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Student Strike at Moton High
A group of students at Moton HIgh School walked out of the school and went on strike for 2 weeks. This was a response to the overcrowdedness and inferior conditions at the school for African Americans. The students called lawyers from the NAACP to sue the school in order to desegregate. This event was decided in the Brown v. Board of Education which would deem segregation unconstitutional. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Court declares that state laws that established seperate schools for whites and blacks was unconstitutional and the decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case that allowed segregation in schools. -
Emmet Till Murder
Emmet Till, a young African American boy, was found brutally murdered at the age of 14 in Mississippi, the motive being that he apparently flirted with a white girl. The white men responsible for the heinous murder were tried and aqquited of all charges. Though admitting to the murder in a magazine article, because of double jeopardy they were untouchable by the police. This was a catalyst for the Civil Rights movement because not even children were safe from bigotry or death. -
Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Began when Rosa Parks denied giving up her seat to a white men. Ended December 20, 1956, when the Supreme Court declared in Browder v. Gayle when Alabama and Montgomery segregated bus laws were eventually found unconsittutional. -
Massive Resistance Declared
Declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Senior. It's purpose was to unite white politicians in Virginia to make new state laws and policies to prevent school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in the capitol of Arkansas. These were the first nine African- Americans to attend an all white school though meeting intense criticism and hatred from some of the community. -
Greensboro Sit-Ins
Began with a group of African American students sitting in at a North Carolina lunch center in protest of segregation. All of these sit-ins were classified as peaceful and led to the reversal of its policy of segregation as well as adding to the building Civil Rights Movement. -
Freedom Riders
Civil Rights activists that rode interstate buses in the South to test the decisions of Boynton v. Virginia and Irene Morton v. Commmonwealth of Virginia which outlawed racial segregation in restaurants and waiting rooms. This bolstered the cause of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Integration of Ole MIss
James Meredith attempts to enroll in University of Mississippi though he is denied persistently. Finally his situation is addressed \by the Supreme Court and he is admitted. -
March on Birmingham
A spart of the Birmingham Campaign, school children marched to the mayor's office and the Klu Klux Klan stronghold of Birmingham in protest of racial segregation. -
March on Washington
March organized by civil rights, labor, and religious organizations of approximately 200,000 to 300,00 people for "jobs and freedom." Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" Speech at the Lincoln Memorial. -
24th Amendment Passes
Poll taxes, an attempt to bar African Americans from voting, were outlawed. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Forbid discrimination based on race, religion, and gender. Ended racial segregation in schools and in the workplace and outlawed unequal voter registration requirements. -
Malcom X Assassinated
Malcom X, advocate for civil rights, was shot and killed by a man sitting in the front row of an address given to the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhatten, New York. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Prohibited states from enacting any "voting qualifications or prerequisites... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." The Act established the process known as "preclearance," requiring that states approval from the Department of Justice before changing anything affecting the right to vote. -
Black Power Movement Begins
"Black Power" was a slogan adopted primarily by African Americans in the United States promoting racial pride and the creation of political parties and institutions advancing African American ideals and collective interests. -
Loving v. Virginia
Landmark civil rights case that overturned the previous Pace v. Alabama decision, officially ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage. Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was deemed henceforth unconstituional. -
Martin Luther King Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr., an extremely prominent Civil Rights Activist was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenesse. His death instigated a continuation of his work and a resurgance of the movement.