-
Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The group of people involved in this was an African American, Linda brown, and the broad of education of Topeka. When Brown’s case and four other cases related to school segregation first came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court combined them into a single case under the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. As a result, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs were being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.” -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The group involved in this was African Americans. Approximately 40,000 African-American bus riders—the majority of the city’s bus riders—boycotted the system the next day, December 5. That afternoon, black leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Montgomery’s buses were integrated on December 21, 1956, and the boycott ended. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. The police escorted the nine African-American students into the school on September 23, through an angry mob of some 1,000 white protesters gathered outside. -
Sit-Ins
Four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter at the local WOOLWORTH'S store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and asked for coffee. When service was refused, the students sat patiently. Slowly, but surely, restaurants throughout the South began to abandon their policies of segregation. -
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. In the fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals. -
Birmingham Demonstrations
Over the next couple months, the peaceful demonstrations would be met with violent attacks using high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs on men, women and children. The Birmingham Campaign ended with a victory in May of 1963 when local officials agreed to remove "White Only" and "Black Only" signs from restrooms and drinking fountains in downtown Birmingham. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a massive protest march, when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.