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Brown Vs Board of Education
NAACP combined 5 cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia into 1 case for the Supreme Court. The court decided (9-0) that separate but equal is wrong. Many of the black students will never go to school with the white kids. -
Emmet Till Murder
14 year old, Emmet went to Money, Mississippi to visit his family. There he visited a store and whistled at a white woman. 3 days later Roy Bryant kidnapped and killed Emmet. This included taking an eye and ear from him and then finishing by wrapping barbed wire around his neck and weighing him down with a 75 lbs fan before throughout him into the water. 50,000 people attended his open casket funeral. Court case 1 hour and 7 minutes to find the men not guilty, later they confessed. -
Rosa Parks / Bus Boycott
Rosa is arrested for failing to move seats to make room for white man on bus. She is taken away and fined $10. MLK Jr and his church helps to send out flyers to boycott the buses. The buses ran empty for 381 days. Supreme Court decide to tell the buses they had to blacks ride. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Meeting of black church pastors to coordinate events for black people. MLK was elected as 1st president. This group used a nonviolent strategy. This group also registered blacks to vote, opposed Vietnam war, and better jobs for blacks. -
Little Rock Nine
9 students wanted to go to the white school. The governor of Arkansas call out National Guard to stop them. President Eisenhower calls in 1,200 military men to escort these students from home to class. By 1959 all schools fully integrated. -
Greensboro Sit Ins
Black students bought items and then sent to sit in at the lunch counter at Wodworth’s were they were refused service. They came back day after day and the numbers grew to 1000. Wodworth was losing money (1.8 billion) so they decided to serve the black community. -
Freedom Rides
A diverse group of 436 individuals, mostly volunteers, in 60 different freedom rides from 39 states, helped to desegregate bus stations, dinners and hotels. Started in Washington DC to go into the Deep South. Arrived in Aniston, Alabama and was attacked by KKK. Tires were slashed, busses were burned, and beatings were given, town after town. -
March on Washington
250,000 people marched in Washington DC. It was peaceful and respectful protest for jobs and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “ I have a dream” speech. MLK was the last speaker of the day. -
Civil Rights Act
Enabled the federal government to prevent racial discrimination and segregation based race, color, religion, or national origin in private business or public facilities. -
Assassination of Malcom X
Civil Rights leader who was part of the Nation of Islam. He wanted black people to believe in themselves and start their own businesses. He was shot 21 times. (Thomas Hagan was convicted of the killing) -
Selma to Montgomery Marches
Black marchers wanted to walk 54 miles to Montgomery to register to vote. At the Edmond Bridge troopers brutally beat them. -
Voting Rights Act
Enabled the rights to vote of African Americans and any discrimination in voting. Now a federal matter not controlled by state. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King
MLK was protesting with sanitation workers in Memphis. He went back to the Lorrain Motel. King bent over to speak to someone from the balcony when he was shot in the rights side of his face by a Remington Rifle. James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison. His death marked the end of the Civil Rights Movement.