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Civil Rights in the United States

Seminal Docucments of the Civil Rights Movement, Listed Chronologically

1863: The Emancipation Proclamation

1865: The 13th Amendment

1866: The Civil Rights Act

1868: 14th Amendment

1870: 15th Amendment

1909: The Formation of the NAACP

1941: Executive Order 8802: Banning Discriminatory Employment in the Defense Industry

1948: Executive Order 9981 Barring Segregation in the Armed Forces (P. Truman)

1954:  Brown v. Board of Education 

1955: Resolution of the Montgomery Improvement Association, Montgomery, AL (bus boycott)

1956: The Southern Manifesto

1957: Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School

1957: Civil Rights Act of 1957

1960: An Appeal for Human Rights  [Image link]  (archived material)

1960: The Civil Rights Act of 1960 [Primary Source Document link]

1960: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Statement of Purpose

1962: Executive Order 11053: Authorizing the use of federal troops to integrate the University of Mississippi

1963: Letter from the Birmingham Jail. M.L. King

1963: The Birmingham Manifesto

1963: The Birmingham Truce Agreement

1963: Program: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

                Audio: Martin Luther King. “I Have a Dream”

1964: Executive Order 1118: Providing Assistance for Removal of Unlawful obstructions of Justice in the State of Alabama

1964: Mississippi Summer Project Documents, June-August 1964 (multiple documents links from site)

1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964

1965: Williams v. Wallace

 1965: Petition to Governor George Wallace by Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers

 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965

 1966: The Black Panther Platform and Program

 1968: Report of the National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders (also referred to as the "Kerner Report")

also, see: Report of the National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders: A Review Article 

 1968: The Civil Rights Act of 1968. Provision for Open Housing

also, see The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Primary Source Document)

 1971: James E. Swann et al v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, et al.

 1991: The Civil Rights Act of 1991