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End of World War II
African American soldiers returned home after World War II. They were expected to live in segregated world after experience life where they were treated as equals. Soldiers faced violence from people who wanted to keep the races separate. -
Brown V Board of Education Topeka Kansas
Supreme Court led by Earl Warren ruled that school segregation was illegal, and that separate could never be equal. That schools must integrate their schools with all deliberate speed. -
Emmet Till
Emmett Till was a young boy visiting his family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped, beaten, and murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The image of his mutilated body was published in Jet Magazine. This showed the world what life was life for Black people under Jim Crow laws and the violence they faced. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
in 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving from her seat in the Black section of the bus for a white man. This arrest set off a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery Alabama that lasted for 13 months. This boycott pushed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into the national spotlight as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement -
Little Rock Nine
Nine Black teenagers attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock. They were met with violence and turned away. It took federal police protection and court orders for them to attended an integrated school -
Church Bombing Birmingham
A 16th street Baptist Church was bombed early Sunday Morning in Alabama. This bomb killed four girls and injure 20 more. The church that was attacked was a meeting place for civil rights leaders -
Bloody Sunday
Demonstrators were marching from Selma to Montgomery to bring attention to police violence against Black people, and the continued violations of laws that ensured equal rights to Black people. About 600 demonstrators marched. They were met on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state police and others. They were attacked, beaten, and gassed. The attack was broadcast nationwide calling attention to the violence brought to Black people who were fighting for their rights. -
Voting Rights act of 1965
Law signed by President Lyndon B Johnson that eliminated literacy tests, put federal examiners into certain jurisdictions, and gave the attorney general power to contest poll taxes -
Black Panther Party
ON the west coast in response to growing tensions, the Black Panther party was founded in Oakland California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The group too a different approach to Dr. King. They believe in fighting back and not turning the other cheek toward people who were violent towards them. -
Assassination of Dr. King
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a leader of the Civil Rights Movement was shot outside his motel room in Memphis Tennessee. His death produced outbreaks of violence and grief across the nation.