1900: At least two thousand blacks are lynched or burned to death in the fifteen years prior to the turn of the century. White murderers go unpunished.

Today: Racially motivated hate crimes are a rarity, but still exist, as in the case of James Byrd Jr. In 1998, three white men drag Byrd behind their car, resulting in Byrd's death. The men who committed the crime are convicted and sentenced to death.

1896: In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of racially segregated railroad cars.

1955: In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court rules that racial segregation of schools is unconstitutional. Despite the ruling, education remains largely segregated in the South.

Today: Despite disparities in some schools based on socioeconomic factors, no schools in the United States are segregated.

1903: In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois...