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1973 National Black Feminist Organization founded. Its goal was to fight for equality of African-American women.
1977 became president. He appointed more African Americans to important offices than any previous president.
1978 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race may be considered as a factor in university admission decisions; however, such "affirmative action" programs could not use quotas.
1981 After lobbying from African-American leaders, the Coca-Cola Company signed an agreement to increase its support for minority vendors and to increase the percentage of African Americans in its management. Several other large corporations undertook similar measures.
1982 African-American unemployment rate in U.S. reached 18.9%. White unemployment was 8.4%.
1982 Voting Rights Act renewed.
1983 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day established as a national holiday in the United States, after strong petitioning by African-American leaders.
1985 United States imposed economic sanctions on South Africa to protest the system of .
1988 City of Richmond v. J.A. Crosson Company. U.S. Supreme Court ruled that setting aside a portion of public contracts for minority contractors is unconstitutional.
1988 Jesse Jackson gained a significant percentage of the vote in the Democratic primaries for the presidential nomination, appealing to African-American and white voters alike.
1988 Army General Colin Powell became the first African American appointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer accused of discrimination against minority employees could defend itself on the grounds of promoting a business, without having to prove that a legitimate business interest was involved.
1989 Douglas L. Wilder became governor of Virginia - the first African American elected chief executive of a state.
1990 President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa lifted the 30-year ban on the African National Congress (ANC), and released its leader, Nelson Mandela, after 28 years in prison.
1990 Board of Education of Oklahoma v. Dowell. U.S. Supreme Court declared a school district may be freed from court supervision, once it eliminated the vestiges of segregation "to the extent practicable."
1991 Civil Rights Act passed. Primarily aimed at reducing gender discrimination, the act placed the burden of proof on employers to show that discrimination did not take place.
1991 The Gulf War. Iraqi forces were driven out of Kuwait by the forces of the United States and its allies. African Americans made up 25% of U.S. forces.
1991 Thurgood Marshall retired as U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Clarence Thomas replaced him, becoming the second African American appointed to the Court.
1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruled school districts can be freed from court supervision before full compliance with desegregation had been achieved. Only a "good faith commitment" to desegregation was required.
1992 Los Angeles riots were sparked by the acquittal of white police officers accused of beating Rodney King, an African-American motorist.
1992 Congress designated the Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, as the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.
1994-1996 Burning of many African-American churches across the United States.
1994 Nelson Mandela became the first majority-elected and first black president of South Africa.
1995 U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Kansas City, Missouri, School District to create a system of "magnet schools" to attract white suburban students to inner city schools.
1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruled that three new African-American majority voting districts in Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana were unconstitutional, as they violated the equal protection of white voters.
1996 an anti-affirmative action measure, approved by California voters. It prohibited colleges and universities in California from considering the criteria of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in admissions.
1997 President Clinton established an advisory board to the President's Initiative on race, to "promote a national dialogue on controversial issues surrounding race."
1997 Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant in custody in New York City, was tortured by white police officers.
1999 San Francisco School board abolished racial quotas for student admissions.
1999 In Jasper, Texas, two white men were jailed for the hate murder of James Byrd, Jr., an African American.
1999 Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was shot 41 times by four white New York City police officers as he stood in the hallway of his apartment block. All the officers were later acquitted of charges of excessive force.
2000 Matthew Shepard murdered in Wyoming. The hate crime was committed because of Shepard's sexual orientation.
2001 General Colin Powell appointed as Secretary of State, and Condoleezza Rice as National Security Adviser, the first African Americans to hold these posts.
2004 May 17 - The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site had its grand opening celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision. President George W. Bush was the featured speaker.
