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Brown v. Board of Education
Oliver Brown sued the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas for not allowing his daughter, Linda Brown, to attend school. The NAACP combined 5 cases into 1 and took it to the Supreme Court. The court ruled 9 to 0 that separate but equal was wrong. However, Linda Brown never attended a unsegregated school. -
Murder of Emmett Till
In Moncy, Mississippi Emmet was accused of whistling at a white woman, Cordyn Bryant. 3 days later Roy Bryant and others kidnapped Emmet. He had his eye detached, ear cut off, bar wire wrapped around his neck, weighted down by 75 pound cotton gin fan, and was then thrown into the water. -
Rosa Parks and Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to make seats on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was fined $10. Martin Luther King Jr. and churches sent out flyers to boycott the bus on December 5. The buses ran empty for 381 days. The Supreme Court ruled that the bus had to let blacks ride. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Martin Luther King Jr. and 60 pastors held a meeting to coordinate events for black people. MLK was elected the 1st president. This group used a nonviolent strategy. This group also registered blacks to vote, opposed Vietnam War, and provide better jobs for blacks. -
Little Rock Nine
9 Black students wanted to go to a white school. The Governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to stop them. President Eisenhower calls in 1,200 military men to escort these students from home to class. 1959 all schools were fully integrated. -
Greensboro Sit ins
4 College students went to Woolworth to buy items. Then they went to sit at the lunch counter. They were refused service and told to leave, but they stayed. Day after day they came back and did the same thing. The amount of students kept growing over the days and reached nationwide. -
Freedom Riders
A diverse groups of volunteers from 39 states, most of them college students, joined to desegregate the Deep South. They arrived in Anniston, Alabama and were blocked by the KKK. Their tires were slayed, buses burned, and were beaten in town after town. -
March on Washington
250,000 people marched into Washington D.C. They were marching peacefully for jobs and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech. -
Civil Rights Act (1964)
The law enabled the federal government to prevent racial discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, or national origin in private businesses and public facilities. -
Assassination of Malcom X
Malcom X, civil rights leader, 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 killing. -
Selma to Montgomery Marches (Bloody Sunday)
600 Black marchers wanted to walk 54 miles to register to vote. At the Edmond bridge state troopers brutally beat them. -
Voting Rights Act (1965)
This law enabled the right to vote of African Americans any discrimination in voting. It made it a federal matter instead of a state one. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was in Memphis, Tennessee. He was there for sanitation workers going on strike. At his motel he was shot in the right side of his face. James Earl Ray was accused and sentenced to 99 years in prison. His death marked the end of the Civil Rights Movement.