CIVIL RIGHTS
Timeline

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 Rights
1948 - 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 Boycott
Blacks 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.