-
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1869, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal if equal facilities were provided in the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. This meant the black and white students did not have equal schools and education. In Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown was denied administration to her neighborhood school because of her race. With the help of the NAACP, her parents sued the school board. This case resulted in segregation in schools being outlawed -
Emmett Louis Till Murdered
While on vacation in Money, Mississippi, Emmett whistled at a white woman in a store. Four days later, he was kidnapped by 2 white men, beaten, shot in the head, and then thrown into the Tallahatchie River. The two men were acquitted for his murder, but the image of him in his open casket funeral sparked the start of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Rosa Parks decided to challenge segregation when she refused to give her seat up on a bus for a white man. Blacks were required to stand and let white people sit if the bus got too full. She was arrested. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For almost a year African Americans boycotted the buses and instead walked or carpooled until segregation was ended. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Eisenhower passes the first civil rights law since reconstruction. This Act protected the right of African Americans to vote. It created the SCLC who announced a campaign to register 2 million new African American voters. -
Little Rock, Arkansas
Nine African American students were chosen to attend previously all white, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This caused an uproar among whites so the Arkansas National Guard was sent to prevent the students from entering. A mob of whites was formed outside of the school shouting threats and being violent. In order to enforce national laws, President Eisenhower sent 1,000 U.S. Army soldiers to protect the nine black students. -
Sit-in at White Lunch Counter
Four African American college students walked in and sat down at a whites only lunch counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. When their request for service was denied they remained in their seats and refused to leave. Their form of peaceful protest and demand helped ignite youth to challenge segregation and stand up for equality. -
Attack of the Freedom Riders
The Freedom Riders rode buses into the south to protest the illegal segregation. Organizations such as CORE helped organize both whites and blacks to ride buses into the south and protest the segregation. Upon arriving in the south, angry white mobs attacked the riders. They slashed tires, threw rocks and firebombs at the buses. The riders were even beaten with bats, chains, and lead pipes when they emerged from the bus. This violence shocked many Americans. -
James Meredith enrolls in Ole Miss
When James Meredith, an African American Air Force Veteran tried to register at the University of Mississippi administration office he was blocked. Ross Barnett, the Governor of Mississippi refused to register him and allow desegregation in the school. This caused President Kennedy to dispatch 500 federal marshals to escort Meredith onto the campus. A full scale mob and violence erupted resulting in 160 marshals being injured. -
William Lewis Moore One-Man March
William Moore, a postman against segregation, set off to walk from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, in order to hand deliver a letter to Governor Ross Barnett. While on the roadside, near the city of Attalla, Alabama, Moore was shot by someone who was never charged with the crime. -
Medgar Evers assassinated
Medgar Evers was a Civil Rights activist who helped gain voting rights and led demonstrations. He was the first state field secretary of the NAACP in Mississippi. Evers had been a target for people that were against racial equality. He was shot in the back while on his driveway at home in Jackson, Mississippi and later died in the hospital. -
The March on Washington
The purpose of the March on Washington waste help Kennedy push his civil rights bill through congress. He planned the march to help lobby congress and build more public support for the movement. The famous "I have a dream" speech was given by MLK J. when everyone arrived in Washington. -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
In Birmingham, Alabama, before church on a sunday morning a bomb exploded 16th Street Baptist Church. It was predominately black church that also served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four school age girls were killed, Addie Mae Collins, Denise Mcnair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. It brought national attention to the civil rights movement and struggles they faced -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The bill made it through the House of Representatives, but it was a challenge to get through the Senate. The law was passed by President Lyndon Johnson after Kennedy was assassinated. The law gave the federal government power to prevent racial discrimination. All races were given equal use to public facilities, school desegregation was enforced, and employers were required to end discrimination in the workplace. -
March to Selma
The march to Selma was organized to promote voting rights and to help African Americans register to vote. Marchers faced lots of opposition, 2,000 people including children were arrested and many were beaten and taunted by white mobs. On "Bloody Sunday" 70 Blacks were hospitalized and many more were injured. This led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -
Jonathan Daniels killed
Daniels worked as a civil rights worker alongside MLK Jr..He helped organize the Selma March, he worked to integrate his local church, and worked to register voters. Daniels was shot by deputy Tom L. Coleman when he tried to protect seventeen year old Ruby Sales. -
Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Justice
Before becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall worked as a civil rights lawyer fighting for equality. This was monumental because for the first time ever, African Americans had a voice in the Supreme Court's decisions. -
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
As MLK Jr. stood on his hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, he was assassinated by a sniper. His death marked the end of an era. The civil rights movement was never again as strong as it had been under his lead. Dr. King and his leadership changed the lives of millions of americans and transformed American society.
