Jim Crow Timeline Activity Cards
Answer Key
These activity cards are designed to be used in the Introductory Activity of “Realities of Life in the Jim Crow
Era” lesson plan. Cut the cards along the dotted line and distribute one card to each group of 2-3 students.
Emancipation Proclamation
(1863)
Abolished slavery in the Confederate states that were
rebelling against the Union.
13th Amendment
(1865)
Abolished slavery in the United States.
14th Amendment
(1868)
Granted citizenship to individuals who were once
enslaved.
Congress Passed the Civil Rights Act
(1875)
Provided all Americans access to restaurants, hotels,
theaters, public transportation, and other public spaces,
as well as the right to serve on a jury.
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Declared Unconstitutional
(1883)
The United States Supreme Court ruled that the Civil
Rights act of 1875 was unconstitutional and not
authorized by the 13th or 14th Amendments of the
Constitution.
Founding of the NAACP
(1909)
The National Association of Colored People (NAACP) was
founded on February 12, 1909, the hundredth
anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It was started
by 60 white and black activists, in reaction to a race riot
in Springfield, Illinois in 1908.
Plessy v. Fergusson
(1896)
Enabled the expansion of Jim Crow (segregation)
practices.
Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)
Established that segregation in public school was illegal.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gives
“I Have a Dream” speech
(1963)
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave this 17-minute public speech
on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
in Washington D.C. during the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. During this speech, he called for
racial equality and the end of discrimination.
Gaines v. Canada
(1938)
Lloyd Gaines, a college graduate, was denied entrance to
law school at the University of Missouri because he was
black. Missouri offered to pay for him to attend law
school out of the state. The Supreme Court ruled that
Missouri had to build a law school for blacks equal to
that of whites or admit Gaines to the University of
Missouri.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
(1955)
This boycott, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., was sparked
by Rosa Parks’s refusal to give up her seat to a white
person. The boycott lasted 381 days and ended with the
desegregation of the bus system in Montgomery,
Alabama on December 21, 1956.
Voting Rights Act was passed
(1965)
The Voting Rights Act authorized federal intervention to
make it possible for blacks to vote.
2012 WNET
Thurgood Marshall was
sworn into the Supreme Court
(1967)
In October 1967, civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall
was sworn in as the 96th Justice and the first African
American Justice on the Supreme Court.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated
(1968)
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968
in Memphis, Tennessee. Escaped convict, James Earl
Ray, was arrested for the crime.
Some of the information featured in this answer key has been gathered from the following sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events.html
http://www.ushistory.org/more/timeline.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1083408/TIMELINE-The-African-American-civil-rights-movement-slave-market-White-House.html
2012 WNET