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Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of Education was the court case that started integration in public schools. It was about a little black girl that had to travel miles on a dangerous route to go to an all black school, when she lived right next to an all white school. The case went to the supreme court and got rid of the Plessy vs. Ferguson seperate but equal ruling. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks got on a bus after work one day and sat in the white section. When she was told to get up and stand so a white passenger could sit down she refused and got arrested immediately. This was a spark of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was sparked when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white passenger. The boycott was a way to get desegregation in public transportation. Black people car pooled to work or walked every day. In the end the bus companies were losing a lot of money so they desegregated the busses and then the boycott was over. -
Southern Manifesto
The Southern Manifesto is when 19 senators and 81 Representatives from the south signed a document stating; that desegregation of public schools is abuse of judicial power. So they signed it to disregard the court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education. -
Little Rock
The Little Rock Nine were the first nine African American students to go to Central High School, when it was ordered to integrate. The governor Orval Faubas stood in the doorway to block the students from entering the school and the President had to call in federal troops for the student’s safety. -
First Sit-in in Greensboro, NC
This sit-in was the first of many to try to get restaurants and diners to desegregate. The protesters who were college students at the Agricultural and Technical State University would go in and sit at the counter where they weren't allowed and do nothing. If they got hit or attacked they would just sit there. These were the non-violent protests. -
First Freedom Rides
The first freedom rides were a test against segregation. The first freedom rides consisted of seven blacks and six whites traveling on two busses. They went through the south and came across many angry crowds but they were peaceful about it and didn't fight back. Many more of these bus tours, carrying thousands of civil rights workers went through the south and faced the brutality to get the point across. -
Bailey vs. Patterson
This case was brought to the Supreme Court after starting in Jackson, Mississippi. Blacks were getting tired of segregated transportation so they brought the case to court. They said that their constitutional rights had been taken away from them by having segregated transportation because of their color. This court ended up being ruled that segregation on interstate and intrastate transportation is unconstitutional. -
James Meredith attends the University of Mississippi
James Meredith was the first black student to go to the University of Mississippi after; having the NAACP file a suit with the U.S. District Court because the University of Mississippi rejected him to be a student the first time because of the color of his skin. He won the case and was admitted but when he went to the university there was a huge riot that killed two people and injured many and he was constantly harassed in school. -
The Murder of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was shot in the back while going to get in his house in Mississippi by Byron De La Beckwith. He was a field secretary for the NAACP and he was a civil rights activist. His murder was one of the very first murders because of race. -
Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech
Martin Luther King Junior gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech after a march on Washington for jobs and freedom. He gave the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to over 200,000 civil rights workers and supporters. This was a major point in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Birmingham Church Bombing
On this Sunday morning there was Sunday school going on at the 16th Street Baptist Church. A bomb went off in this church killing the four girls that were attending Sunday school. Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins were all between the ages of 11 and 14. This church was a place for civil rights meetings; and was bombed just a few days after the order for desegregation in the public schools in Birmingham. -
John F. Kennedy's Assasination
John F. Kennedy was in Dallas on his campaign for reelection. He was in a motorcade with his wife and Governor Connolly. At 12:30 when the motorcade was going past the Texas School Book Depository the president was shot in the throat and in the head. He was later pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The shooter was Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Passing of the Civil Rights Act
When this act was passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, it outlawed segregation in any businesses like restaurants and hotels. It also got rid of practices of discrimination in the work place, and lastly it abolished segregation in any public places such as schools and libraries. -
Assasination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated when making an appearance in New York. Only after him saying a few words he was shot seven times and died. The shooter was Thomas Hagan. Malcolm X was the leader of the violent black movement for civil rights. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
The march to gain rights for African Americans was three different marches. When hundreds of civil rights workers were marching from Selma they were met brutally at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. State troopers blocked them from going any further; beating the marchers, throwing tear gas into the crowd and pushing the crowd back. The second march didn't get any further. The third march was successful after the marchers said they had the right to protest and they couldn't be stopped by law. -
The Voting Rights Act is Signed
This act was passed in August by Congress. This act allowed blacks to become registered voters. After the act was passed a quarter of a million new black voters were registered into the voting system. -
Watts' Riots
These riots started in Los Angeles when a police officer struck a black bystander at a traffic arrest. 10,000 people participated in attacking white motorists, burning buildings, looting stores and snipping at police. 34 people died in these riots, 28 of which were black. The National Guard had to be called in eventually to stop the riots. -
Thurgood Marshall Named to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall was the first African American appointed into the Supreme Court. He was appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson. He had been very important in many Civil Rights cases that went to the Supreme Court including Brown vs. Board of Education. -
Riots in Newark, New Jersey
The riots started after the arrest of a black cab driver John Smith was arrested.Word quickly spread that the police had beaten him. Acrowd developed in front of the precinct. The police let only a few civil rights leaders in to see him. While he was taken out the back to go to the hospital a rumor spread that he died from the attack.They started throwing bricks at the precinct.The crowd and they went around town breaking into stores.The National Guard was called in to stop the 6 day violence. -
Riots in Detroit, Michigan
This started after the police broke up a party in a black neighborhood for two returning Vietnam Veterans. The police attempted to arrest everyone there and after the police were gone a group started to vandalize stores. That continued along with violent acts for 5 days before the National Guard broke it up leaving 43 people dead, over 1,000 injured and 7,000 arrested. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
In Memphis, Tennessee Martin Luther King Jr. was standing on his balcony at the Lorraine Motel. He was shot in the throat and jaw. His shooter was James Earl Ray. This was a devastating time for many people including civil rights activist and especially the black community. -
The Assassination of Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy had just won the primary election in California and South Dakota when he was in Los Angeles, California. He was going through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel when he was shot. He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital and died 26 hours later. His shooter is Sirhan Sirhan a Palestinian immigrant.
