Civil Rights

By ayeshasaman

  • 1955-1956: Montgomery Bus Boycott

    1955-1956: Montgomery Bus Boycott
    Montgomery bus boycott, mass protest against the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, by civil rights activists and their supporters that led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery's segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional.

  • Formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (1957)

    Formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (1957)
    The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was created on January 10-11, 1957, when sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful strategy and tactics of the recently concluded Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.

  • Sit-Ins Begin in Greensboro, North Carolina (1960)

    Sit-Ins Begin in Greensboro, North Carolina (1960)
    On Feb. 1, 1960, four African-American North Carolina A&T University students, Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jabril Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil, began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they had been refused service.

  • Freedom Rides (1961)

    Freedom Rides (1961)
    During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals.

  • Establishment of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) (1962)

    Establishment of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) (1962)
    The ACMHR organized demonstrations and boycotts to protest segregation in Birmingham's schools and businesses. The group also challenged segregation laws by openly defying them and by filing lawsuits to overturn them. In the first three years of ACMHR activity, the group was under constant attack and won no victories.

  • Birmingham Campaign (1963)

    Birmingham Campaign (1963)
    It burnished King's reputation, ousted Connor from his job, forced desegregation in Birmingham, and directly paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring practices and public services throughout the United States.

  • The Children's Crusade in Birmingham (1963)

    The Children's Crusade in Birmingham (1963)
    More than 1,000 students marched on May 2. Most of them were teenagers, but some were as young as six years old. The police took at least 600 children into custody, and Connor commandeered school buses to transport all of them to Birmingham's jails