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End of WWII
With America dropping two atomic bombs in Japan, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, the Japanese were practically forced to surrender. Americans celebrated V-J Day on August 15 and Japan officially surrendered on September 2. -
Brown v. Board of Education Decision
The decision was a 9-0 vote in favor of Brown, saying "in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place". This overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. -
Rosa Parks
Ms. Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and took an empty seat in the first row of the "blacks section". A few stops later she was asked to move for a white man, the "whites section" had been filled up. Ms. Parks refused to move, and she was arrested. This began the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
Blacks boycotted riding any type of public transportation to hurt the economy and to show bus segregation must end.They would either walk or carpool together to work, but no buses were used. -
U-2
President Eisenhower was afraid of the progress the Soviets were making. He sent U-2 spy planes to the Soviet Union to see an aerial inspection. The Soviet's saw the plane but were unable to prove they were property of the U.S. and they were unable to shoot them down. -
Little Rock Nine
Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to block the nine volunteer African American students from entering the newly segregated white school. None of the nine students entered school that day. President Eisenhower heard of the crisis and sent federal troops to guard the nine students the whole school year. -
Sputnik Launched
The Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. This launch sparked the space race. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was the unsuccessful attempt of the U.S. to overthrow the Cuban government ran by the dictator Fidel Castro. The invasion was stopped by Castro's army. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
U.S. discovered the Soviets were building nuclear missile sites in Cuba. Major East Coast cities and the Panama Canal were in target range. Kennedy and Khrushchev decided on a "hot line" between Moscow and Washington, D.C. to improve communication. In 1963, U.S., Great Britian, and the Soviet Union signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. -
Birmingham Jail Letter
Martin Luther King Jr. writes to the fellow white man from his jail cell explaining how the civil rights movement is peaceful and how the blacks are ready for their freedom. He tells of the dangers of some black activists groups such as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. The letter was handwritten and longer than three pages. -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 Americans came to Washington, D.C. to march against segregation. The NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC were some of the civil rights groups that came. Most of the march took place at the Lincoln Memorial, where the famous "I Have a Dream" speech was given by MLK Jr.
