Schedule | TNT Originals | Turner Learning Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement 1850 - 1970 National Events (black) New Orleans Events (orange) Sports Events (blue) 1857 Dred Scott: Supreme Court ruled that African- Americans, free or enslaved, were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal Courts. 1862 Union forces defeat Confederates in the Battle of New Orleans. 1865 13th Amendment: Abolition of Slavery. 1868 14th Amendment: Citizenship and Civil Rights for African-Americans. 1870 15th Amendment: Suffrage (Voting Rights) for African-American men. 1874 Battle of Liberty Place: White League takes City Hall; later dislodged by federal troops. 1881 Tennessee segregates railroad cars, followed by Florida (1887); Mississippi (1888); Texas (1889); Louisiana (1890); Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Georgia (1891); South Carolina (1898); North Carolina (1899); Virginia (1900); Maryland (1904); and Oklahoma (1907). 1895 Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" address: Says the "Negro problem" would be solved by a policy of gradualism and accommodation. 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson: Supreme Court decides that "separate but equal" facilities satisfy 14th Amendment guarantees, thus giving legal sanction to "Jim Crow" segregation laws. 1898 New Louisiana state constitution prohibits most African-Americans from voting. 1902 Streetcars segregated. 1903 W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk: calls for agitation on behalf of African-American rights. 1908 Jack Johnson becomes the first African-American heavyweight champion. 1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed to promote use of the courts to restore the legal rights of African-Americans. 1913 Federal segregation. Wilson administration begins government-wide segregation of work places, rest-rooms and lunch rooms. 1916 Corpus Christi established: first segregated Catholic church in downtown New Orleans. 1924 City ordinance passed mandating racial segregation in housing. 1936 African-American Jesse Owens rebuffs Hitler's claims of White supremacy by capturing four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. 1938 Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champ 1937-49, beats German contender Max Schmeling. 1947 Jackie Robinson is signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers and wins Rookie of the Year honors. 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education: Supreme Court bans school segregation. First "White Citizens" council forms in Mississippi in response to Supreme Court's Brown decision. 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott starts when Rosa Parks refuses to give seat up to a White passenger. Boycott brings 26-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr., to national prominence. Emmett Till, a Chicago youth visiting relatives in the South, is murdered by Whites, who are then acquitted by an all-White jury. 1957 President Eisenhower sends in the National Guard to enforce integration of Little Rock's Central High School in the face of violent White opposition. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) forms, with Martin Luther King, Jr., as president. 1957 Sam Jones becomes the first African-American drafted by an NBA team, the Boston Celtics. Althea Gibson is the first African-American to win Wimbeldon Tennis Tournament. 1960 Nashville students stage the biggest, most effective sit-in demonstrations to date and succeed in integrating lunch counters in downtown. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) forms. 1960 In New Orleans, school integration is enforced by the federal government after the legislature closes the public school system. Black students of the Consumer League of Greater New Orleans lead a picket of White-owned businesses that refuse to hire Black employees. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) members are arrested during a sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown New Orleans. 1960 Wilma Rudolph wins three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics, first American woman to do so. 1961 "Freedom Rides" to desegregate southern bus terminals. 1962 James Meredith becomes the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi. White protesters riot. Federal troops sent in to quash riots. 1962 The initial phase of integration takes place in public and private schools in New Orleans. New Orleans merchants integrate lunch counters and remove racial signs from toilets and drinking fountains. Tulane University admits its first Black students. 1962 Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia 76ers, scores 100 points against New York Knicks. Walt Bellamy, Chicago Packers, is named Rookie of the Year. Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, is named Player of the Year. 1963 SCLC, led by King, attacks Birmingham's discriminatory practices. Thousands of young students are arrested and brutalized by Birmingham police dogs and water cannons. Medgar Evers, Mississippi NAACP leader, is assassinated. President Kennedy gives first presidential address in support of Civil Rights. March on Washington. MLK delivers "I Have A Dream Speech." 1964 Freedom Summer Project brings hundreds of volunteers to Mississippi to aid in voter registration. Three Civil Rights volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner participating in Freedom Summer are murdered by Whites. President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964. King is awarded Nobel Peace Prize. 1964 Game between St. Augustine and Jesuit takes place. The Pope appoints Harold R. Perry as the first Black Roman Catholic bishop in the United States in the 20th century. Perry replaces Civil Rights advocate, Bishop John Patrick Cody, as bishop of New Orleans. In Bogalusa, LA, protest marchers are subjected to police brutality and gunfire attacks from segregationists. The U.S. Department of Justice intervenes to set up peace negotiations. 1964 Cassius Clay becomes heavyweight champion; later this year he joins Nation of Islam and changes his name to Muhammad Ali. 1965 Over a three month period, Civil Rights activities intensify in Selma, Alabama. White police authorities beat and arrest demonstrators, causing national outcry. King, under federal protection, leads triumphant march from Selma to state capitol in Montgomery. Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Johnson. President announces on national television: "We shall overcome." Malcolm X assassinated at Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, NY. The most devastating racial uprising to date explodes in Watts area of Los Angeles, CA. 1965 St. Augustine sues the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) for barring their eligibility for and membership in this organization. 1967 New Orleans attorney John P. Nelson proves that the LHSAA is a state organization and is therefore in violation of the 14th Amendment. St. Augustine wins the case and is admitted into the LHSAA along with the other Black high schools in Louisiana. 1967 The Celtics name Bill Russell their head coach and another color line is crossed: Russell becomes the first African-American head coach in major league professional sports. 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated in Memphis, TN. Copyright (c) 1999 Turner Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved.