CIVIL RIGHTS; KEY: (1)= Achievement, (2)= Supreme Court Case, (3)= Violence By Protesters, (4)= Violence By Opposition, (5)= No Violence, (6)= Protest
By aliiiiiclark
-
Sweatt v. Painter (1, 2)
Herman Sweatt was denied admission to the University of Texas Law School because he was African American. Sweatt decided to file a lawsuit against the university with the argument that his right to equal protection had been violated. The Supreme Court ruled that the university could not reject applicants based on their race because their separate facilities were not equal. -
Keys v. Carolina Coach Company (1, 2, 5, 6)
On August 1st, 1952, Sarah Keys Evans refused to give up her seat on a state-to-state charter bus, beginning the Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Supreme Court case. The ICC favored Keys in the case, ruling that the Interstate Commerce Act forbids segregation. -
Emmett Till's Murder (4)
Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy who was abducted, tortured and murdered by two white men. Emmett was shopping at a store, and the white woman who checked him out claimed that Emmett whistled at her. The woman’s husband, Roy, and his half brother, J.W. Milam kidnapped the young boy. They tortured and beat him, tying a large metal fan around his neck with barbed wire and dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. The whole story was made up. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1, 5, 6)
Started by the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 5th, 1955, for refusing to stand up from a bus seat for a white person, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 13-month protest that ended with a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. The bus boycott proved that non-violent protests were capable of challenging racial segregation. -
Little Rock Nine Crisis (1)
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine black students who enrolled at a formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. Their attendance was a test of Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The first day of classes, the governor called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the nine students from entering the school. Later that month, the president sent in federal troops to escort Little Rock Nine into the school. -
Greensboro Sit-In (1, 6)
The Greensboro Sit-In was a civil rights protest in 1960 when 4 young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro and refused to leave after being denied service. The sit-in movement spread throughout college towns in the South, and though most protesters were arrested, their actions made an impact, soon causing establishments to change their segregationist policies. -
Birmingham Movement (1, 4, 6)
On May 2nd, 1963, thousands of African American students attempted to march into downtown Birmingham. The next day, Public Safety Commissioner Eugene Connor directed local police and fire departments to use force to halt the demonstrations. Over the next few days, images of children being blasted by water, clubbed, and attacked by dogs appeared on TV, outraging the public. The movement forced desegregation in Birmingham and paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Assassination of Medgar Evars (4)
Medgar Evars was an American civil rights activist and the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi. On June 12th, 1963, he was murdered by a white supremacist in the driveway outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. His death was a turning point for many in the struggle of equality, giving other civil rights leaders determination to keep fighting on through the violent threats. -
Assassination of Malcolm X (4)
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist. On February 21st, 1965, he was fatally shot while delivering a speech. Malcolm’s death signaled the beginning of harsh battles for equal rights. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (4)
On Thursday, April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King had stepped out onto the balcony to speak with Southern Leadership Conference colleagues standing in the parking lot below. News of King’s assassination sparked major outbreaks of racial violence. -
Integration of the University of Mississippi Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (2)
The Integration of the University of Mississippi Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg was a Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. On April 20th, 1971, the Court upheld busing programs to speed up racial integration within public schools. -
Shirley Chisholm's Presidential Campaign (1, 5)
Shirley Chisholm called for a “bloodless revolution” at the forthcoming Democratic nominating convention in 1972. She became the first African American and WOMAN to run for a major party’s nomination for president of the United States. Chisholm was elected to the U.S. Congress. She supported the Equal Rights Amendment, legalized abortions, and was a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus. -
Hank Aaron's Home Run Record (1, 5)
Aaron hit 755 home runs from 1954-76. The baseball icon spoke out against pervasive racism in major league baseball and broke racial barriers throughout his career. -
Barbara Jordan’s Address at the Democratic National Convention (1, 5)
Barbara Jordan called for Americans to commit themselves to a “national community” and the “common good”. She was the first black woman ever to deliver a keynote address at a major party convention. It would have been impossible a decade earlier. -
University of California Regents vs. Bakke (1, 2)
Bakke sued the University of California Regents, arguing that the very clear racial quota was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that the use of racial quotas in college admissions was unconstitutional.