Supreme Court Showdowns
Legislative Landmarks
Organizations & Leaders
Civic Action
Segregation
Cities and Places
100

This 1896 decision upheld “separate but equal,” giving legal cover to Jim Crow. 

Plessy v. Ferguson

100

This 1965 act let federal officials register voters and suspended literacy tests. 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

100

MLK founded and led this church-based civil-rights group. 

 SCLC

100

Sparked by Rosa Parks, this 1955–56 protest desegregated city buses.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

100

Segregation “by law.”

De Jure

100

King called this Alabama industrial center “the most segregated city in America.” 

Birmingham 

200

 The 1946 ruling that struck down segregation on interstate buses.

Morgan v. Virginia

200

The 1964 law that bars a motel engaged in interstate commerce from turning guests away because of race.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

200

College students used sit-ins through this group to desegregate lunch counters.

SNCC

200

Thousands of students joined this 1964 voter-registration drive in Mississippi. 

Freedom Summer

200

Segregation “in fact” 

De Facto

200

A 1965 riot here left 36 dead, 900 injured, and 4,000 arrested

Los Angeles Watts District

300

In 1950 the Court said a state law school must admit Black students even if a separate Black school existed.

Sweatt v. Painter

300

This 1968 statute outlawed housing discrimination

Civil Rights Act of 1968

300

Nine teenagers who integrated Central High in 1957 are collectively called this.

Little Rock Nine

300

Roughly 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for this 1963 event. 

 the March on Washington

300


King’s nickname for his philosophy of nonviolent direct action and the 4 leaders who help create it.

300

ames Meredith integrated this university, better known as Ole Miss.

University of Mississippi 

400

The 1954 decision that reversed Plessy in public education

Brown v. Board of Education

400

 A policy of actively recruiting women and minorities for jobs or college slots. 

Affirmative Action

400

Often nicknamed the “Black Muslims,” this religious organization counted Malcolm X among its leaders.

Nation of Islam

400

This Alabama voting-rights march produced “Bloody Sunday” on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Selma-to-Montgomery March

400

Stokely Carmichael’s slogan that King feared would incite violence

Black Power

400

Nine students faced mobs integrating Central High in this state.

Arkansas

500

Its 1955 follow-up ordered schools to desegregate “with all deliberate speed."

Brown II

500

Created in 1967, it studied the causes of urban unrest and warned of “two societies, one Black, one white.”

Kerner Commission

500

Formed in 1966 to fight police brutality and run community programs.

Black Panthers 

500

Kids braved fire hoses and police dogs in this 1963 Birmingham action. 

Children’s Crusade

500

Malcolm X warned change would come by these if necessary. 

Ballots or Bullets

500

 Rosa Parks’ arrest sparked a historic bus boycott in this city

Montgomery

600

The constitutional clause the Court relied on in Brown

Equal-Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

600

his amendment clause guarantees “equal protection of the laws.” 

14th Amendment’s Equal-Protection Clause

600

The local group that led the 381-day Alabama bus boycott by applying economic pressure.

Montgomery Improvement Association

600

A 1963 Good Friday protest in Birmingham ended with MLK writing a famous jailhouse letter

the Good Friday Demonstration

600

Biblical teaching King cited: “Love thy enemies as thyself.”

Christian ethics of love

600

The 1965 voting-rights march that met “Bloody Sunday” began in this town. 

Selma