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Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy attempted to sit in an all-white railroad car. He was arrested. The U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the right of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
Jackie Robinson
jackie robinson He was the first black man to officially play in the big leagues. He objected to the Jim Crow practices in the southern states. -
Medgar Evers
EversMedgar Evers was a civil rights activist who organized voter-registration efforts, demonstrations and boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination. He became the first field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. He was assassinated in 1963. -
James Meredith
James Meredith is an American Civil Rights Movement figure, writer, political adviser and Air Force veteran. In 1962, he became the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi. -
Congress of Racial Equality
CORE was a small group of civil rights activists that believed in achieving change through nonviolence. Many civil rights workers felt that black political power offered the best hope for achieving racial equality. -
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Sweatt v. Painter
Petitioner was denied admission to the University of Texas Law School, because he was a Negro. State law forbid the admission of Negroes to that Law School. He refused enrollment in a separate law school for Negroes. -
Brown vs Board of Education
The main issue was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Segregated school systems had a tendency to make black children feel inferior to white children. The Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with "all deliberate speed." -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Bus BoycottAfrican Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. The Montgomery federal court ruled that any law requiring racially segregated seating on buses violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
Southern Manifesto
19 Senators and 77 members of the House of Representatives signed the "Southern Manifesto," a resolution condemning the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The resolution called the decision a clear abuse of judicial power. In response to Southern opposition, -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
SCLC Sclc's main goal was to advance the cause of civil rights in America in a non-violent manner. ts president was Martin Luther King for 9 years. The SCLC brought together all the various strands of civil rights organizations and put them under one organization -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
SNCCSNCC organized a 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery. Shortly into the march, the marchers were attacked by state troopers. This prompted even more demonstrators to join those already on the march -
Little Rock, Central High School
Little RockNine black students attempted to enter the previously all-white school. Governer Faubus changed his mind at the last second and decided they wouldn't be allowed to go. he brought in the National Guard to prevent them from going. -
Greensboro Sit-In
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States -
Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States and following years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. -
Letter From Birmingham Jail
LetterKing spent eight days in jail. During that time he composed his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." The letter was ostensibly conceived in response to a letter that had recently run in a local newspaper, which had claimed that the protests were "unwise and untimely"; -
March on Washington
March More than 200,000 black and white Americans shared a joyous day of speeches, songs, and prayers led by a celebrated array of clergymen, civil rights leaders, politicians, and entertainers in Washington, D.C. -
Bombing of Birmingham Church
On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church as church members prepared for Sunday services. The racially motivated attack killed four young girls and shocked the nation. Outrage over the deaths helped build increased support behind the continuing struggle to end segregation–support. -
Mississippi Freedom Summer
In 1964, civil rights organizations including CORE and Non-SNCC organized a voter registration drive, known as the Mississippi Summer Project aimed at dramatically increasing voter registration in Mississippi -
24th Amendment
In 1964, the 24th Amendment made poll taxes illegal in federal elections; poll taxes in state elections were banned in 1966 by the U.S. Supreme Court). -
Civil Rights Act Passed
Act PassedTwo major civil rights laws were passed by Congress. These laws ensured constitutional rights for African Americans and other minorities. It was only after years of highly publicized civil rights demonstrations, marches, and violence that American political leaders acted to enforce these rights. -
Selma to Montgomery March
MarchIn early 1965, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference made Selma, Alabama, the focus of its efforts to register black voters in the South. That March, protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. 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. -
Malcom X Assassinated
In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.. -
Voting Rights Act Approved
Voting ActThe Voting Rights Act was signed into law and aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. -
Black Panthers
t The Black Panthers believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed. The two founders of the Black Panther Party were Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale. They preached for a “revolutionary war”. They were willing to use violence to get what they wanted. -
King Assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. 45 years ago, at the age of 39. His death shocked a country rocked by riots, civil discord, and a controversial war. -
