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Plessy vs. Ferguson
There was a court case that made a law that said segregation was legal in the United States. Plessy challenged that the law violated the 13th and 14th amendments, but Ferguson challenged against him. The court case resulted in Louisiana railways were required to not segregate. Later, Plessy was overturned by brown vs. the board of education. -
School Segregation Before Brown vs. Board of Education
Until 1954, racial segregation in schools was required by law in seventeen states and allowed in several others. The NAACP’s lead lawyer challenged this and convinced the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education case. The case showed that segregation made African American students feel inferior. Even though schools were supposed to be equal, they were not in quality. Most importantly, separating students by race was unfair and unconstitutional. -
Lynching of Jesse Washington
Jesse Washington was a black, mentally disabled 17 year old who was accused of murdering Lucy Fryer at a fryer farm. The court found him guilty after only 4 minutes and a white mob chained him by the neck and dragged him outside near city hall and he was stripped naked and beaten. He was stabbed and slashed as they paraded him through the streets. He was brutally tortured and his body parts were distributed among the crowd. This incident became known as the “Waco Horror”. -
Tulsa Massacre
The Tulsa massacre is believed to be the single worst incident of racial violence in American history. During the course of 18 terrible hours more than one thousand homes and buildings were destroyed and an estimate of about 50-300 people were killed. By the time it was over it was too late, and Oklahomas second largest African American community had been burned to the ground. -
Scottsboro Boys
Nine black American boys were arrested on suspicion of raking two white women in Alabama. When they were in a train they got into a fight with a group of white youths. The young white jumped off the train and ran away but the two remaining women claimed they were attacked by the black people. Later, nine of the black boys were sentenced to death and the youngest was given a life sentence. In 1937, one of the women admitted the testimony was a lie. In 2013, they were granted a pardon to the boys. -
Brown vs. Board of education
The Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional to have segregated schools so they overruled the “separate but equal” principle set in place in 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson case, making schools desegregated. Even though this law was enforced schools in the south did not go by it and still had segregated schools. This led to change throughout history because now almost every school is desegregated throughout America. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 5 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested because she refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. After that over the span of 13 months thousands of people were involved in a protest to desegregate the buses. This ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional and made a law to desegregate all public buses. -
Little Rock Nine
The "Little Rock Nine," as the nine teens came to be known, were to be the first African American students to enter Little Rock's Central High School. On September 5, just 24 hours after a federal judge ordered the Little Rock Nine to begin attending Central High immediately, an aggressive mob, along with the National Guard, again prevented the teens from entering the school. These students continued to go to school despite being harassed by other students and 3 of them successfully graduated. -
Interracial Marriage Laws
Interracial marriage laws have evolved over time. In the 1960s, most U.S. states banned Black-white marriages under anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibited marriage between people of different races. This changed with the Loving v. Virginia case, which ruled such laws unconstitutional. The decision made it illegal to ban interracial marriage nationwide, affirming that marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be restricted based on race. -
The Impact of Protests
The chart shows noticeable spikes in public opinion between 1963 and around 1968, alongside increases in headlines and protest participation. These spikes were driven by televised protests that captured police and civilian violence, drawing widespread attention from the public and the media. The protests highlighted the issue, gaining the attention of the president and other officials. This, in turn, influenced public response and led to changes in laws and policies. -
Voting Registration Changes
The graphs show an increase in African American voter participation. This rise was due to the Voting Rights Act, which eliminated literacy tests that had previously restricted African American voters. By ensuring a fair registration process, the act led to a significant increase in African American voting rates. This made things better for African Americans because this way they have more freedom of speech and they get an opinion on what decisions the government is wanting to make. -
Bus Bombing
In May of 1961 a group of nonviolent activists called Freedom Riders were attacked by a white mob. Going to protest segregation, the bus carrying these activists was ambushed at the Greyhound depot in Anniston. A white mob surrounded the bus, slashed its tires, and was about to bomb the bus until someone convinced the mob to let them off the bus so they pursued the Freedom Riders out onto the highway and bombed the bus. This is a way of people fighting back for what they think is right. -
Children’s Crusade
On May 2, 1963, more than one thousand students skipped classes and gathered at 16th Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. As they approached police lines, hundreds were arrested and carried off to jail in paddy wagons and school buses but they weren’t doing anything that was breaking the law. They were being blasted by fire hoses, clubbed by police officers, and attacked by police dogs appeared on television and in newspapers, and outraged the world. -
16th St. Baptist Church Bombing
On September 15th 1963 just before church was about to start the KKK planted a bomb under the steps of the church a it exploded, the people sought safety under the pews and shielded each other from falling debris. This resulted in four little girls being killed in the basement and many injured. This is seen as resistance because this is showing the KKK fighting back and trying to keep segregation alive. -
Civil rights act of 1964
The civil rights act was made on July 2nd 1964 by the president at the time Lyndon B. Johnson. This act brought up discrimination based on race, religion, gender, or nationality. It brought up voting rights for African Americans and women. It prohibited discrimination in public places, restaurants, bathrooms, and more. It strongly desegregated schools and established equal job opportunities, and helped breakdown and remove Jim Crow Laws. -
Bloody Sunday
On March 3, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, 600 people were attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge when all they were peaceful protesting. They weren’t treating anyone and didn’t have any weapons whatsoever. It was there that law enforcement officers beat unarmed marchers with billy clubs and sprayed them with tear gas. This spiked a lot of people’s attention of the struggle of African American voting rights. This is an opposition because the people are fighting back for what they believe in. -
Martin Luther King assassination
Martin Luther King was assonated on April 4, 1968 in a Lorraine motel, he was standing on his balcony he was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead 1 hour later. Some theories say that it was the government but the man that shot him was James Ray. The death of MLK caused deadly riots and protests with thousands of injuries. The civil rights movement went from being nonviolent to a black power mindset and violence. This created a sense of oppression from government because MLK passed. -
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Black Lives Matter Protests
The Black Lives Matter protests started after the murder of George Floyd. These protests are trying to stop police brutality and they highlight racism, discrimination and racial inequality experienced by black people, and to promote anti-racism. The movement has fought racism through such means as political action and nonviolent protests which are all ways of MLK and showing respect and support to how he wanted society fight. This is a way that people fight back for what they think is right. -
Murder of George Floyd
George Floyd was a 46 year old black man who was killed on May 25, 2020 when he was being arrested and a white police officer kneeled on his neck. After his death there were nation wide protests in all 50 states. Over 60 countries showed support for the Black Lives Matter protests. Going back to MlKs ways, most protests were nonviolent. Many protests consisted of white people. This sad instance shows the importance of racial equality in the police force. This changed the laws in Michigan.