线性时间轴

1954

布朗诉教育委员会

1954年5月17日

美国最高法院相传一致9-0决定在布朗诉托皮卡教育局案，打开大门，民权运动最终种族融合在美国社会的各个方面。推翻Plessy v. Ferguson（1896），法院裁定“隔离的教育设施是不平等的。

1955

艾莫特·泰尔

1955年8月28日

十四岁的非裔美国人埃米特被残忍杀害后，据说与白人妇女在访问亲戚在密西西比州。这是第一次，黑人和白人记者报道这次审判的集大成者”之一的第二十世纪最令人震惊的和持久的故事。”白被告，Roy Bryant和J.W. Milam，都被一个白人陪审团仅67分钟；后来他们详细描述为看杂志（付给他们4000美元）他们杀了为止。母亲坚持开放的棺材，和他残缺的身体，强大的图像引起强烈的反应，在全国和世界。

罗萨公园

December 1, 1955

The arrest of Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress and civil rights activist who refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, sets off a long anticipated bus boycott by residents of Montgomery, Ala. The 13-month protest and ensuing litigation eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declares that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.⁴ The Montgomery bus boycott brings the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his nonviolent approach to social change to the forefront of the civil rights movement.

1957

小石城

September 4, 1957

Three years removed from the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus orders the National Guard to stop nine black students from attending the all-white Little Rock Central High School. President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervenes by federalizing the National Guard and deploying Army troops to protect the students, stripping the state of power. Media coverage of the physical and verbal harassment the black students were subjected to is reported and broadcast around the world. In the end, they successfully integrate Central High. ⁵

1961

自由乘车运动

May 4, 1961

The first of many civil rights “Freedom Rides” leaves Washington, D.C., for New Orleans. The Freedom Riders want to test the validity of the Supreme Court’s decision to outlaw racial segregation in bus terminals and through interstate bus travel.⁶ Angry white mobs – with the blessing of Alabama law enforcement – meet the convoy in Anniston and Birmingham, brutally beating the Freedom Riders and firebombing one of the buses.⁷

1963

“我有一个梦想”

August 28, 1963

In one of the largest gatherings in the nation’s capital and one of the first to be broadcast live on national television, at least 200,000 civil rights protesters stage a March on Washington concluding at the Lincoln Memorial. The march is dedicated to jobs and freedom and takes place 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The highlight of the event is Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

—Martin Luthar King Jr.

1964

民权法案

July 2, 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, mandating equal opportunity employment, and complete desegregation of schools and other public facilities. It also outlaws unequal voter registration requirements.¹³ Although it would take years for these changes to take effect in communities around the country, the law is a monumental victory for the civil rights movement.

诺贝尔和平奖

October 14, 1964

Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; at 35, he is the youngest recipient.