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Brown vs Board of Education
Brown vs Board of Education was a court case which declared school segregation unconstitutional.Linda Brown was denied admission to her district school in Topeka, Kansas because she was African American.They told her she had to attend an all black school. This started the Brown vs Board of Education case. The ruling was segregation is unconstitutional. The court case that allowed separate but equal; facilities was Plessy vs Ferguson. -
Rosa Parks
What happened this day was truly brave and iconic. Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama boarded a bus to go home. Nothing seems wrong right? Well, buses were segregated. Whites in front, back for blacks, seats in middle were open to blacks too, but only if there were few whites on the bus. Rosa Parks sat right behind the section of whites, when the bus started getting full, she was asked to move to the back, she didn't. The driver called the police and she was taken into custody. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Congress passed the first civil rights law since reconstruction. This law was intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote. Eisenhower knew that the southern democrats on Congress would try and block this law, 7 of them did, but in the end, Civil Rights Acts of 1957 came to be. It created a civil rights division in the Department of Justice and it gave authority to seek court injunctions against anyone inferring with right to vote. Also created US Commission on Civil Rights. -
Events at Little Rock, Arkansas
The school board won a court order to admit 9 African American students to Central High, a mainly all white school. It was racially moderate town.The governor, Orval Faubus ordered troops from National Guard to come to the high school and not allow the 9 black students to enter. The next day, an angry white mob came and it was broadcasted. The mob pushed the president to the breaking point, he ordered the U.S Army to send troops to Little Rock. The 9 black students entered the school. -
Attack of the Freedom Riders
The Freedom Riders were a group of African Americans and whites who would travel into the South to draw attention to the South's refusal to integrate bus terminals. CORE leader James Farmer helped organize the freedom rides. In May the first freedom riders boarded a bus. The racist mobs attacked them. They slit the tires, threw rocks at the windows, someone even threw a firebomb into one bus. They would get off the bus, only to face a gang to beat them. The freedom riders were not treated nice. -
James Meredith enrolls at Ole Miss
African American James Meredith applied for a transfer to University of Mississippi. When he applied, the governor of Mississippi. Ross Barnett was blocking his path. He would not allow an African American to go to school there. The president was upset, so he got 500 federal marshals to escort Meredith to the campus. When arrived, an angry white mob attacked, and a riot started. The marshals respond with tear gas. The riot went on all night, but still James went to school all year and graduated. -
Medgar Evers Assassinated
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist and field secretary for NAACP in Mississippi. Medgar was shot in the back while he was walking up to his house. He was carrying a pile of t-shirts that read "Jim Crow must Go" in his arms when he was shot. His 2 small children witnessed him being shot. The suspect was a white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith. -
The March on Washington
The purpose of the March on Washington was a political rally for jobs and freedom. The event was organized by civil rights and religious groups. About 200,000 people participated in the march. At this march, Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech. The speech had a big impact, and it will forever be remembered. -
Birmingham Church Bombing
In Birmingham, Alabama, a bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church killed 4 schoolgirls and left many others injured. The church served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. The bombing of this church left outrage. There was much violence between protesters and police which drew national attention to the hard civil rights of African Americans. -
Rev. Bruce Klunder Killing
In Cleveland Ohio, Bruce Klunder was crushed to death by a bulldozer for protesting the construction of segregated schools. He has began discussing civil rights issues with his YMCA Student Council officers. If we jump forward, April 7th, he was protesting for a segregated school in Ohio, 3 people had already jumped in front of the bulldozer as a protest move, Klunder went behind, when the bulldozer went reverse, he was crushed. His death truly captures his fight. -
Freedom Summer
In Mississippi, about 1,000 young civil rights volunteers from Freedom Summer came. Freedom Summer was a nonviolent civil rights effort to integrate Mississippi's political system. Freedom Summer began when CORE and SNCC decided to recruit mainly whites to work during the summer to help with African American's voting rights. This was really when Freedom Summer began. -
March to Selma
Organized as "march for freedom". The marchers were beaten and attacked when they kneeled down for a prayer during their march. The attack left 70 African Americans hospitalized or injured. The outcome of this march? The nation was shocked. President Johnson became angry and took action, he proposed a new voting rights law. -
Vernon Dahmer, 1966 Klan Bombing
Vernon Dahmer was a black community leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. On January 10, around 2am his own home was firebombed. The attack was traumatic, in the end, his family survived but sadly, Dahmer did not survive this bombing. Everything was destroyed. -
Wharlest Jackson killed
In Natchez, Mississippi, a Civil rights leader named Wharlest Jackson was killed for being promoted to a 'white' job. Jackson had worked for 12 years at a factory and was finally promoted to a position in chemical mixing plant, which was a 'white' job. He had won the position over 2 white workers. One night, he got in his car, and an explosion went off when he turned it on, causing him to die. His wife KNEW it was him when she heard it. -
Thurgood Marshall first black Supreme Court Justice
Marshall was a civil rights activist before he became a justice. He studied at Harvard and he also won the Brown v Board of Education case. Marshall becoming the first black Supreme Court Justice is such a monumental event due to him being the FIRST black. It showed everyone else that, it can and will happen, you can do anything, don't let them tell you that you can't because of your skin color. I think it really motivated everyone. -
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
King went to Memphis to support a strike. At this time, SCLC was planning a Poor People's Campaign to promote economical advancement for ALL impoverished Americans. This was all going on at the time. On April 4th 1964, King was standing on his hotel balcony, when he was shot by a sniper. The death of King had a huge impact on everyone, even whites. Why? His actions helped everyone. His death marked the end of an era. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The civil rights bill passed the House of Representatives, then to the Senate, and on July 2 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Gave federal government broad power to prevent racial discrimination, made segregation illegal in most places, and gave citizens of all races and nationalities equal access to such facilities as restaurants, parks, etc. Gave attorney general more power. Also established EEOC.
