1967	JUNE 12 In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws. AUGUST 30 Senate confirms appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first African American Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, nominated by President Lyndon Baines Johnson after he served for two years a Solicitor General of the United States.
1968	APRIL 4 (Memphis, Tenn.) Rev. Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room at the Lorraine Motel. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime. The networks then broadcast President Johnson's statement in which he called for Americans to "reject the blind violence" yet cities were ignited from coast to coast. APRIL 11 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
1969	President Nixon’s “Philadelphia Order” presents “goals and timetables” for reaching equal employment opportunity in construction trades. It is extended in 1970 to non-construction federal contractors.
1971	APRIL 20 - The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools. Although largely unwelcome (and sometimes violently opposed) in local school districts, court-ordered busing plans in cities such as Charlotte, Boston, and Denver continue until the late 1990s.
1978
1988	MARCH 22 Overriding President Reagan’s veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.
1992	JUNE 23 In the most important affirmative action decision since the 1978 Bakkecase, the Supreme Court (5–4) upholds the University of Michigan Law School's policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."