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Brown V. Board of Education
The Court’s unanimous decision overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for “separate but equal” public facilities, including public schools in the United States. Declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” -
Murder of Emmett Till
He was going to a store with his cousin and a white girl walks by and he decides to whistle, his cousin tells him we have to leave but Till didn't think it was a big deal.
Later two men came to find till - Roy Bryant and his half brother JW Milam and they decide to “teach him a lesson” They beat him so much and even kill him for a whistle.
A fisherman found his body two days later in a river and the two men were charged of murder and kidnap.
They were set free at the trial. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating, took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956.
Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to yield her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus.
The boycott of public buses by blacks in Montgomery began on the day of Parks’ court hearing and lasted 381 days.
The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to -
Little Rock Nine
Led by civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates, these nine brave Arkansas teenagers broke through racial barriers to become the first black students to attend Little Rock High School. -
Greensboro Sit-in
A series of nonviolent protests that took place in Greensboro, North Carololina.
Led by young Afican-American students.
Sparked many more sit ins across North Carolina.
Many places changed their segregation policy because of these sit ins. -
Summer of !961 Freedom Rides
A group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides.
Freedom Rides were a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals.
The group had many violent problems with white protesters.
In September 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train stations nationwide. -
James Merideth attends Ole Miss
After trying to get into Ole Miss and being denied James Meredith filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging racial discrimination.
The Supreme Court favored in his side in 1962.
When Meredith arrived at the school’s campus under the protection of federal forces, a mob of more than 2,000 students and others formed to block his way. -
Birmingham Protests
It would be the beginning of a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall and boycotts on downtown merchants to protest segregation laws in the city.
The Birmingham Campaign ended with a victory in May of 1963 when local officials agreed to remove "White Only" and "Black Only" signs from places, and make things for everyone not just for blacks or just for whites. -
March on Washington
On August 28, 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.
The march, culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for racial justice and equality -
Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer, comprised of black Mississippians and more than 1,000 out-of-state.
Civil rights organizations including CORE, SNCC organized a voter registration drive, known as the Freedom Summer, aimed at dramatically increasing voter registration in Mississippi. -
Selma Campaign
In early 1965, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) made Selma, Alabama, the focus of its efforts to register black voters in the South.
As the world watched, the protesters finally achieved their goal, walking around the clock for three days to reach Montgomery.
The historic march, and King’s participation in it, greatly helped raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year. -
Kerner Commission
The President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders releases its report, condemning racism as the primary cause of the recent surge of riots.
The report called for expanded aid to African American communities in order to prevent further racial violence and polarization. -
MLK Jr. Assassination
King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck.
He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39.
James Earl Ray was the murderer of MLK Jr.
