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Sweatt v. Painter
Sweatt v. Painter was a supreme court case. Sweatt applied to the University of Texas School of Law, met all the eligibility requirements but was denied because of his race. The school was an all-whites school at the time. Sweatt sued the school and was finally accepted to UT Law. -
Emmett Till's Murder
While Emmett was visiting his relatives in Mississippi, he was accused of offending a white woman in a grocery store by whistling at her. The woman's husband then kidnapped and lynched Emmett. Emmett was only 14 when he was brutally murdered. However, Emmett's murderers never went to jail. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A few days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing her seat to a white person, the Montgomery bus boycott started. These were protests by African Americans where they refused to ride busses in Montgomery, Alabama. These boycotts were protesting against segregated seating. -
Little Rock Nine Crisis
When schools became integrated, nine black teens were the first African Americans to attend Little Rock Central High School. These teens has to be escorted to and from school by the national guard. However, the students were happy about it and tried to prevent them from entering and causing problems for them. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
In 1957, President Eisenhower created the first Civil Rights legislation. This legislation allowed for commission on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights violations, establishing a Civil Rights division in the Department of Justice. It also allowed for prosecution for people who violate the right to vote for U.S. citizens. -
Greensboro Sit-in
Four African American college students decided to sit in a Woolworth's store at the lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. When denied service, they refused to leave their seats. These were peaceful protests that spread throughout towns. This led to in integration of the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter. -
Freedom Rides
A group of student activists started these rides to protest segregation on busses. These rides were made up of white and African American civil rights activists. These students traveled into southern cities and states where integration was heavily frowned upon. They faced lots of violence due to these protests. -
Birmingham Movement
Dr.Martin Luther King and the SCLC organized protests against Birmingham, Alabama surrounding segregation. They demonstrated this through sit-ins, peaceful protesting downtown, mass meetings, Boycott of stores downtown. This received a violent response from police where African Americans protesting against segregation were attacked with water hoses and sprayed down with them. This also led to the arrest of Dr.King. -
Mississippi Freedom Summer
Hundreds of civil rights activists and students came to Mississippi to register as many African Americans as they could in the state of Mississippi and increase the amount of voters. They wanted African Americans to be able to demonstrate in politics and elections just as white people could. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
Dr. Martin Luther King led a 5 day March from Selma to Montgomery as a peaceful protest. The March was made up of around 25,000 African - Americans, the number increasing everyday of the march. The march was to fight for the rights of African Americans to vote and exercise this right. This event led to the Voting Rights Act of 165. -
Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools
Desegregation was slowly expanding in Charlotte and African-American kids went to mainly black schools. Although most schools were desegregated, busses still were segregated. The Swann's wanted their child to attend the school closer to their home that was integrated and sued the Charlotte school district. They ruled in favor of the Swann's, which sped up the process of integrating busses as well. -
Shirley Chisolm's Presidential Campaign
In 1972, Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman to run for president, and also the first woman to run for the Democratic party. Her campaign motto being "Unbought and Unbossed", demonstrating what she stands for and who she was as a person. Unfortunately, Chriholm didn't win her party's nomination. -
Hank Aaron's Home Run Record
Hank Aaron was baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. In 1974, he beat Babe Ruth's record with 715 home runs. Not only was he known for what he loved, he was also known to speak about racism in the MLB and broke racial barriers all throughout his baseball career. -
Barbara Jordan's Address at the Democratic National Convention
Jordan was the first ever black woman to deliver a keynote address at an important party convention. Her speech touched a lot of people and was inspiring. She testified her commitment to equality and Justice, encouraging Americans to come together and help achieve this. Her speech helped to break down racial barriers as well. -
University of California Regents vs. Bakke
At the time, the University of California had a set quota to accept many minority admissions. Allan Bakke (who was a white man) applied twice to the University of California's medical school even though his MCAT, GPA and benchmark scores were very high. He thought it was unfair to be denied because he was white, so he sued the University claiming it violated the 14th amendment. The court decided universities were not allowed to have racial quotas in their admission applications.