1940
North Carolina abolishes the poll tax, used to limit minority voting.

1942
The Southern Conference on Race Relations brings together 59 black leaders from 10 southern states at the N. C. College for Negroes. A committee headed by Charles S. Johnson of Fisk University issues the Durham Manifesto, which demands voting rights and equal educational and job opportunities for African Americans.

1943
 Black tobacco workers go on strike at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem.

The N. C. Conference of NAACP Branches forms in Charlotte.

1947
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) tests a Supreme Court decision against segregation in interstate bus travel by sending eight African American men on Greyhound and Trailways bus rides. Riders are arrested in Asheville, Durham, and Chapel Hill. This "Journey of Reconciliation" becomes the model for the 1961 Freedom Rides.

Portions of this timeline are reprinted from the Tar Heel Junior Historian 44 (Fall 2004), © North Carolina Museum of History, Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.