Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation in all U.S. public schools unconstitutional.

The Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis begins on September 3 when nine African American students try to enroll at Central High School. 

Freedom Rides begin, challenging the non-enforcement of Supreme Court decisions declaring segregated public buses unconstitutional. 

Montgomery Bus Boycott begins on December 5, four days after Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., writes his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” defending the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a landmark piece of federal legislation, prohibiting discrimination in voting.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Civil Rights Act bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin (also unequal voter requirements & segregation)

Explore the development of civil rights throughout Colorado and the United States of America.

Lauren Watson founds the Denver chapter of the Black Panther Party in the Five Points neighborhood.  The Black Panther Party was founded with an ideology of Black activism, particularly against police brutality.


Black Panther Denver Chapter

From the integration of the YMCA’s Camp Lookout.  

Camp Nizhoni is closed

Lincoln Hills

Sponsored by the Colored Rodeo Association of Denver

Colorado hosts its first all African American rodeo.  

George Brown (1926–2006) is elected Colorado’s first African American state senator, serving until 1975. Brown was already the first black editor at The Denver Post.

First African American State Senator Elected

Elvin Caldwell is the first African American elsected to serve on Denver's city council, making him the first black city council member west of the Mississippi.

First African American Denver City Council member

Four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, begin a sit-in at the Woolworth’s Drug Store lunch counter to protest the company’s policy banning African Americans. Sit-in demonstrations spread throughout the South.


Sit-In Demonstrations

This branch is the last official segregated YWCA to close.

Phyllis Wheatley YWCA

Rachel Noel (1918–2008) is the first African American elected the Denver Public School Board. In 1968, she introduces the Noel Resolution, asking the superintendent to create a plan to integrate the city’s public schools. She is also the first black woman elected to Colorado public office.


Noel Resolution

In September, dozens of Denver Public Schools buses are destroyed or damaged with fire bombs.  This was the result of opposition to forced integrated busing throughout the Denver Public School district. The goal of the busing program was to achieve ethnically and racially integrated schools.

Donahue Hayes was a student during Denver's busing program.  Donahue discusses being bussed into South High School.  Index with major themes is attached.

Physical Description: 55 minutes. Digital file available on SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/historycolorado/donahue-hayes-student-denver-busing

Standards for Civil Rights Timeline