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The Brown v. Board of Education Case
The Brown v. The Board of Education case started when many black families were denied enrollment for their children into white schools, and were told to enroll them in the black schools further away. This caused the NAACP to initiate a class-action lawsuit against the Board of Education arguing that segregation was a violation of the 14th amendment. The case ended in the Supreme Court, with the Court's decision being unanimously in favor of Brown, thus ending legal segregation within schools. -
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a mass protest of the public transport system by civil rights activist and supporters in order to protest discrimination against blacks on the bus. It was initiated by activist Rosa Parks not giving her seat up to a white person and lasted for over a year. The boycott holds significance as the Supreme Court would once again decide to be unconstitutional to segregate the public transport system, and would require all transports to be equally accessible by all. -
The Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group students who tried to enroll into a white high school in Arkansas. The group was turned away, but under the Supreme Court's decision within the Brown v. The Board of Education cases were given jurisdiction to enter the school. There these students faced harassment and major discrimination from outside protesters, opposing the decision to desegregate schools. The violence ended up being so severe that national forces were used to ensure safety of the students. -
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The Sit-In Movement
Sit-ins were an act of protesting where blacks would peacefully sit at the white section of segregated counters within diners in order to publicly oppose the segregation. Started in Greensboro, NC, the protesting would often turn violent due to whites yelling and shouting at the protestors, and eventually police would arrive to arrest the blacks for breaking the law. This set a movement across the nation to desegregate dining areas, affecting many states and privately owned businesses. -
The Freedom Rides
Freedom rides were a series of movements where a group of civil rights activists, both black and white, would travel down the country from North to the South in order to not only protest segregation, but also to test the recently imposed Supreme Court decision banning segregation on in inter-state travel. These rides would end in violence at many of their stops and would cause large outbursts of violence. In the end the original riders had to join another group or riders in order to continue. -
The March on Washington
The March on Washington was organized by many civil rights leaders in order to publicly protest segregation and racial discrimination and in order to show public support civil rights legislation within the Supreme Court that was pending. The march ended up being a major success, with around 200,000 people showing up to make a stance and support civil rights. It was at the head of this march where Martin Luther King Jr. would make his now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and many more would speak. -
The Affirmative Action Policies
The Affirmative Action policies existed in order to alleviate the long standing effects of discrimination on many minority groups and women. Some of the policies included within Affirmative Action include: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and also an executive order written in 1965. Overall the policies effectively dismantled discrimination by law and tried to give equal opportunity to most Americans regardless of race or gender. They are a pivotal set of policies that still hold importance today. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a momentous piece of legislation that was written with the intent to secure the civil rights of all without any precedent of segregation based on race, color, or anything about a person's belief or appearance. While highly controversial at the time, it cemented itself as a major turning point in the Civil Rights Era, ensuring that legal ramifications would be undertaken to any business, employer, or person who segregates against another -
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The Selma to Montgomery Marches
The Selma March was a peaceful civil protest led by Martin Luther KIng Jr. in order to secure the voting rights for blacks within Alabama. While on their march there was a major conflict between the civil rights activists and the state troopers of Alabama. It was during the march the events of Bloody Sunday occurred. The event consisted of up to 25k people, all there to ensure their voting rights were upheld. It was this march that would eventually be the cause for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
The Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in an effort to completely ensure there was no way to purposefully keep an eligible person from voting, should they wish to. It was written in order to ensure that the rights guaranteed within the 15th Amendment were maintained as they were intended when written. This would effectively end things such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures put into place that were there to intentionally keep blacks from voting. -
The Watts Riots
The Watts Riots were a series of confrontations between Los Angeles police and residents of predominately black neighborhoods, like Watts. The riots themselves were initiated due to the, now believed, lawful arrest of a black man, and were started and ended as very violent protests, certainly not a civil gathering like the March on Washington or other peaceful protests. The riots overall had a negative public perception, with obviously many blaming the rioters race for why it became violent. -
The Memphis Sanitation Strike
The Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike occurred due to the lackluster wage that the sanitation workers of Memphis, most of whom were black, garnering around $1.00/hr. This strike was attempted one other time before this, but due to insufficient community support it was unable to continue. Due to the request from the leader of the group, Rev. James Lawson, Martin Luther King Jr. agreed to show up to the strike in order to provide support. This was the last strike King would ever attend. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. had been convinced by a friend and fellow civil rights activist and leader, Rev. James Lawson. Showing up to the event, King led the rebuilt Memphis Sanitation Strike in protest and delivered speeches on the inequality of segregation and the lack of civil rights within pay and the workplace. It was on the evening of April 4th when King would be assassinated by James Earl Ray. As a, if not the most, valuable civil rights leader, King's death marked a change in history. -
The Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Case
The Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case occurred as a result of the previous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, but this time concerned the transportation of students to and fro schools. Due to long standing segregation, many black students, while allowed to go to white schools, found themselves unable to receive adequate transportation to the schools. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that adequate transportation had to be offered to every student enrolled. -
The Bakke v. University of California Case
The Bakke v. University of California case started when a white man, Bakke, wanted to enter into the University of California, but was denied multiple times even though his grades were superior to other minorities who were enrolled due to the basis of Affirmative Action, which was not official law yet. In this ruling the very divided Supreme Court effectively stated that race couldn't affect admissions, only on higher education efforts. This also cemented Affirmative Action as constitutional.