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Brown v Board of Education
Brown v Board was the first significant event of the Civil Rights movement that led to the Civil Rights Act, MLK, and many other important events and figures. This was started when lawyer Thurgood Marshall, representing the NAACP, went to court against the Board of Education on the basis that segregated schools were not equal, because psychologically, segregated schools were making black children feel inferior,succesfully debunking the "separate but equal" decision made in Plessy v Ferguson. -
Emmett Till Murder
Emmett Till was traveling from traveled to Mississippi to stay with his uncle, where he was murdered. His burial brought media attention to the racism happening in the South and added pressure on the federal government to do something about it. -
Montgomery Bus Boycotts
It sparked when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. Activists in Montgomery decided to boycott buses by not using them, and it showed strong unity within the black Montgomery community. -
Little Rock 9
A school in Little Rock decided that they would integrate. However, the governor of Arkansas wanted to stop this, so he sent the National Guard to block them. President Ike saw this and decided that the state was trying to go against federal law, so he sent in federal troops to help them, showing a true example of the president enforcing a law. -
Greensboro Lunch Sit-Ins
Black students from UNC A&T went to a Lunch Sit-In for whites only. This sparked a movement of black people entering sit-ins and sitting down, many of whom never received food. This brought media attention and damaged restaurants because if they didn't make food for black people, they wouldn't make money, and fewer people go to the restaurants that wouldn't serve them. -
Freedom Bus Rides
The Freedom Bus Rides were intended to integrate interstate bus terminals. They would ride throughout the South and cause trouble for JFK because he was in the middle of negotiating with Russia about their missiles and thought that this event would embarrass his country. -
Birmingham protests
The Birmingham Protests were organized to receive solid and violent reactions from white conservatives. Their goal was media attention, and they used kids because they weren't the sources of income in households, and the SCLC needed the money to bail protesters out of jail. MLK was also arrested during this protest. -
March on Washington
This was a massive march in Washington, D.C., led by MLK. This was also where MLK gave his monumental "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Freedom (Mississippi) Summer
The event would help register black citizens to vote. While many thought media coverage would protect them, the first three to go down to Mississippi were murdered. (The date of this event is their arrival in Mississippi) -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Abolishment of Jim Crow laws gives the Justice Department the power to enforce rules that businesses can't discriminate their jobs against people based on race or gender. Extremely significant law that protects African Americans in America, the first law that protects them from public segregation. -
Selma Marches
Marches throughout the South to try and gain attention to fight against the whites blocking black people from registering to vote. Amidst the march was a bloody Sunday, which is when police officers beat marchers and sprayed them with tear gas. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The law protects African Americans from registering to vote. This law removed the literacy tests and poll taxes, allowed federal registers to register voters if their states wouldn't let them register, and allowed the federal government to take over state polls.