Civil Rights Movement

By kelseycullen

  • Plessy V. Ferguson

    Landmark decision that made it legal to racially segregate public places and facilities also known as "Jim Crow" laws. This case became known as the "separate but equal" doctrine.

  • Integration of Major League Baseball

    The day when Jackie Robinson was finally let into Major League Baseball. It broke a 60 year ban against African Americans in the league.

  • Integration of the Armed Forces

    President Truman issued an executive order to desegregate all armed forces.

  • Sweatt V. Painter

    African American Herman Sweatt wanted to attend law school at The University Of Texas At Austin. UT wanted to keep their school segregated so they created a separate law school just for African Americans. However, the law school failed to hold up the equality standard and Sweatt won the case based on that the other law school was not "separate but equal".

  • Brown V. Board of Education

    Linda Brown and other African American students tried to attend an all-white school in Topeka, Kansas. The NAACP won the case stating that segregated school didn't follow the 14th amendment of equal protection. Chief Justice Earl Warren was the judge for the case and this is the decision that overturned the Plessy V. Ferguson case. This case officially ended the segregation of public schools

  • Bus Boycott of Montgomery, Alabama

    Rosa Parks, an African American and local NAACP member, refused to give her seat to a white passenger. Parks was arrested for this and it sparked outrage. Dr. Martin Luther King led the boycott of public buses that lasted 13 months.

  • Integration of Little Rock High School

    After the Brown decision was being implemented, the South took longer to put it into effect. When 9 African Americans students tried to enroll in Little Rock High School, Governor Faubus of Arkansas ordered the Arkansas national guard to prevent the Little Rock Nine from entering the school.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1957

    This act was passed by the Eisenhower administration and was passed to increase African American voting. This law gave federal courts the power to register African Americans voters. This set a pattern for future legislation.

  • Freedom Rides

    Freedom riders were interracial groups that rode public buses together in protest of segregation of public transportation. This forced the federal government to intervene since there was so much conflict and the riders were at a great risk for violence.

  • Greensboro Four

    4 African Americans in Greensboro, North Carolina held a sit-in at a "whites-only" lunch counter. After this the tactic was copied all throughout the south. Since there were so many protests, owners were finally forced to desegregate lunch counters and give African Americans jobs.

  • 24th Amendment

    The 24th amendment eliminated poll taxes in federal elections. This was the first major step to equal voting rights.

  • Integration of the University of Mississippi

    African American, James Meredith enrolled in the University of Mississippi. However, Governor Barnett of Mississippi tried to prevent that from happening but ultimately failed.

  • March on Washington

    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others organized a march on Washington in order to pressure congress to pass the new civil rights bill. This is where MLK made his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Over a quarter of a million attended,making it the largest demonstration in American history.

  • Assassination of John F. Kennedy

    John F. Kennedy was assassinated by white supremacist, Lee Harvey Oswald, in Dallas, Texas during a motorcade only months after his meeting with Dr. King.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    This law prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or ethnic origin in hotels, restaurants, and all places of employment doing business with the federal government or engaged in interstate commerce. It also cut off all federal aid to school districts that refused to integrate.

  • Assassination of Malcolm X

    Malcolm X was a black Muslim minister and a leader of the black civil rights movement. He believed that that African Americans should use violence and not depend on the goodness of gite people in order to obtain more rights. He was assassinated by rival black Muslims since they no longer agreed with his methods.

  • March on Selma

    Organized by Dr. King in order to get African American voting rights. President Johnson introduces a voting rights bill in response.

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    This act ended poll taxes and suspended literacy tests where they were used to prevent African-Americans from voting. After it was passed there was a dramatic increase in African American voting.

  • Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Dr. King was assassinated by a white supremacist at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN. After King's death, young African Americans rioted and the whole nation grieved over his death.