The following are all questions that can be asked to give you ideas for your own personal Timeline. This Timeline can be used as a starter for your own web site which you will be making later on this semester. Strive for at least 10 entries in your timeline.
- When were you born?
- When were any brothers or sisters born?
- When did any family members give birth, get married, pass away, move, or graduate?
- When did you or your family move to a new house or city?
- When did you start school? Start at a new school? Change friends?
- When did you begin to play a sport, get a hobby, or begin a new project, or skill?
- When did first discover a role model?
- When did you have a major accomplishment?
* Bonuses for photos of locations, hobbies, sounds, multimedia in your Timeline!
Now extend your own personal timeline back in time roughly 40 years to 1950. Add to it major historical events from the civil rights movement, Brown v. Board, Martin Luther King’s life, and local African American Heritage.
Include dates from 1950 to the present day. Use the links on the right to find important dates that match the events listed below. Again, multimedia is always a good thing.
Links to help guide your research
- Internet Public Library Kidspace
- Yahooligans
- U of M Brown v. Board Commemoration
- Gateway to African American History
- Civil Rights.org
Important Events
- The Nat King Cole Show debutes, making Cole the first African American host of a variety show
- Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday becomes a national holiday
- Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat for a white man and is arrested, leading to a boycott of the public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama
- Ralph Ellison’s National Book Award winner The Invisible Man is published
- Alvin Ailey forms his New York dance company
- Brown v. Board of Education acknowledges that segregation is unconstitutional
- Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his historic “I Have a Dream” speech during a peaceful march on Washington
- Equal Opportunity and Employment Act is passed
- Toni Morrison is the first African American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
- NAACP Secretary and civil right leader Medgar Evers is assassinated in front of his Jackson, Mississippi home
- Sidney Poitier is the first African American to win an Academy Award for his role in Lillies of the Field
- The Civil Rights Act is passed
- The Supreme Court upholds the right of universities and colleges to consider race to ensure a diverse student body in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger
- Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which won eight Grammy Awards and sold over 30 million copies, is released
- Thurgood Marshall is appointed to the Supreme Court (Who appointed him?)
- The Voting Rights Act is passed, prohibiting discrimination in voting practices or procedures because of race and color
- John Singleton is nominated for an Academy Award as best director, and for what movie?
- Robert L. Johnson founded BET channel, making it the first totally African American owned company traded on the NY Stock Exchange
- Alice Walker publishes The Color Purple
- Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- Jackie Robinson became the first African American to appear on the cover of Life Magazine
- Nelson Mandela is freed from prison
- Colin Powell is appointed as Secretary of State (by which president?)
- Carol Moseley Brown becomes the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate
- Halle Berry is the first black woman to win a best actress Academy Award (in which movie?)