Progressive Era (1890-1913)

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1896 The National Association of Colored Women is formed to combat racism and to provide aid to impoverished African Americans. The organization's motto is "lifting as we climb."

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that "separate but equal" segregated facilities on public transportation within states are constitutional.

1904 Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona, Florida is founded by Mary McLeod Bethune.

1905 Georgia state legislature passes a law segregating public parks.

1906 Alabama passes a law segregating street cars.

1908 Berea College v. Kentucky. This U.S. Supreme Court ruling sets precedent on segregation in private educational intuitions.

1908 Race riot in Springfield, Illinois is one of the most violent of many such attacks on African American communities across the country around this time.

1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

1910 Baltimore, Maryland introduces a municipal ordinance to segregate neighborhoods. Other cities follow.

1910 First issue of The Crisis, the crusading journal of the NAACP, edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, is published.

1913 Woodrow Wilson is elected president. He orders segregation in the federal administration.

1913 Congress passes the Alien Land Laws, prohibiting ownership of land by Asian immigrants (also 1920 and 1923).