66: The Black Codes (Southern State Governments were determined to keep blacks in an inferior position. The codes differed from state to state but there were common feature that all of them shared, for instance; inter- racial marriages were outlawed, black people were forbidden from giving evidence against a white person in court or serving on juries, they were not permitted to vote and segregation in schools was mandatory.)

Military Reconstruction in the south 1867-1877 (Divided the south into military districts in order to insure that the rights given to African Americans in the south were protected).

1865: The formation of the Ku Klux Klan (The goal of the Klan was to enforce separation through terror. They believed whites were superior to all other races and that their dominion was god given. Their early efforts revolved around eliminating black franchise and they conducted violent attacks on any African Americans who tried to vote and the whites that supported them.)

1876: US v. Cruikshank (Following a riot in Louisiana which left seventy African Americans and two white people dead, over a hundred white men were arrested by Federal authorities. They were freed when the Supreme Court ruled that Enforcement Act empowered federal officers to take action only against states and not against individuals.)

The Compromise of 1877 (Marked the formal end of military reconstruction in the south. After an extremely close presidential election, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, promised the Democrats that inreturn for their support he would withdraw the remainingtroops from the south.)

1880s: Jim Crow Laws (Although informal segregation had existed in a few southern states before the end of Reconstruction, the Jim Crow Laws developed rapidly between 1887 and 1891 when eight southern states introduced formal segregation on trains. This was soon introduced to all public places, such as; parks, shops, playgrounds, swimming pools, theatres, cinemas, cemeteries and sports teams. Which further re-enforced the school segregation that had existed since the end of the civil war.)

1896: Plessy v. Ferguson (Homer Plessy, a light skinned mulatto legally classed as black, sued the railway company after being denied a seat on an all white railway carriage. The Supreme Court Justices decided 8-1 against him, ruling that segregation was constitutional as separation in itself did not imply inferior treatment. This case provided an important legal precedent that would remain in place for over half a century.)

1880s: Loss of African American Franchise (Although the Fifteenth Amendment had outlawed voting discrimination based on race it still allowed for discrimination based upon gender and property ownership. Throughout the 1880s southern state governments devised a number of complex rules and voting requirements which were technically non-racial, such as; poll taxes, property qualifications, literacy tests, white primaries and the grandfather clause, in order to restrict African American voting rights.)

1880-1910: Lynching (Southerners did not just rely on the law to deny civil rights to African Americans, terror was a common tactic used by white mobs to supress the population of a local area. The height of the southern lynching campaign occurred during this period. Lynching would usually go as follows; a white mob would take an African American man, who had been alleged to have committed a serious crime such as raping a white woman and then without any form of trial murder said man, usually via hanging.)

1881: The Tuskegee Institute (The purpose of this organisation, founded by Brooker T. Washington, was to teach young African Americans literacy, numeracy and practical skills. Washington preferred to promote black businesses and accommodation rather than encouraging intellectual and academic excellence.)

1905: The Niagara Movement (The Niagara Movement was founded, with the help of William E.B. Du Bois and William M. Trotter, after a meeting held in Canada, at the city of Niagara falls. They aimed to start a campaign that would restore voting rights to African Americans and abolish all discrimination. It was never likely to become a mass movement due to its academic approach to the question of civil rights and the lack of funding. However, it was important for outlining the principles of black equality,

1908: The Springfield Riot (Began when there was a violent attack on the black community after allegations of an attempted rape of a white woman by a black man. The police refused to hand the man over to the mob and in revenge they began to attack and burn black homes and businesses. Most African Americans fled the city. However, 84-year-old William Donnegan was lynched; his 'crime' was to have been married to a white woman for 32 years.)

1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (The NAACP was founded as a direct response to the Springfield Riot, after a meeting at the National Conference of the Negro. Their aims were to investigate racism, publicise it, suggest positive solutions and take legal action to enforce the law and the Constitution. Despite the presence of Du Bois, who played an important role editing the magazine 'Crisis', the majority of the organisation's early leaders were white.)

1911: The National Urban League (Set up thanks to the early successes of the NAACP, the NUL focussed on looking after the welfare of African Americans living in Northern cities and protesting discrimination in jobs and housing.)

1915: Guinn v. US (This Supreme Court Case was one of the earliest successes for the NAACP, the grandfather clauses in the state constiutions of Marland and Oklahoma were outlawed)

1919: Chicago Race Riots (After a teenage African American boy accidentally drifted towards the 'whites only' section on Lake Michigan beach. The boy was stoned to death by the whites on the beach, which led to thirteen days of sporadic violence when Irish and Polish gangs attacked the city's black ghettos, leaving 23 black and 15 whites people dead and 1000 mainly black families homeless.)

1920-1930: The Harlem Renaissance (In Harlem during this period there was an outpouring of writers, poets, musicians and painters from black society. As a result a significant black middleclass developed who had more educational opportunities and as a result there were more black professionalsand businesses.)

1914: The Universal Negro Improvement Association (The UNIA was founded by Marcus Garvey, he believed that African Americans should focus on building up their own education and businesses and take control of their own affairs. He also encouragedblacks to have pride in themselves and their culture. Ultimately he believed that a return to Africa, would offer the best future for black people. As a result heestablished the Black Star Line.)

1915-1930: The revival of the Ku Klux Klan (Factors that contributed to the growth of the Klan included fear amongst whites towards blacks and communism, increased focus on Jews and Roman Catholics and the success of the film 'The Birth of a Nation', that glorified the old Klan. Although the Klan remained a rather minor organisation in the north, in the south its backing of capitalism and traditional American virtues meant that by 1924 its membership had risen to 5million.)

1942: The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE was set up by James Farmer to protest against the De Facto segregation in northern cities. It was revived in 1961, however, it split in 1966 over support for the Black Power Movement and James Farmer resigned in disgust at the violent tendencies of some members. After 1968 though, when Roy Innes took over, it moved back to a more moderate position.)

1954; Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas (In this landmark Supreme Court case the justices unanimously ruled that a black girl, Linda Brown, should be allowed to attend her nearest school (an all-white one) and that to bar her from it was unconstitutional. The decision created an important legal precedent, overturning the one set by Plessy v. Ferguson, that at the time was expected to produce major change. The case served as a vindication of the NAACP's legal strategy and created some belief amon

1955: The murder of Emmet Till (Emmet Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was visiting his family in Mississippi. He was shot dead by two white men after supposedly making remarks and wolf whistling a white woman. The case garnered a great deal of media attention, showing that events such as this were becoming rarer and that public opinion was changing. However, the fact that neither of the accused were found guilty by the all white jury showed the lack of justice in the south.)

1955: White Citizen Councils (After the defeat inflicted by Brown v. Board, new strategies were developed in the deep south to oppose desegregation. The White Citizen Councils were one of these, they aimed to maintain strict segregation in all aspect of life and waged economic warfare against anyone who supported integration.)

1957: Central High School, Little Rock, Kansas (After the federal district court ruled that the high school must be desegregated, Governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard in order to bar the entry of the nine blackstudents that were set to attend. Annoyed by what he saw as Faubus' dereliction of duty, having disobeyed the court ruling, President Eisenhower used his authority as Commander-in-chief to send 10,000 paratroopers to the school to ensure its integration.)

1955-1956: The Montgomery Bus Boycott (The Boycott began after NAACP activist Rosa Parks was thrown off a bus for refusing to give up her seat for a white person. It gained the near unanimous support of ordinary African American men and women as they were able to protest without exposing themselves to violence and it showed how effective and well organised the protesters could be. Although adamant in their refusal to grant any concessions in the beginning, after a year the local authorities folded to the p

1956: Browder v. Gayle (After another successful NAACP campaign and thanks to the national coverage of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional, with similar reasoning to the Brown v. Board case.)

1957: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Formed in Atlanta with Martin Luther King as president, it widened the field of civil rights activity. Unlike the NAACP it did not take individual members, rather they reacted to events and organised campaigns where it seemed appropriate.)

1960-1961: Sit-ins (The first sit-in took place, when 4 black students went to their localWoolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, quickly similar protest spread to the neighbouring states. The non-violent style of protest these techniques promoted was more confrontational than the Bus Boycott as it forced a response from the authorities. If the police used too much force when removing the demonstrators the press would record it, which was all the more important in the new era of television.)

1963: Birmingham Protest (Alabama) (MLK and the SCLC chose Birmingham, because of how tightly segregated it was and the tendency of the local police, lead by Eugene 'Bull' Connor, to over react. although at first little progress was made and King was arrested. After a march lead by children from the local high school, was met with police dogs and water cannons, the protest gained the attention of the global media. The protest forced businesses to desegre- gate and gained global recognition.)

1963: The March on Washington (Following the protests in Birmingham King wished to keep up the pressure and so the civil rights movement organised the march. Unlike other campaigns it took place in the capital and was directed at the heart of the federal government. Over 250,000 people attended the march, which culminated with Kings famous 'I have a dream' speech.)

1961: Freedom Rides (The Freedom Rides of 1961 re-enforced the success of the sit-ins. The Idea was that blacks and whites would board inter-state buses in the north, where they could legally sit together, but remain in their places when the bus entered the south, where they would be breaking local segregation laws. This strategy was again successful due to the favourable publicity it received when confronted by violence.)

Congress pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Johnson was able to use the shocked mood in the nation and his connections in congress drive to drive through his civil rights act. The Act made all racial, sexual and religious discrimination unlawful, it gave the Attorney-General the power to file law suits to speed up desegregation, it established the Fair Employment Practices Commission and it banned exclusion from restaurants stores and other public place.)

1965: Congress pass the Voting Rights Act (After the violence in Selma Johnson promised to pass the Voting Rights Bill which aimed to improve African American voting rights and registration. The Bill made the following voter registration requirements illegal; demonstration of educational achievement, knowledge of any subject, ability to interpret material and proof of moral character, which meant blacks could now register on equal terms to whites.)

1965: March from Selma to Montgomery (The Civil Rights movement started focusing on the terrible voter registration in the deep south. Selma was chosen as the start point for the march because even though half the population was black, only 1% were registered to vote. The media publicised the violence dished out by police chief Jim Clark against the peaceful protestors. Which created a lot of support for the movement and forced the federal government to protect the protestors for the rest of the march.)

1966: The Chicago Campaign (MLK was invited to Chicago to run a civil rights campaign to tackle de facto segregation, unemployment and housing. However, the SCLC found less co- operation with African Americans than in the south, virulent resistance from racist whites and clever tactics from Mayor Richard Daley, who was far more subltle than the likes of 'Bull' Connor and Jim Clark. The campaign ended in defeat without any significant change being made.)

1965-1974: The Vietnam War The Vietnam war cause a drastic reduction is support for the civil rights movement from Johnson and Congress. This was made worse by King's criticism of the war, because of his religious principles and that he believed it was detracting attention from the civil rights movement.)

1968: The Fair Housing Act. (This Act meant that no discrimination was to be allowed in the sale, rent and mortgage of properties. The passing of this Act was much to do with the murder of King earlier that year, as it created a great deal of public sympathy.)

1965-1968: Riots (The first of the three 'long hot summers' of rioting began in the Watts district of Los Angeles, beginning after a drunken black driver was arrested and the beaten by the police. Fourteen thousand troops were required to restore order and four thousand people were arrested. Although this was one of the most serious incidences, wide spread violence in cities with substantial African American populations was common in these years.)

1969: Affirmative Action (Nixon encouraged this policy as a means to tackle employment discrimination. The policy involved statistical quotas for employment and educational opportunities, to affirm the rights of African Americans to have equal opportunities to whites. The policy was criticised however, as a 'rigid system of inflexible quotas' but Nixon took the view that government 'hand ups' were better than welfare 'hand outs'.)

1971: Griggs v. Duke Power Company (The Supreme Court rules that the requirement for employees to posses a high school diploma or pass an intelligence test had been unreasonable to African Americans considering past educational discrimination. Effectively confirming the validity of affirmative action.)

1972: Equal Opportunities Act (This Act displayed Congress' support for affirmative action, giving more power to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.)

1971: Bussing (Bussing was the mandatory transporting of children to areas outside of their locality to achieve a better racial mix in schools. This radical strategy to end de facto segregation was supported by the Supreme Court Case Swann v. Charlotte- Mecklenburg Board of Education.)

1974: Milliken v. Bradley (This Supreme Court case stopped court-ordered bussing between white suburbs and largely black metropolitan areas. Making it clear that bussing would only be allowed if there was deliberate segregation.)

1978: Regents of the University of California v. Baake (This Supreme Court case displayed a reaction away from too much affirmative action. Alan Baake, a white student trying to get a place at the California University Medical School, won the case which ruled that he had been unfairly discriminated against because of his race.)

1988: Civil Rights Restoration Act (In 1984 in Grove City v. Bell the Supreme Court ruled that organisations which received federal funds only had to be in compliance with the area of civil rights legislation for which they had received the money. The new Act said that all aspects of civil rights legislation had to be complied with before any funding could be given.)

Timeline of African American Civil Rights 1865-1992

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