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1949-1951  NAACP and local activists initiate school desegregation cases in the states of Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

1950  McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents. U.S. Supreme Court ruling requires the University of Oklahoma to end the practice of providing segregated facilities for those African American students the university admits.

1950  Henderson v. United States. U.S. Supreme Court rules that if separate and equal facilities on interstate transportation do not exist, then African Americans can not be kept from using the same facilities as whites.

1950  Korean War begins. Integrated United States armed forces serve in combat for the first time.

1950  Sweatt v. Painter. U.S. Supreme Court ruling requires the University of Texas Law School to integrate on grounds that the state has failed to provide separate facilities that are equal.

1952  The five school desegregation cases are brought together before the U.S. Supreme Court as Brown v. Board of Education. The court fails to reach a decision and the case is resubmitted.

1953  The new Chief Justice, Earl Warren, is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is determined to reach a unanimous decision on Brown.

1954  May 17 - U.S. Supreme Court issues its first Brown v. Board of Education ruling (Brown I), declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

1954  July - First White Citizens Council meeting held in Mississippi.

1955  U.S. Supreme Court issues the second Brown v. Board of Education ruling (Brown II). Desegregation is to proceed "with all deliberate speed."