William Edward Burghardt DuBois, social scientist, critic and public intellectual, was a leading figure in African-American protest for most of his adult life.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, formed in 1909.

On April 6, 1909, Matthew Henson became the first man to reach the North Pole.

Looking for better opportunities, massive numbers of African Americans move north to seek employment in factories.

Started to help the many African Americans who are migrating to the cities find jobs and housing.

Forty African Americans and eight whites are killed in race riots in East St Louis, Ill.

Kept on the sidelines by the US Army, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts join the Harlem Hellfighters and fight for the French Army.

Escaping the cotton fields of Louisiana, born Sarah Breedlove, Madam C.

Scores of race riots across the country leave at least 100 people dead.

Pioneering director-producer produces his first film, The Homesteader, based on his novel.

The rights of citizens.

Suppored by Robert Abbott, publisher of the Chicago Defender, Coleman travels to France to earn an international pilot`s license

On August 3, 1936, at the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won the 100-meter sprint, capturing his first of four gold medals.

When the Daughters of the American Revolution denied Anderson the opportunity to sing to an integrated audience at Constitution Hall, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR and invited her to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday.

"We want white tenants in our white community," directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new US federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. White neighbors' attempt to prevent Black tenants from moving in.

This landmark order established the first President`s Committee on Civil Rights charged with examining law enforcement agencies and government systems.

He was the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues.

First African-American Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional.

The roots of the bus boycott began years before the arrest of Rosa Parks. But, on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected bus driver James F. Blake's order to vacate a row of four seats in the colored section to seat a white passenger. By June 1956, the federal district court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional, and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Executive Order 10730 signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, sent Federal troops to maintain order and peace while the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, AR, took place.

August 29, 1957, the Senate gave final congressional approval to a Civil Rights Act after South Carolina Sen.

Monday, February 1, 1960, at 4:30 p.

First African American and American Woman to Win 3 Gold Medals in a singly Olympics, September 11, 1960.

Thirteen members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set off on a bus ride from Washington D.

The Birmingham Campaign was launched in 1963.

While residing in jail, the Reverend Dr.

Prohibits sex-based pay differentials on jobs.

August 28, 1963 : Martin Luther King Jr Delivers I Have a Dream in Washington, DC Thanks to the Power of TV and radio, Martin Luther King Jr`s speech at the end of the March on Washington was broadcast around the world.

This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal.