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Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was an Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionally of racial segregation under "separate but equal" doctrine. This happened when a African American train passenger refused to sit in a car for blacks. Plessy argued that his rights of equal protection of the laws was being violated, separated seating from the whites and blacks was being required in places -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that it was unconstitutional for states to maintain separate schools for black and white students. Declared state laws establishing separate public school for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional. -
Murder of Emmett Till
A 14 year old African American is murdered for flirting with a white woman. Two white men kidnapped him and made him suffer before killing him. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest during a African American which was Rosa Parks refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Four days the boycott began Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. -
Founding of Southern Christian leadership Conference & Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. helps found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to work for racial equality. The SCLC issued a document that civil rights are essential to democracy, that segregation must end and that ALL Black people should reject segregation absolutely and nonviolently. -
Little Rock Nine & Central High School
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at a all white Central High School. The Supreme Court ruling that declared a segregation in public schools unconstitutional. When the first day of class came they were soldiers blocking the entrance so the black students couldn't go through but later that month president Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in the federal troops to escort them in the school. -
Greensboro sit-in
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that stared in 1960, when young African American staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro. The sit-in movement spread to college towns throughout the South. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing,disorderly conduct or disturbing peace, their actions made an immediate and lasting impact. -
Freedom Ride/ Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Riders, bus trips through American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers as well as violence from white protesters. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a massive protest march, when 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial Washington, DC. Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to drawn attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Freedom Summer
The SNCC was a civil rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. Freedom Summer was a 1964 voter registration sponsored by the civil rights organizations. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin is considered one of the crowing legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. First proposed by President Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from southern members of congress and was then signed into law by Kennedy's successor. -
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which were signed in to law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was shot before he was about to deliver a speech about his new organization called the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Three members of the Nation of Islam to be responsible. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King was assassinated in Tennessee an event that sent shock was reverberating around the world. Civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of impassioned speeches and nonviolent protests to fight segregation and achieve significant civil rights for African Americans
