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Brown vs. Board of Education
- Unanimous decision - racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
- On May 17, 1954, Earl Warren said that “‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.”
- Court ruled plaintiffs being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”
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Emmet Till
- 14yr old boy from Chicago visiting family in Mississippi.
- Accused of whistling at a white woman.
- Roy Bryant and JW Milan kidnapped, beat, shot, killed, and then threw Emmet’s body into the river.
- Maime Till, his mother, had an open casket funeral.
- Both men stood trial but were found not guilty. Spark to the start of the Civil Rights movement
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Rosa Parks & Bus Boycott
- Rosa Parks refused to move seats and she was arrested.
- Bus boycott begins and lasts 381 days.
- M.L.K. emerges as the leader of the bus boycott.
- 1st large scale demonstration - nonviolent in the U.S.
- Very successful because 75% of all riders are black.
- Ended December 21st, 1956.
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Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Started after the bus boycott to organize a protest.
- M.L.K. was elected President.
- Organized protests around the south to coordinate events such as: Greensboro sit ins, March on Washington, and Selma.
- Declined after M.L.K. assassination.
- Still exsists to the present day.
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Little Rock 9
- Testing Brown v. Board of Education decision.
- 9 students were vetted to undergo this test.
- Airborn 101 escorted students to class.
- Following year all public schools closed. (1958)
- August 29th, 1959 - schools reopened.
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Greensboro 4
- 4 college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworths to be served.
- They were refused service.
- Continued to “sit-in” and others joined.
- The protest spread to other towns and forced change.
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
- Founded by young people dedicated to nonviolent, direct action tactics.
- The students remained fiercely independent of King and SCLC, generating their own projects and strategies.
- Despite their differences, the two organizations worked side by side throughout the early years of the civil rights movement.
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Freedom Riders
- 2 week bus trip to the south to deliberately violate Jim Crow Laws.
- Organized by CORE.
- The buses were burned and riders were beaten by the KKK.
- November 1st, 1961 white and colored signs were removed from bus stations, train stations, and lunch counters.
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March on Washington
- March for Jobs and Freedom was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans.
- 250,000 people were in attendance at the Lincoln Memorial.
- M.L.K. was the last to speak and gave his “I have a dream speech”
- 70-80% of marchers were black.
- It helped to pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Can not be refused service.
- Forbids lawyers and labor unions to discriminate against any person on grounds of race, color, religion, sex, physical disability, or age in job related matters.
- Prohibits discrimination against race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or physical disability.
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March on Selma/Bloody Sunday
- 600 students march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to get the right to vote.
- They walked 54 miles and were stopped at the bridge.
- Seen on national television.
- LBJ ordered the passage of 1965 voting rights law.
- Second march took place March 21st - 24 days with 25,000 marchers including M.L.K.
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
- Aimed to overcome legal barriers at state and local levels that prevented black people from exercising their right to vote.
- Guaranteed to them under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.