Pre Civil Rights Movement Era (1850's - 1940's) March 6, 1857 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision to deny citizenship and constitutional rights to all black people. Jan. 1, 1863 - Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln freed slaves in the Confederacy. February 3, 1870 - The 15th Amendment granted blacks the right to vote, including former slaves. May 18, 1896- The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson gave a broad interpretation of "equal but separate" accommodations with reference to "white and colored people" legitimizing "Jim Crow" practices throughout the South. February 12, 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard and William English Walling.