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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Through the years the NAACP supported court cases that intended to overturn segregation. The NAACP achieved a few victories. For example, in 1935 the courts ruled in Norris V. Alabama that Alabma's exclusion of African Americans from juries violated their right to equal protection under the law. The NAACP was involved in the civil rights movement throughout the enitre movement. They supported and helped make decisions that would affect all of the minorities equally. -
Brown V. Board of Education
In 1954 the supreme court decided to combine a few cases and issue a general ruling on segregation in schools. One of the cases involved a girl named Linda Brown. Brown was denied admission to a nearby school in Topeka, Kansas becasue of her race. On May 17, 1954 the Suprme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. -
Rosa Parks
On the night of December 1, Rosa Parks left her job in Motgomery, Alabama and boarded a bus to go home. In the 50's buses in Montgomery reserved seats in the back of the bus for colored people. Parks took a seat right behind the end of the "white" section. The bus soon became very crowded. The bus driver noticed a white man standing on the bus and tried to force Parks and three other African Americans to move. Parks refused to move. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a success. This boycott was initiated, unintentionally, by Rosa Parks. The boycott was originally started to support Parks, had started a chain reaction. The boycott was a mass movement that would eventually change American society. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was 26 years old when he became involved in the civil rights movement. He was a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. King was an influential speaker that helped lead African Americans to their success and goals. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
After seeing a huge success from the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Kind and other African American Ministers established the SCLC. The SCLC's goal, like many others, was to eliminate segregation from American society and to encourage African Americans to register to vote. Dr. KIng was the SCLC's first president and with his help the organization challenged segregation at voting booths, in public transportation, housing, and accomodations. -
Central High School
In 1957, the school board in Little Rock, Arkansas won a court order requiring that nine African American students be admitted to Central High School. Central High School had 2,000 white students. Orval Faubus, a moderate on racial issues, wanted to be releceted so he started campaigning as a defender of white supremacy. By doing so, he ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine students from entering the school. In response, President Eisenhower sent the Army to protect the kids. -
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The sit-in movement brought large numbers of idealistic and energized college students into the civil rights struggle. Sit-in's allowed students a way to take matters into their own hands. The SNCC played a large role in desegregating public facilities and began sending volunteers to the deep south to help register African Americans to vote. -
Freedom Riders
Even though the Supreme Court had ruled that segregation in interstate bus services was illegal, it still continued. Jamers Farmer asked teams of African American and white volunteers, many of which were college students, to travel into the south to draw attention to its refusal to integrate bus terminals. In early May of 1961 the first Freedom Riders boarded several southbound interstate buses. When the buses arrived at their destinations they were greeted by angry white mobs. -
Protests in Birmingham
Martin Luther King Jr. came to the conclusion that only when the violence got out of hand would the federal government intervene. Within days of the protests King was arrested. King wrote, while in jail, the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". It said to be one of the most eloquent defenses of nonviolent protest ever written. After King was realesed the protests began to grow. Bull Connor ordered the Birmingham police to use clubs, police dogs, and high-pressure fire hoses on the demonstrators. -
March on Washington
King knew that Kennedy would have a very difficult time pushing the civil rights bill through congress. In response King tried to find ways to lobby congress and to build more public support. In August of 1963 more than 200,000 demonstratrs of all races came to the nation's capital. Dr. King's speech and the peacefulness built momentum for the civil rights bill. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most comprehensive civil rights law congress ever enacterd. This bill gave the federal government broad power to prevent racial discrimination in a number of areas. The bill also made segregation illegal in many places of public accomodation, and it gave citizens of all races and nationalities equal acess to public facilities. -
Malcom X (Death Date)
While in prison Malcolm began to better himself. Malcolm turned black muslim. Black muslims did not advocate violence but they did advocate self-defense. After Malcolm X broke away from the Black muslims he continued to criticize the organization. Members from the organization shot and killed him. -
Selma March
The SCLC and Dr. King chose Selma, Alabama as the focal point for their campaign for voting rights. The march was from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, with the total distance of about 50 miles. On March 7, the march began. Hosea Williams and John Lewis led 500 protestors toward the highway. As they approached the highway, police officers awaited them. Police beat the protestors and left 70 African Americans hospitalized. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act authorized the U.S. attoney general to send federal examiners to register qualified voters, bypassing local officials who often refused to register African Americans. -
Black Panthers
Black Panthers believed that a revolution was necessary. They urged African Americans to arm themselves and prepare to force whites to grant them equal rights. The Black Panthers also called for an end to racial oppression and control of major institutions in the African American community. -
Black Power
Black Power has many meanings. Some interperted black power to mean that physical self-defense and even violence were accpetable. But to others the term meant that AFrican Americans should control the social, political, and economic direction of their struggle.
