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Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v Board of Education decided that the previous Plessy v. Fergeson decision, separate but equal was invalid and that all schools should be desegregated. -
White Citizens Council
The White Citizens Council is a white supremacy group that strongly supports segregation and protects the sanctity of "European-American Heritage". It had about 60,000 members at it's height who used their political and economic power to intimidate and attack civil rights activists. -
Brown v. Board of Education II
A year later souther states asked that they be exempt from this rulling as it was to much change to fast and they needed time to adjust -
TheMurder of Emmet Till
Emmett Till talked "smart" to a white woman. That night two white men kidnapped the young boy, torturing and killing him and threw his body in a river. His body was so deformed that they had a hard time identifying his body, a problem which the murderers exploited. His mother despite this insisted on an open casket so the world could see his damaged body. This sparked anger in all communities and left the national media with indisputable evidence on southern race relations. -
Rosa Park's Arrest
Rosa Parks, secretary for the NAACP, rode a bus home from work, when a white person asked her to move from her seat and she refused to get up and give her seat away, which violated the segregation rules at the time. This caused to get arrested which sparked a ton of anger. That caused a mass boycott of the bus system. The boycott lasted all year, or 381 days. The boycott ended when the supreme court ruled that segregation on the buses were unconstitutional. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The bus boycott was sparked by Rosa Park's arrest. The boycott protested not only her arrest but also the segregated seating of the busses. The boycott was the first of many highly publicized civil rights events. The boycott lasted for 381 days. People refused to ride the bus and instead walked, rode their bikes if they had them, or carpooled. The lack of black patronage damaged the bus system and finally the federal court ruled that the segregation rules violated the 14th amendment. -
Martin Luther King House Bombing
Martin Luther King's house was bombed in retaliation for the succes of the bus boycott. No one was hurt but a angry mob looking to both protect king and retaliate for the bombing formed outside his house. Once king made sure his family was safe he told the people to go home and to put down their weapons which they did, preventing what could have been an awful fight between the cops and black activists. -
Bombing of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth's house and church were pack with 16 sticks of dynamite and exploded causing damage to his house and his church but luckily no one was injured. He was targeted by the KKK for being a civil rights activist in Birmingham in 50s. The KKK made four other attempts on his life and still he continued to fight for equal rights. -
SCLC Founded
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded after the bus boycott by Martin Luther King and other black leaders who invited 60 black ministers to Atlanta. The goal of the conference was to create an organization where they could plan nonviolent protest and similar action to have an organized front against discrimination. -
Eisenhower sends in Federal Troops
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine school children trying to go to a desegregated school but the whites heavily revolted and attacked the children preventing them from going to school. After days of protesting and death threats Eisenhower sent in troops to protect the nine children. This didn't solve the unrest but it did allow the children to go to school. The nine were still bullied and harassed at school but the federal troops protected them from any serious injuries. -
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is Formed
The SNCC was founded in 1960 by Ella Baker who worked with the SCLC and thought it wasn't connecting with young black activist who wanted more from the movement. They played a large role in the freedom rides and the freedom summer movements. SNCC was seen as more radical and demanding than SCLC and king and were less compromising, which created some divide between the two. Baker tending to set the nonviolence aspect as political tactic rather than a moral. -
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Greensboro Sit-Ins
The Sit in protest started in Greensboro, North Carolina, when a group of students were denied service at a segregated lunch counter and refused to leave. This type of protest was a symbol of the nonviolent movement and spread throughout many southern college towns. This type of protesting was very effective and helped to bring to light the immorality of segregation. -
Freedom Rides
The Freedom Riders were both white and african american activists that took buses from the north to the south in protest of segregation laws. They protested by using whites only restrooms and food counters at bus stations in the south. White protesters followed the bus and threw a bomb into it. When the riders escaped they were heavily beaten by a white mob. This amount of violence shocked the nation and drew national attention to the issues of race. -
Albany Georgia “failure”
The Albany movement started in Albany, Georgia when local activist started to take part in sit ins and other nonviolent acts to protests segregation. Mass arrest ensued and Martin Luther King joined the fight in Albany. He was then arrested and later bailed out by the head chief of police. Unsure or what he could do to help the situation MLK and the SLCL moved out of Albany and it remained segregated. -
White mob attacks federal marshals in Montgomery
During a freedom rid through Montgomery, Alabama a bus was attacked by a mob of three hundred. They were surrounded and brutally attacked with baseball bats, bike chains and anything else they could find. -
Bailey v Patterson
The court case Bailey v Patterson decided it was unconstitutional to have segregation on transportation facilities like city buses and greyhound buses. This decision was greatly influenced by the freedom riders. -
MLK and the Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama during a protest for protesting without a permit. During his time in jail 8 clergymen wrote a letter about how the protest was untimely and unwise, to which King respond with his famous Letter From Birmingham Jail. King wrote in his letter the revolt of the oppressed will always be cumbersome and untimely for the oppressor and he had a moral obligation to fight unjust laws at any and all times. -
Equal Pay Act
The equal pay act is part of labor policy that's goal is to diminish the gap in wages based on sex. -
Kennedy sends in Federal Troops
Two black students with the support of Kennedy registered for the university of Alabama but the governor refused to let them enroll. Kennedy then publicly made a presidential proclamation insisting that the governor allow the students to enroll. When the students showed up the governor blocked the entrance with state troopers. Kennedy then sent in federal troops. The governor backed down and a week later a third student enrolled with no hindrances. -
Assassination of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was a civil rights leader and played an instrumental part of the emmett till case and continued to help people in his home state of Mississippi. He was shot outside of his home. Two all white jury's couldn't reach a decision on the case and thus Byron De La Beck was set free. In 1994 a mixed jury put him on trial and Beck was found guilty and sentenced to life. -
March on Washington “I have a Dream”
The march on Washington was a massive protest with 250,000 protesters coming from across the nation. They came together to advocate for jobs and freedom showing the everyday challenges that african americans continued to face. This is when Martin Luther King said his "I have a dream" speech in which he talked about his goals for equality. -
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
White Supremacists attacked a black church during Sunday morning services with a bomb killing four young girls. The nature of the violent attack shook the nation and sparked outrage nationally. This lead to fights between the cops and the black congregation which showed the struggle and dangers of being a black activist in the south to the nation. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was assassinated at a presidential parade in Dallas, Texas. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom summer was a voter drive in Mississippi that encouraged and helped people sign up to vote in rural areas. In retaliation the KKK, and police launched violent attacks including the murder of three activists. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment prohibited any poll tax for voting. This encouraged voting by prevent voting discrimination for those in poverty and suffering from racial inequality. -
The Civil Rights Act
The civil rights act ended segregation in public places and band work place discrimination on the bias of color, sex, and religion. -
Assassination of Malcom X
Malcolm X was shot to death by nation of islam while at a rally for his organization. Malcolm X was a follower of islamic teachings and believed in protecting the black identity by any means necessary, including violence. After a pilgrimage to mecca however he changed his ways and started preaching a more moderate approach that was more popular. -
Selma to Montgomery March
The march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery. In the first attempt protesters were met with police that pushed them back. This caused thousands to flock to Selma to join. 2000 protesters then crossed where they had been previously stopped, walked to highway 80 where troopers were waiting for them. MLK believing it was trap turned around. The President than pledged his support and the national guard stepped in, they finally made it . The president called for new voting bills in congress. -
Voting Rights Act
Signed into action to override state and city laws that prevented african americans from voting even though it was guaranteed by the 15th amendment. -
Loving v. Virgina
Loving v. Virginia was a supreme court case that decided banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional and against the 14th amendment. The lovings were an interracial couple that were arrested by virginia police for being married, with the help of the ACLU sued, went to the supreme court and won the case. -
Minneapolis Riots
Riots broke out in north Minneapolis when the black community became angry with the jewish community which at one point were equal to the black population but after WWII anti-Semitism was on the decrease and many african americans were angry with the new opportunities the jewish community were getting that really pointed out the inequalities the black community faced. -
Detroit Riots
These were the bloodiest of riots of the summer of '67. It was sparked by a bar raid that led to a lot of looting of stores on the first day, the police unable to do anything.To clear rioters off the streets they began mass arrests, overfilled their jails. The police became so stressed they stopped discerning between civilian and rioters. Troops were sent in which made matters worse. The police department was found guilty of intense brutality to their prisoners both black and white. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King
MLK was killed on his hotel balcony in Memphis Tennessee. He was in Tennessee to aid striking sanitation workers and was on his way to a dinner with a minister. He stepped out onto the balcony to talk with SCIC colleagues when he was shot. He was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. His death sparked riots across the nation that ended up with 40 others dead and a large amount of property damage. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King
MLK was killed on his hotel balcony in Memphis Tennessee. He was in Tennessee to aid striking sanitation workers and was on his way to a dinner with a minister. He stepped out onto the balcony to talk with SCLC colleagues when he was shot. He was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. His death sparked riots across the nation that ended up with 40 others dead and a large amount of property damage. -
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy was shot after he won the democratic vote in California and South Dakota. On his way back from the podium he was shot twice by Sirhan Sirhan an immigrant from Jordan.
