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Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v Board was a Supreme Court case. The case included Oliver brown and the NAACP. It took place in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Disrtict of Columbia. In the case it challenged the idea of “separate but equal” established by Plessy V. Ferguson. The case was about whether segregated schools were fair. Supreme Court decided that it went against the 14th amendment. They also decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African boy from Chicago. He was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was accused of offending Carolyn Bryant, a white woman. It was said he whistled at the woman in a grocery store. Emmett Till was then kidnapped, brutally beaten, and killed. Emmett Till’s mother insisted on an open casket so people could see the brutality of his murder. -
Rosa Parks Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks was an African American woman that was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus. This took place in Montgomery Alabama. This act sparked the Montgomery bus boycott that was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists. The boycott lasted a year. African Americans refused to ride the buses. The boycott drew attention to racial segregation and discrimination. -
Southern Christian leadership conference
The SCLC was an organization linked to the black churches. 60 black ministers were pivotal in organizing civil rights activism. Martin Luther King Jr was elected President. They focused its non violent strategy on citizenship, schools and efforts to desegregate individual cities. It played key roles in the March on Washington in 1963 and the Voting Rights Campaign and March to Montgomery in 1965. -
Little Rock 9
Nine African American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite the ruling from Brown V. Board of Education, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to prevent the students from entering the school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce integration and protect the students. The Little Rock 9 faced harassment and violence. Even after all that they stayed in the school. -
Greensboro sit ins
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests that took place in 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Four African American college students sat at a segregated lunch counter at Woolworth's, demanding service. The counter was reserved for white customers only. Their peaceful protest led to similar actions across the country. The sit-ins led to the desegregation of Woolworth's lunch counters. -
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges was a six-year-old African American girl who became the first Black student to go to an all-white elementary school. She went to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. She faced angry protests from white people who didn't want her there. Ruby was escorted by U.S. marshals every day because of the danger. She was the only student to be taught by one teacher. -
Freedom Riders
The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists, both Black and white, who rode buses to challenge segregation. They were trying to test a Supreme Court decision that said segregated bus terminals were illegal. As they rode through Southern states like Alabama and Mississippi, they faced violent protests, including beatings and bus bombings. They kept going, even though they were attacked. Which then forced the government to make sure bus stations were desegregated