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Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1980, Louisiana passed a law for railroads to provide "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races." In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court ruled that this law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees all Americans equal treatment under the law. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The NAACP was one of the earliest and most influential civil rights organization in the United States. During its early years, the NAACP focused on legal strategies designed to confront the critical civil rights issues of the day. -
The Sit-Ins
The Congress of Racial Equality had staged the first sit-in, in which African-American protesters sat down at segregated lunch counter and refused to leave until the were served. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
In the 1950s, the Topeka school system, like many, operated separate schools for "the two races". Reverend Oliver Brown protested that this was unfair to his eight year old daughter Linda. Although the Browns lived near a "white" schools, Linda was forced to take the a long bus ride to her "black" school across town. Brown stands today as the single point at which breaking the "color barrier" officially became a federal priority. -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall dedicated his life to fighting racism. he was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of his race. In 1938, Marshall began directing a team of law students. Over the next 23 years, Marshall and his NAACP lawyers would win 29 out of 32 cases argued before the Supreme Court. Marshall's most stunning victory came on May 17, 1954, in the case known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks, a seamstress and NAACP officer, was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, news about her arrest spread rapidly. Jo Ann Robinson and NAACP leader E. D. Nixon suggested a bus boycott. The Montgomery Improvement Association elected 26 year old, Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead the group. African Americans filed a lawsuit and for 381 days refused to use the buses in Montgomery. Finally, in 1956, the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation. -
Little Rock School Integration
in 1948, Arkansas became the first Southern State to admit African Americans to state universities without being required a court order. Governor Orval Faubus, however, showed support for segregation. In September 1957, he ordered the National Guard to turn away the "Little Rock Nine". A federal judge allowed the students to attend Central High School. Throughout the year, these nine African American students were harassed by other students. Faubus later shut down Central High School -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Rosa Parks was a member of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and became their secretary. A turning point came for her in the summer of 1955, when she attended a workshop designed to promote integration by giving the students the experience of interracial living. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy who was murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman. -
Freedom Rides
Civil Rights activists who rode buses through the South in the early 1960s to challenge segregation. -
De jure vs. De Facto Segregation
The problem facing African Americans in the North was de facto segregation- segregation that exists by practice and custom. De facto can be harder to fight than de jure segregation, or segregation by law, because eliminating it requires changing people's attitudes rather than repealing laws -
March on Birmingham, Alabama
The March on Birmingham, Alabama was a movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham. -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He based his ideas on the teaching of several people.
Jesus- love one's enemies
Henry David Thoreau- civil disobedience
A. Philip Randolph- organize massive demonstrations
Gandhi- resist oppression without violence
In 1963, Dr. MLK gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington D.C. -
March on Washington
In 1963, more than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C., for a political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by a number of civil rights and religious groups, the event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continued to face across the country. -
Race Riots
In the mid 1960s, clashes between white authority and black civilians spread like wildfire. In NYC in July 1964, an encounter between white police and African-American teenagers ended in the death of a 15-year old student. This sparked a rioting central Harlem. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment was passed to prohibit any poll tax (citizens having to pay a fee to vote in a national election) in federal elections. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X's early life left him alienated from white society. He developed a philosophy of black superiority and separation from whites. In 1964, he advocated armed self-defense. His call for armed self defense frightened most whites and many moderate African Americans. Also, reports of the attention Malcolm received awakened resentment in some members of the Nation of Islam. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender. It gave all citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations. -
March from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights
At the start of 1965, the SCLC conducted a major voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama. By the end of 1965, more than 2,000 African Americans had been arrested in SCLC demonstrations. After Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed, King responded by announcing a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. On March 7, 1965, about 600 protestors set out for Montgomery. Violence broke out. On March 21, 3,000 marchers set out for Montgomery with federal protection. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act eliminated the so-called literacy tests that disqualified many voters. It also stated that federal examiners could enroll voters who had been denied suffrage by local officials. Overall the percentage of African American voters in the South tripled. -
Black Panther Party
It was an African American Revolutionary party. Their original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality.
