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Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the Kansas board of education becuase they wouldn't let his daughter attend the school becuase she was an African American. The United States then declared a law that there should be sperate schools for black and white students which later the law was found unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till
DON' KNOW DAY
Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The case becomes a celebration of the civil rights movement. -
Rosa Parks
In Montgomary, Alabama she was on a bus and the bus driver told her to move to the back of the bus because she was black,but she refused to give up her seat to a white passanger. She was arrested and fined for violating the ordinance. Her actions began a movement that ended segregation and inspired others. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of African American students at Little Rock Central High school were prevented from entering the school due to segregated issues by Governor Orval Faubus. The Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school. This is the most important event in African- American history. -
Greensboro Sit-ins
The shop was open to all customers regardless of colour, but the restaurant was for whites only. They asked for food, were refused service and asked to leave. Later that month they were called heros for the actions they took when they told them they couldnt eat at that restuant due to race. -
SNCC
DON'T KNOW DAY
(SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael -
Freedom Rides in Washington, DC
Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States. Seven Blacks and six Whites traveled south on two buses. The Freedom Ride met little resistance in the upper south. They first met trouble at Rock Hill, South Carolina, where twenty white Southerners hurt two people before the police arrived. The Freedom Riders continued their journey and encountered similar trouble, but did not attract national attention until ten days after they began their journey. -
James Meredith and the University of Mississippi
- DON'T KNOW DAY* James Meredith sought to enroll as the first black student in the history of the University of Mississippi. As a result, President John F. Kennedy ordered federal marshals to ensure Meredith's right to enroll and to protect him as he moved to the campus. As Kennedy was speaking, violence broke out on the campus and in Oxford. President Kennedy ultimately ordered federal troops The Supreme Court rules that segregation is unconstitutional in all transportation facilities.
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Equal Pay Act
Passing Congress in 1963, the Equal Pay Act is a federal law requiring that employers pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of whether the employees are male or female. -
Martin Luther King Jr. arrrested
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
He made a speech called I have a dream. The speech called for racial eqaility and to end discrimination. He organized nonviolent marches to protest segregation and racial injustice. This peaceful means of protest is known as passive resistance. His 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech dealing with peace and racial equality is one of the most powerful speeches in American history. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed into law in 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits the denial or restriction of the right to vote, and forbids discriminatory voting practices nationwide. -
Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated in Memphis
Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime. -
Loving vs. Virginia
In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws.
