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Plessy V Ferguson
Homer Plessy was arrested and Imprisoned for sitting in a vacant seat in a white-only car. He then filed a petition against the judge John A. Ferguson. Plessy used stated that his 14 amendment right had been violated as an American born citizen. Court agreed with him and set up a "separate but equal" policy to keep both sides happy. Meaning that after the ruling of this case segregation was legal. -
Brown V. Board of Education
Brown sued The Board of Education because they did not let her go to a white school, claiming that it was unconstitutional. This case overturned the "separate but equal" decision made in the Plessy v Ferguson supreme court case. Justices agreed that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Officially integrating schools all over America. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Till was an African-American teenager who was kidnapped, murdered and dumped in the Tallahatchie River. It was believed that Till whistled at Carolyn Bryant (white woman), which caused her husband Roy Bryant and brother in law, J.W Milam to kill Till. The murder of the 14 year old brought nation wide attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent in Mississippi. -
Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott
Parks was tired from a long day of working as a department store seamstress. She decided to ride the bus home and she sat on the first row of the colored section. In Montgomery Alabama when a bus became crowded the seats closest to the front of the bus were given to the whites. When she and three other African Americans were orders to move she refused and was arrested. Her actions and her imprisonment caused a chain of events that changed America. -
Founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) & MLK
The Montgomery boycott inspired sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders to met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful tactics used by Parks. MLK Jr. was made the very first president of this new group against legal segregation and ending the abuse of southern blacks with non-violent tactics. Later the SCLC would address the war and poverty issues. -
Little Rock Nine & Central High School
On the first day of school a white mob gathered in the front of Central High School and with the help of the National Guard, sent by Gov. Orval Faubus, Prevented the black students from entering. President Eisenhower responded by threatening to send the Army if these students were not allowed to enter the school. This action of law enforcement taken by the president impacted America by showing African Americans that their Civil Rights were no that far behind. -
Greensboro Sit-In
Four African America college students sat at Woolworth's lunch counter, on the white side. They politely asked for service but their wishes were declined. When asked leave they did not comply and sat in their seats as a form of peaceful protest. They were then beaten and verbally abused until the police came to arrest them. This encouraged the youth to form movements against racial inequality in the south. -
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Comittee (SNCC) & Freedom Summer
This committee was founded by the young leaders of the sit-in protest. Although MLK Jr. hoped that the SNCC would serve as the young wing of the SCLC the young students organized their own projects. Even though they did do their own thing, the first years of the civil rights movement they worked side by side. The SNCC local secretary Bob Moses organized The Freedom Summer, a volunteer campaign to attempt to register as many African American voters in the Mississippi. -
Freedom Ride/Freedom Riders
The ride lasted 6 months. More than 400 white and black Americas risked their life violating the Jim crow laws to prove that black and whites can travel together on the interstate travel system. Many endured savage beatings and imprisonment. They were attacked by mobs who deliberately burned their bus, really testing their belief in non violence. -
March On Washington
More than 250,000 people descended upon the nations capitol to march for jobs and freedom.it was one of the biggest demonstrations of human rights in the history of America.The three-hour long program at the Lincoln Memorial included speeches from prominent civil rights and religious leaders. The day ended with a meeting between the march leaders and President John F. Kennedy at the White House. -
Civil Rights Act
The civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing. This Act was mostly for equality within the workforce. Slowly but surely African Americans were gaining their equality. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
X was a Civil Rights activist whom was very influential and well known for his belief of self defense. X was shot during his speech at the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. It was claimed that he had been shot by the Islamic nation. His death caused the rise of even more violence during the already messy civil rights movement. -
Voting Rights Act
This law prohibited racial discrimination in voting. This act was to enforce the 15th amendment which was passed 95 years before. Even though it was now illegal to stop African Americans from voting many were still beaten at the polls or threaten. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
MLK Jr. was shot and mortally wounded as he stood on the second floor balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray, a 40 year old convict, was found guilty of the death after he pledged guilty. This left many MLK followers devastated and pushed the abolishment of segregation enforcement
