1944 Smith v Allwright Lonnie Smith argued that in Texas, black people could not vote in primary elections. The NAACP helped to take it to court. Supreme Court rules it was unconsitutional to deny membership to black Americans as a way of excluding them from voting in primaries
1945 Ralph Bunche was appointed by Truman to be part of the US delegation to draft the United Nations
1946 Morgan vs Virginia Irene Morgan was fined 100 dollars for refusing to give up her seat. The Supreme Court ruled segregation on interstate buses was unconsitutional
1947 President’s Commitee on Civil Rights was established by Truman to investigate racism in America. They produced a report called to secure these rights which failed to support anti-lynching legislation
Truman’s Fair Deal Programme demolished more houses than it built
1947 Journey of Reconciliation 16 CORE members decided to go on a bus journey to try and force de facto change. Their buses were attacked and 12 activists were arrested
1948 Executive Order 9980 outlawed racial segregation in civil service employmen~~t~~
1948 Executive Order 9981 ended segregation in the army
1950 Sweatt vs Painter challenged the separate but equal doctrine when Sweatt was refused admission to the University of Texas Law school. It was declared unconstitutional as there were no intergrated schools. Eventually led to open enrollment
1950 Washington Airport’s Canteen was desegregated
1951 The Committee on Government Contract Compliance was set up to ensure government contracts did not go to racist employers
1953-1958 Operation Wetback aimed to deport illegal immigrants 3.8 million including US citizens were deported
1954 Supreme Court ruled that Hispanic people were equal citizens
1954 Brown vs Board overturned Plessy vs Ferguson saying that separate but equal. It declared segregating schools to be unconsitutional
Brown vs Board 2 Amendment saying that it had to be done with all deliberate speed but this did not push on much change especially in the unwilling south
1956 The Southern Manifesto was a refusal by southern congressmen to obey supreme court decisions that banned racial segregation
September 1957 Little Rock high school tried to set an example by desegregating with 9 black students. 8 were warned away but one didn’t get the message and was met with a white mob. the local governors didn’t do anything so eisenhower was forced to step in and sent 1000 federal troops to escort them to class for a year
1960 Greensboro Sit in where 4 students sat at all white woolworths canteen counter and asked to be served as they were upset about the slow path legal action was making. This made Woolworths desegregate their lunch counters by 1961 and a lot of sympathy for the cause was created
1961 After this date, a series of executive orders were passed to give preference to black interviewees for jobs in government and businesses
August 1963 250,000 marched on washington to show their support for the proposed civil rights act. MLK made his i have a dream speech
1964 Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in public accommodations and outlawed discrimination in most employment. It also enlarged powers to speed up school desegregation
1965 Selma Campaign aimed to make selma the focus of a black voter campaign by walking from selma to montgomery. It was stopped by the national guard but johnson stepped in and agreed to provide federal help. he also called for federal voting rights
1965 Voting Rights Act= outlawed voter discrimination such as literacy tests and helped give black americans more federally protected power
1965 Stokely Carmichael banned white people from the SNCC
1966 Cuban Adjustment Act said Cubans living in America for a year became American citizens on the back of the Cuban communist revolution
1966 MLK launches his Northern Crusade in inner city Northern areas, trying to reduce poverty and teach people about non violent protest
1967 The Brown Berets were set up in LA which campaigned against police brutality particularly using school walkouts. They modelled some of their behaviour on the Black Panthers
1967 Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court after being made solicitor general in 1965
April 1968 MLK was assassinated in Memphis and after this the mainstream civil rights movement began to drop off
1968 Indian Civil Rights Act banned tribes from restricting the civil rights of its members
1968 Voter registration started to slow down
1968 North America Conference for Homophile Organisations put together a Homosexual Bill of Rights calling for equality
August 1970 Many cities held their first pride marches. NY had 10,000 attendees
1973 American Psychiatry Association said that homosexuality was no longer classed as a mental illness after Congress’ declaration in the 50s that it was
1974 Equal Opportunities Act provided more bilingual teachers in schools
1975 Voting Rights Act provided a language assistance at polling stations
1977 Polls said that over 50% of people believed in equal rights for gay people
1978 Proposition 6 was a law proposed in California to ban gays or lesbians from working in state funded schools. It was ultimately rejected by voters
1978 Longest Walk was a Native American protest walking from San Francisco to Washington to protest the BIA’s lack of negotiation. They eventually occupied the BIA building
1979 National March on Washington was attended by at least 100,000 people urging for equal rights and protective legislation for gays and lesbians
May 1979 5000 protesters marched on city hall to protest the leniency of the sentence of Milk’s assassin