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Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case legalizing "separate but equal" accommodations that led to Jim Crow laws that separated races. -
NAACP
Civil rights organization to ensure equality. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Supreme Court case ruling segregation unconstitutional in schools according to the 14th amendment. -
Thurgood Marshall
Won the Brown v. Board of Education case where segregation was ended in schools. He and his NAACP lawyers won 29 out of 32 cases in the Supreme Court. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till was murdered at the age of 14 for flirting with a white woman. His mother had an open casket funeral so everyone could see the effects of the Jim Crow laws. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery bus for a white man and was arrested. This led to the organization of a bus boycott by the African American community. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, NAACP officer, refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery bus and inspired the bus boycott. -
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr./Gandhi/Thoreau/Randolph
King's ideas were based on the concepts of other people. He learned civil disobedience from Thoreau's writings, he learned to organize massive demonstrations from Randolph (who was a labor organizer), and he learned to resist oppression nonviolently from Gandhi. -
Little Rock School Integration
Nine African American students were prevented from entering a segregated high school by the governor of Arkansas after the Brown case. The Little Rock Nine became the first African American students to attend the Little Rock High School. -
The Sit-Ins
African American students from North Carolina sat at a white only lunch counter and were televised over the country. Most sit-ins were sparked across the south in an attempt to promote equality. -
Freedom Rides
Civil rights activists rode buses through the South to challenge segregation after it had been banned by the Supreme Court. -
March on Washington
250,000 people marched to Washington, D.C. to persuade congress to pass the civil rights bill. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a Dream" speech to show support. -
March on Birmingham, Alabama
Movement organized to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibited any poll taxes in elections for federal officials. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X promoted racial pride and supported armed self defense. He wanted African Americans to take control of their lives and culture. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson that prohibited discrimination of religion, race, gender, national origin and also gave all citizens the right to enter any public facility. -
March from Selma to Montgomery for Voting Rights
Protest march from Selma to Montgomery led by MLK to gain voting rights. Police attacking was televised throughout the nation. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act ended literacy tests in voting and allowed voters who had been denied suffrage by local officials to enroll. Percentage of African American voters in the south tripled. -
Race Riots
One of the worst race riots in the nation's history occurred in a majority African American city in Los Angeles where 34 people were killed. Rage was sparked by the need for economic equality. -
De jure v. De Facto segregation
De facto segregation, segregation by practice and custom, was harder to fight than de jure segregation, laws enforcing segregation. When African Americans moved north, de facto segregation increased and whites began to move into suburbs ("white flight"). -
Black Panther Party
This group practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government origionally known as the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.
