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Elizabeth Jennings and Sarah Adams Removed from Segregated Transportation
In NY City, Elizabeth Jennings a 24 year old black schoolteacher and her friend Sarah Adams boarded the 3rd Avenue Railroad Co. horsecar. After boarding the conductor ordered them to get off and wait for a car that served African American passengers. Jennings refused, but with the assistance of police and conductor they were both forcefully removed.
https://history.nycourts.gov/elizabeth-jennings-streetcar-desegregation-in-nyc/ -
The Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee
The Ku Klux Klan was born in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a private club for Confederate veterans. The KKK grew into a secret society terrorizing Black communities and seeping through white Southern culture with members at the highest levels of government and in the lowest level of criminal back alleys.https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws -
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws began in 1865, following the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the US. These Black codes were strict and state laws that detailed when, where and how formerly enslaved people could work and for how much. It was a legal way throughout the South to control the way they lived, how they traveled and to take voting rights away, etc.
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws -
14th Amendment to the US Constitution
After the US Civil War, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees rights and liberties to all citizens including formerly enslaved people. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the US: nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -
Jim Crow laws to include Segregation and More
In 1880's, Jim Crow laws had even more force with forbidding blacks to enter parks, theaters, & restaurants. Segregated waiting rooms in bus & train stations were required. Water fountains, restrooms, building entrances, elevators, and cemeteries were segregated. Blacks were forbidden to live in white neighborhoods. Segregation was enforced for public pools, phone booths, hospitals, asylums & jails. https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws -
Ida B. Wells, co-owner of Memphis Free Speech and Headlight
Ida B. Wells, a Memphis teacher, became a prominent activist against the Jim Crow laws after refusing to leave a first-class train car designated for whites. She was forcibly removed. She later successfully sued & later reversed by higher court. Angered, she devoted herself to fighting the Jim Crow laws. In 1889, she became the co-owner of Memphis Free Speech and Headlight to take her position on school segregation. https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws -
Plessy V Ferguson
In Plessy v Ferguson in 1896, the Supreme Court decided by a 7-1 margin that "separate but equal" public facilities could be provided to different racial groups. The decision ruled that segregation was constitutional as long as it was equal. An example of this was the establishment of separate schools for white and black children. The Plessy decision institutionalized Jim Crow laws that allowed racial segregation to continue.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson -
1947 Journey of Reconciliation
In 1947, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation organized an interracial bus ride across state lines to test a Supreme Court decision that declared segregation in interstate buses unconstitutional. Called the Journey of the Reconciliation, the ride challenged bus segrergation in ;the upper parts of the south(avoiding the Deep South) but with little media attention, failed to realize CORE's goals for the rides. -
Gandhi (inspiration in US)
Gandhi led a nonviolent movement for 30 yrs that eventually forced Britain to grant independence to India in 1947. He inspired Martin Luther King Jr and the 4 black college student who participated in the Woolworth's sit in. His nonviolent protests inspired civil rights movements around the worldhttps://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/mahatma-gandhi. -
President Harry Truman's Executive Order 9981
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the Armed Services. This created the President's Committee of Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the US military. Also ended segregation in the hiring policies for the federal government.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement-timeline -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Brown v Board of Edu was a landmark Supreme Court case ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. It overturned the decision of Plessy v Ferguson. The Brown case was a combination of 5 cases involving segregation at public schools(DE, VA, SC, KS and DC) Linda Brown, an black girl was denied admission to an all-white secondary public school in Topeka, KS. This is later citied in the Browder v Gayle. This case open the door to challenge segregation -
Claudette Colvin Arrested Refusing to Move on Bus
Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old African American girl was riding home from High School, when the bus driver demanded she give up her seat to a white woman. After Claudette refused to give up her seat, police offices arrived on the scene and dragged her off in handcuffs. She later was one of the plaintiff in the Browder v Gayle (1956)
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement-timeline -
Aurelia Browder Arrested for Sitting in White Bus Section
April 19, 1955, Aurelia Browder, in her 30's was arrested for sitting in the white section of a public city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was asked to move to give up her seat. She was convicted and fined for her alleged crime. Later she would join in the Browder v Gayle, (1956) as the lead plaintiff.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement-timeline -
Mary Louise Smith Arrested for Failure to Obey Segregation Orders
On October 21, 1955, a 18 year old Mary Louise Smith refused to give up her seat to a white woman on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She replied, "I am not going to move out of my seat. I am not going to move anywhere. I got privilege to sit here like anybody else." She was arrested and held in jail for over 2 hours with a fine.
Reflecting on the Women of Browder v. GayleNew-York Historical Society·https-::www.nyhistory.org › blogs › reflecting-on-the-women....webloc -
Susie McDonald Arrested for Resistance toBus Segregation
On October 21, 1955, Susie McDonald refused to give up her seat for a white woman. She was in her 70's, light skinned with blue eyes and walked with a cane. She was a proud black woman that was arrested. She was also one of the plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle (1956) -
Rosa Park Arrested for Refusal to Move on a Bus
Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist. On Dec 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus which ended up in her arrest. This would prompt a yearlong Montgomery bus boycott.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Article in the Montgomery Advertiser
Black Ministers announced the boycott in church on Sunday, December 4 and the Montgomery Advertiser published a front page article on the event. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Women's Political Council, (WPC)
On December 5, 1955, the Women's Political Council (WPC) a group of black women for civil rights, began circulating flyers calling for a boycott on the bus system. The day of Rosa Parks' court trial. The boycott was organized by Jo Ann Robinson, WPC president. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks arrest, The Montgomery Bus Boycott was put in place on December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. For 381 days, people stopped using the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Approximately 40,000 Black riders, the majority of the city's bus riders. They found other ways of transportation like walking, biking or carpooling. (One of the boycott leaders was Martin Luther King Jr.)https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
In the afternoon on December 5, 1955, Black leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). The president, Martin Luther King Jr. The MIA decided to continue the boycott until the city meet its demands. Initially, the demands did not include changing segregation, rather hiring black drivers, first come, first seated policy with white starting in front and blacks in the back. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Fred D Gray (attorney) and NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)represent 5 black women
A group of 5 women represented by Fred D Gray, an African American lawyer and NAACP sued the city, Montgomery in the US District Court seeking to have the busing segregation laws totally invalidated.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/browder-v-gayle-352-us-903 -
Browder v Gayle File Civil Suit in US District Court
On February 1, 1956, Fred Gray and other attorneys filed suit. Browder v Gayle in the US District Court. In the Browder v Gayle, there were 4 African American female plaintiffs, Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith (the 5th plaintiff-Jeanetta Reese withdrew because of intimidation from the white community.) They challenged the state and local laws on bus segregation.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/browder-v-gayle-352-us-903 -
District Court Level Decision - Browder v Gayle
On June 5, 1956, the District Court ruled 2-1, that bus segregation is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, citing Brown v Broad of Education as precedent for the verdict.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/browder-v-gayle-352-us-903 -
US Supreme Court, Browder V Gayle Ends Bus Segregation
On November 13, 1956, the US Supreme Court affirmed the lower courts ruling of Browder v. Gayle ends bus segregation of black and white passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery. It declared bus segregation of black and white passengers on motor buses violates the Constitution and laws of the US. On December 20, 1956 ordered the state to desegregate its buses.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/browder-v-gayle-352-us-903 -
Bus Boycott meets with Violence and Comes to an End
In January 1957, 4 Black churches and homes of Black leaders were bombed including a bomb at Martin Luther King's house defused. On January 30, 1957 the Montgomery police arrested 7 bombers, all members of the Ku Klu Klan. The arrested brought an end to the busing related violence.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Woolworth's sit-in (to end more segregation)
Four African American college students refuse to leave Woolworth's "whites only" counter in Greensboro, NC until served.(They were inspired by Gandhi) This inspired youths movement throughout the south. Hundreds of students, churches and civil rights organizations joined a 6 month long protest. (this came after the Montgomery Bus Boycott but seems to be inspired by it)https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement-timeline -
Desegreation of Woolworth lunch Counter
Due to the commitment of the 4 college students and the help of hundreds of students, civil rights organizations and churches of a 6 month long protest. This led to the desegregation of the Woolworth lunch counter. (the coming together, reminds me of the Montgomery Bus Boycott)
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement-timeline -
Freedom Rides (CORE)
May 4, 1961 until December 16, 1961, student activists from (CORE)Congress of Racial Equality launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. The campaign succeeded in securing an (ICC) Interstate Commerce Commission ban on segregation in all facilities under their jurisdiction.https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-rides -
Civil Rights Act
on July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which legally ended the segregation that had been institutionalized by the Jim Crow laws. This prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Outlawed racial segregation in public accommodations, schools and employment discrimination.