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Fourteenth Amendment
It made everyone that wasn't white officially a citizen of the US. This gave them official rights in the country. These rights prevented them from being rejected others from denying them freedom, liberty, and life -
Plessy V Ferguson
This showed that just because the law gave basic rights to all citizens, they still weren't equal to whites. This shows that the courts think that segregation is fine because it still allows you to exercise the rights you have. The courts agree that there is nothing wrong with making some people use specific utilities made for them, even though they were worse. -
Little Rock Central High School
This was a total whits school, until nine African American kids decided to enroll. On the first day the national guard was called to deny their entry into the building. Later into the month, the president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, sent federal troops to make sure they got into the school. This was a major thing at the time because of the Jim Crow Laws that were implace almost everywhere, later this allowed the ice to be broken for desegregation of schools in the US. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus that was segregated. She led the way for others to start to rebel against the Jim Crow laws. This incident later led to Bus Boycotting in Montgomery. -
Truman Executive Order 9981
This document was signed to abolish segregation from the armed forces. This meant that no matter what race you were you would be in the general service, not a side version of it for specific races like they had in the civil war. This also meant that everyone in the armed forces were to be treated equally. -
Brown V Board of Education Topeka, Kansas
This showed that the "separate but equal" was not true at all, because if schools were separated and one was better than the other that's not equal. This court case brought to the surface that in fact segregation was not even close to as equal as people say it is. This was a step into making everyone equal and removing segregation from the country. -
Emmett Till
He was a little boy that that was an African American that was very lively. He was caught flirting with a white woman, the husband of this woman then went to his house and took him away. Later he was found dead in a disconfigured state, this shows how discriminate the times were and how extreme some took this. -
Montgomery Bus Boycotts
A civil rights protest after Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving her seat on a bus. This was one of the first large scale demonstrations for civil rights. This lead into other large scale demonstrations because it showed the world that they could be done. -
First "Sit In"
The "Sit in" movement was for civil rights and they were nonviolent protests. The thing about the first protest was it was carefully planned out so that the authorities couldn't do much and it got a lot of media coverage. This proves that even it was peaceful, it still can have lots of impact and move the nation in a direction of equality. -
Selma & Eugene Connor
Children participated in protest marches and the Birmingham City jail was full, "Bull" Connor ordered fire hoses and police dogs onto the protest. In order to make peace Richmond Flowers to decide if the new council or Birmingham governed the body, they refused to let the new council take control. This shows that even kids were getting on board with equality and protesting, this also shows that there were people that wanted to lower racial tension to make peace. -
Letters from a Birmingham Jail
After, a protest Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters were put in jail, during this time he wrote a letter. This letter said that negotiating would work more effectively than demanstations, but if the other side refuse to accept something is wrong then it's the only way. This shows that the whites at the time, a majority of them saw nothing wrong with what was happening and denying there was a problem with segregation. -
"I have a Dream" Speech
This was a speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave to the world about what he sees the world can be and how equality is something that can happen. This speech gave lots of momentum in the civil rights movement allowing segregation to end faster that it otherwise would have. One such things it stopped was the segregation on busses. -
Thomas Blanton Church Bombing
Thomas Blanton, apart of the KKK bombed a baptist church killing four African American girls. This showed that racial discrimination was a thing at the time and it was a serious problem. If people are going to the lengths to kill African Americans to keep segregation a thing there is a problem and this shows how much tension there was on the subject. -
24th Amendment
This allowed African Americans to vote, this allowed them to have somewhat of a say in who gets power in high places. This change would make it harder for lawful racism to keep happening. The problem is that people themselves were still racist, but that cannot be helped. -
Civil Rights Act
This Act made it so that you cannot discriminate based on race, religion, or national origin. This was a big jump from having almost nothing in the way of discrimination and this applied to things like jobs and schools making life better for all people that were discriminated against. This was important because it was a big change that would influence people's thoughts on other type of people. -
Malcolm X Assassinated
Malcolm was on the more aggressive action for African Americans to get equality, he wanted them to get it by any means necessary. He wanted the African Americans to rise up and take out their main opposition, the white people. He was shot and killed at a speech he was giving, this shows that some white people didn't want to be overthrown and they didn't want to be equal they wanted to be on top. -
Watts Riots
A series of riots that had lots of people involved and lots of property damage. It started with a persons DUI, some scuffling happened there was a crowd and back up police thought they were hostile, so fighting happened. This turned into everyone fighting everyone over the next few days, this shows the tension and how easily it can be broken for disastrous results. -
MLK Jr. Assassinated
The murder of Martin Luther King Jr. allowed the bill to make everyone equal get passed faster. The reason for this is that everyone that looked up to him was outraged about his death and the only way to to calm the people down was through equality. This is really important because it is what the African Americans have been fighting for since the beginning. -
Rodney King Riots
A large amount of rioters swept through Los Angeles, nothing but the National Guard could try to stop them, there was assault, arson, and murder during the riot. This shows that if the people want something and they want to turn to violence they can make a big problem. This is an example of the destruction that people can cause for something they want, including equality. -
Ferguson, Missouri
After the death of Michael Brown from a police officer, riots started to happen in protest to the event of it. This shows that even in recent events there is still that racial tension that people have been trying to get rid of for a long time. It also shows that all you need is a spark to light a fire, and it can be hard to put that out.
