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Plessy vs. Ferguson
Was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans refused to ride city buses to protest segregated seating. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The new act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. -
Greensboro Sit-In
When young African-American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, their actions made an immediate and lasting impact, forcing Woolworth’s and other establishments to change their segregationist policies. -
Albany Movement
Residents of Albany, Georgia, launched an ambitious campaign to eliminate segregation in all facets of local life. Captured national attention when local leaders invited MLK to join the protest. Despite King's involvement, the movement failed to secure concessions from local officials. But, identified the movement as a formative learning experience for King and other civil rights organizers, and credited it with hastening the ultimate desegregation of Albany's facilities. -
Freedom Riders
An interracial group of student activists under the auspices of the Congress of Racial Equality departed Washington D.C. by bus to test local compliance throughout the Deep South with two Supreme Court rulings banning segregated accommodations on interstate buses and in bus terminals that served interstate routes. Their arrest helped to invigorate the Albany Movement, which would later be regarded as one of the most significant developments of the civil rights era. -
March on Washington
Massive protest march that when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. For Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. -
Selma-Montgomery March
Protesters marching the 54-mile route were confronted with deadly violence from local authorities and white vigilante groups. As the world watched, the protesters, under the protection of federalized National Guard troops, finally achieved their goal, walking around the clock for three days to reach Montgomery. The historic march, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s participation in it, raised awareness of the difficulties faced by black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act. -
Watts Riot
Large series of riots that broke out August 11, 1965, in the predominantly black neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles. The Watts Riots lasted for six days, resulting in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries and 4,000 arrests, involving 34,000 people and ending in the destruction of 1,000 buildings, totaling $40 million in damages.
