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civil rights
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Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court ruled that seperate educational facilities were "inherently unequal." The segregated schools were declared unconstitutional. Within a year after this event, nearly 500 school districts had desegregated. -
Parks makes a stand
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. After the her refusal to move, Parks was arrested. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Shortly after the arrest of Rosa Parks, African Americans in the city organized a yearlong boycott of the city's bus system that was led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott ended when a Supreme Court ruling ruled segregated buses illegal. Shortly after, MLK founded the SCLC. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
This act gave the attorney general greater power to push desegregation in schools. -
SNCC
The SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee) was formed mostly of college students who felt that the pace of change was too slow. They staged sit-ins and other nonviolent protests. -
Freedom Rides
In the Freedom Rides, African Americans tested the Supreme Court ruling that banned segregation in interstate bus transportation by riding us buses into the South. Many were met by angry mobs that attacked and beat them. As more incidents occured, the Kennedy administration stepped in. U.S marshals were sent to protect the last group of freedom riders and the Interstate Commerce Comission, which regulated bus companies, issued orders banning segregation. -
Negro in College
In 1962, a federal court ruled that an African American could enter the all-white University of Mississippi. The state's governor refused the admit him, however. The Kennedy administration sent U.S marshals to force the governor to yield. -
Birmingham
King and other civil rights leaders led an effort to desegregate Birmingham. The city police attacked marchers--including clidren--with dogs and water hoses. Many people accross the nation were outraged. Presidents Kennedy passed a bill that guaranteed African Americans equal rights in all public facilitites. -
Washignton March
Civil rights leaders staged a massive march in Washington. More than 250,000 people showed up, urging passage of the Civil Rights Bill -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil rights bill was passed after being pushed to act faster followign Kennedy's assassination. This act outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public. ***The turning point in the modern civil rights movement. -
Freedom Summer
Civil rights workers began a camaign to register African-American voters in the South. They met opposition and some violence. At the Democratic convention that summer, only two African American delegates were seated, leading some of the delegates to feel betrayed. -
Assassination of Malcom X
Malcom X has emerged as a powerful speaker for the militant civil rights group, the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam represented a more radical and potentially violent direction of the civil rights movement in the mid 1960s. The Nation of Islam encouraged blacks to stand up for themselves politically, economically, and physically. It also advocated complete seperation of the races. was assassinated in 1965; by Nation of Islam.
