A Timeline of Segregation in Schools

1896:

~ Plessy v. Ferguson: "Separate but equal" doctrine, created by this historical case, establishes basic race relations in America.

1935:

~ Baltimore Court rules Donald Murray must be admitted to white law school.

1938:

~ Supreme Court rules Lloyd Lionel Gaines must be admitted to the University of Missouri Law School.

1950:

~ Supreme Court rules in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma that segregation of law school program is unconstitutional.

1954:

~ Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine is over-turned by Brown v. Board of Education.

1955:

~ Second Brown decision calls for school desegregation.

1957:

~ Arkansas governor Faubus calls out National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock High School.

~ President Dwight Eisenhower sends 1,000 paratroopers to restore order and escort the black students to class.

1960:

~ Four students stage a sit-in a in Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's department store after being refused service at the all white's lunch counter because they were black.

1962:

~ James Meredith, a black student, enrolls at the University of Mississippi, sparking huge conflict in
the south.

1963:

~ Alabama governor George Wallace attempts to prevent the desegregation of public schools.

1965:

~ James Meredith is shot during his Walk Against Fear.

1971:

~ In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, Supreme Court decides courts can order busing to desegregate schools.  


Bibliography
 
 

To The Main Segregation Page

To The Civil Rights Project Index


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