Building on 19th-century activism, African Americans at the turn of the 20th century continued the struggle for civil rights. This timeline explores milestones from 1960 to 1978, watershed events, and the work of numerous organizations, legislators, educators, protestors, and organizers that ushered in civil rights reform. Lessons learned from their work reveal the civil rights strategies and victories that help inform present-day efforts to achieve equality.

SNCC Facilitates Sit-ins, Feb. 1, 1960 Four African American college students 'sit-in' at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, leading to the counter’s desegregation five months later and launching similar protests across the South. On April 15, Ella Baker organizes students at Shaw University in Raleigh to help them form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to facilitate the growing sit-in movement. The museum preserves the site and memory of this pivotal event.

1961 CORE Organizes Freedom Rides The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), formed in Chicago in 1942, begins to organize Freedom Rides throughout the South to desegregate interstate public bus travel. Diane Nash plays a crucial role in sustaining the Rides from Tennessee into Mississippi, serving as a liaison between the press and the United States Department of Justice.

June 11, 1963 The President Addresses a Nation Divided Spurred by civil rights activists, President John F. Kennedy gives his televised Civil Rights Address to the nation, calling on citizens and policy makers, who are staunchly divided on the issue of integration, to support racial desegregation efforts. Five months later, after the President is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, pledges to continue Kennedy’s civil rights agenda.

June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers Is Assassinated In an act of racial violence, Medgar Evers, field marshal for the NAACP, is fatally shot in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi. As a WWII veteran, he is buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

August 28, 1963 Masses March on Washington More than 200,000 people attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C., to demand civil rights legislation, fair labor standards, and a minimum wage increase. In a day full of speeches, Josephine Baker and Daisy Bates are the only women to address the crowd. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his "I Have a Dream" speech. March on Washington organizers Bayard Rustin and Cleveland Robinson

September 15, 1963 Tragedy Rocks Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Four African American girls—Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley—are killed in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. More than twenty other attendees are injured. Dress worn by Denise McNair

June 1964 Freedom Summer Spurs Voter Registration SNCC, CORE, the NAACP, and other civil rights groups organize a massive African American voter registration drive in Mississippi known as "Freedom Summer." On June 21, three young CORE civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—are murdered. In the five years following Freedom Summer, Black voter registration in Mississippi will rise from a mere 7 percent to 67 percent.

July 2, 1964 The President Signs Civil Rights Act President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which gives the federal government far-reaching powers to prosecute discrimination in employment, voting, and education.

February 21, 1965 El Hajj Malik El Shabazz: Malcolm X Is Assassinated One year after leaving the Nation of Islam (NOI), Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem, New York. Standing at a podium, Malcolm is preparing to speak to the audience in the Audubon Ballroom, a longstanding center for social and political activity, when gunmen open fire. The facility was later purchased by Columbia University. The facade was preserved, with space inside devoted to a museum honoring the legacy of Malcom X.

March 7, 1965 Voting Rights Act Outlaws Attempts to Disenfranchise Martin Luther King Jr. organizes a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for voting rights. Police club and teargas protesters, including John Lewis, who sustains a head injury. Singer Joan Baez and writer James Baldwin also attend. By August 6, the Voting Rights Act is passed, outlawing disenfranchisement practices used in the South.

August 11-16, 1965 Riots Break Out in Watts Riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles leave 34 dead and more than a thousand injured. The arrest of a young African American man charged with reckless driving sparks the violence, but its underlying causes are mass unemployment, poor living conditions, and other forms of systemic racism. Visible from across the neighborhood, the Watts Towers art project serves as a source of pride, bearing silent witness to change.

June 16, 1966 A New Expression of Black Power Arises Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, calls for "Black Power" in a speech in Greenwood, Mississippi. Four months later in Oakland, California, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale found the grassroots Black Panther Party. The Panthers create neighborhood patrols to protect residents from police brutality, and develop food, education, cultural, and healthcare programs for African Americans.

1967 Thurgood Marshall Becomes the First African American on the Supreme Court “In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” - Thurgood Marshall

April 28, 1967 Muhammad Ali Opposes Vietnam War Amid growing opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (1965–1975), World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the army. Convicted of draft evasion, Ali is sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000, and loses his boxing title and his license to box for three years. In 1971, his prison sentence is reversed by the Supreme Court. Ali refused to step forward when called at Houston’s MEPS and was arrested.

April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Is Assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder sparks a week of protest and rioting across the country and a massive processional of mourners during his funeral services. Friends and family, including Coretta Scott King, Harry Belafonte Jr., and Jesse Jackson, holding hands at Martin Luther King Jr. funeral services in Memphis, Tenn., 1968

March 30, 1971 Congress Members Present a Unified Voice Thirteen members of Congress form the Congressional Black Caucus to present a unified African American voice in Congress. Shirley Chisholm is the only woman among the thirteen prominent figures representing nine states.

December 1971 Chicago Activists Push Toward Self-Empowerment The Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Willie Beatrice Barrow co-found Operation Breadbasket, later named Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), an influential Chicago-based organization emphasizing African American economic advancement and education. The program was unveiled by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Jubilee CME Church in Chicago, IL.

January 25, 1972 Shirley Chisholm Runs for President! At Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm launches her campaign for the U.S. presidency. Beginning in 1968, she served as the first African American woman in Congress.

March 24, 1972 Groundwork Is Laid for Affirmative Action President Richard M. Nixon signs the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, color, ability, and nationality. Ultimately, this act helps lay the foundation for affirmative action.

1978 Bakke Succeeds in Challenging Affirmative Action In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court rules against universities using fixed racial quotas to make admissions decisions, a challenge to affirmative action. Bakke Decision protest in Los Angeles, CA. Follow the link below to continue your journey through Civil Rights history.