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Plessy v. Ferguson
Upheld Louisiana's laws which required races to be segregated on trains. Established the concept of "separate but equal". -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
An American organization that fought for the desegregation and the end of discrimination in things like education, voting, employment, and transportation -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Called for the desegregation of schools, and deemed segregation in schools unconstitutional -
De jure vs. De Facto Segregation
De Facto segregation was segregation that existed because of voluntary associations, while de facto was segregation that existed because a law justified the segregation. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans refused to ride buses in Montgomery for 381 days. Instead of riding the bus, they had to organize car pools or walk. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks sat down in the area for "colored" passengers on the bus like she was supposed to, however when many white passengers had to stand while Parks got to sit, he demanded that she give up her seat. She refused to stand up and was arrested for the refusal. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American who was killed in Mississippi because he "flirted" with a white woman. -
Litte Rock School Integration
Nine African American children were enrolled into an all white school after the Brown v. Board court case -
The Sit-Ins
Four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter. They asked for coffee, however the service was refused, so they sat patiently and waited to be served. -
Race Riots
These were public outbreaks between the whites and African Americans that occurred throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and still sometimes occur today. -
Freedom Rides
A series of bus trips through the south to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. -
MLKJ, Gandhi, Thoreau, Randolph
Gandhi was influenced by Thoreau's theories and thoughts, and adopted many of them in developing his concept of Truth Force. MLKJ later adopted Gandhi's idea of Civil Disobedience in the Civil Rights movement. Randolph also influenced MLKJ because he proposed the idea of having a March on Washington which was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and raised awareness for many African Americans -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C. to inform people about the challenges faced by African Americans across the country -
March on Birmingham, Alabama
This march was led by MLKJ and was focused on bringing attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements. It also ended racial segregation in schools, workplaces, and public facilities. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment prohibited poll tax in the election of federal officials. This allowed many more African Americans to vote, because before this amendment, former slaves were allowed to vote, however they often times didn't have enough money to vote. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was a public voice for the Black Muslim faith. He traveled to mecca and came back to the US as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In 1964, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
An act that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It added nearly one million African Americans to the voting rolls. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
A group of protesters walked from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by African American voters in the South -
Black Panther Party
An African American nationalist and socialist organization that was created to patrol African American neighborhoods and protect residents from police brutality. -
Thurgood Marshall
Marshall served as a circuit court judge and issued more than 100 decisions which were not changed by the Supreme Court. Eventually, Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice.