CIVIL RIGHTSTimeline

Pre-emancipation

1783 - Massachusetts becomes first state to outlaw slavery

1808 - U.S. bans the trading of slaves

The practice continues, however.

The Missouri Compromise - Union pledges to maintain a balance of 12 slave states and 12 free states

Dred Scott Case - Court rules that slaves do not become free when escaping a slave state and entering a free state

Civil War

1861 - The confederate states secede from the union. Civil war ensues.

1863 - President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in “areas of the rebellion.”

1865 - The Civil War ends

Amendments

The 13th Amendment - Abolished slavery from the United States

The 14th Amendment - Required equal protection under the law to all persons.

The 15th Amendment - Banned racial discrimination in voting.

Setbacks

Public transportation systems in 14 states began segregating railroad cars.

Plessy v. Ferguson - Landmark 1896 case, which ruled that “separate but equal” is OK.

More than 2,000 blacks lynched between 1881 and 1925

Civil Rights1948 - President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9981

Says, “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Created the President’s Committee of Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services.

Truman’s support of Civil Rights created the political rift between northern states and southern states. It’s the reason why the South always votes for Republicans in presidential elections.

“SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”

Drinking Fountain

Schools

Movie Theaters

Soda Machines

Other races too...

Public Transportation

End of Segregation

Brown v. Board of Education - In 1954, U.S. Supreme Court rules “separate but equal” unconstitutional.

Ruling was meant to desegregate the schools, but paved the way for wide-scale desegregation.

Thurgood Marshall argued the case for the plaintiffs. He later returned to the U.S. Supreme Court as the court’s first African-American justice.

Rosa Parks

Feb. 13, 1913 - Oct. 25, 2005

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama

Known as the “mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement.”

In 1943, Parks joined the National Advancement for the Association of Colored People (NAACP)

She was elected to work as a volunteer secretary for the NAACP and continued that job until 1957

The back of the bus...In Montgomery, Alabama, where Parks lived, the bus system reserved the first four rows for white riders.

75 percent of the ridership was made up of black riders.

On December 1, 1955 at about 6 p.m., Parks went on the bus and sat on the first row of seats reserved for black people.

As the bus travelled, seats reserved for whites filled up. Some were forced to stand.

The bus driver, James F. Blake, demanded that Parks and other riders sitting in the first sections move.

Parks refused and Blake had her arrested.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottBlacks boycott the Montgomery Bus system

Black cab drivers took blacks to work for $.10 per ride, while others organized carpools.

Boycotts follow in bus systems across the country.

The boycott ended on December 20, 1956 (381 days)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Alabama’s bus segregation unconstitutional.

The Federal Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation on interstate trains and buses.