1907: Racial discrimination is considered legal after the Supreme Court allows for "separate but equal" accommodations for blacks and whites in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. Housing, transportation and medical facilities for black Americans are often not "equal," but inferior.

Today: Federal laws strictly prohibit discrimination based on race.

1907: African-American political theory is divided between the pragmatic accommodationist theories of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois's view that blacks should be independent and resist social injustices against them.

Today: Despite social gains made toward equality, the same basic attitudes about African- American progress prevail among political leaders like Reverend Jesse Jackson, who works within the political system, and Reverend Louis Farrakhan, who supports self-determination for blacks.

1907: An African American accused of a crime faces the likelihood of being lynched by vigilantes before standing trial, especially in the South.

Today: In spite of...