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NAACP
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, and Mary White Ovington. This interracial group opposed discrimination of all kinds and sorts, so then persuaded and asked President Wilson to denounce and end hanging in 1918! They also helped produce a magazine called "The Crisis" which was edited for at least 24 years according to Britticana. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was one of the African American leaders of the civil rights movement. He was born May 19, 1925, Malcolm was a religious leader who supported Black nationalism. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/malcolm-x -
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
CORE was founded in 1942 by James Farmer, it was created in the hopes that it could improve race relations and end discrimination in a peaceful manner that didn't invoke violence. Launching the Greensboro sit-in, it planned to show interracial support and to bring peace among all races. By 1960 it was a key civil rights organization but did suffer losses from the Klu Klux Klan. CORE created and formed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and helped the Freedom Riders. -
Executive Order 9981
This event took place on July 26, 1948, President Harry S.Truman was included in this event as this event abolished racial slavery. Senators also helped create this order. This means that executive order 9981 gave slaves equal rights to white citizens, which gave all African American citizens freedom from being controlled. Order 9981 also abolished slavery in the military. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This event originally took place in 1951 as Oliver Brown’s daughter got denied at the school of Topeka, Kansas he took matters into his own hands and filed a lawsuit. In May 1954 Oliver Brown claimed that schools for brown students were not as equal as schools were for white students and that segregation violated the 14th amendment “ equal protection clause.” Later, the NAACP was involved as they too were working to uplift segregation laws in all schools. -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood served as an attendant of justice, he served as a judge. He was the first-ever African-American judge. He fought many cases just like the Brown vs. Board of education case. He played a very important role in getting justice for African Americans. -
Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was very motivated to end segregation of any sort and also wanted to expand voting rights. He also fought in WWII, he later went to college for law school at the University of Mississippi. While he was at college, he fought for equal rights. -
Rosa Parks
Years before her famous movement and inspirational actions, she was a secretary for NAACP and married Raymond Parks, who was involved in teh actions and decisions of the NAACP. After refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white man in 1955, she was arrested and sent to prison. However, this sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks was then found guilty of violating segregation laws, so her sentence was suspended, and had to pay fines. history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott took place on December 5, 1955. It was a civil rights protest held by rosa park she decided to do this protest because African Americans weren’t being treated fairly on the bus, they sat in the back of the bus and give their seats to white people. Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for not giving her seat to a white man, this event took place on December 1, 1955. After this African Americans stopped riding the bus to earn equal rights. She then joined NAACP. -
Little Rock Nine
This was a group of 9 African Americans who joined the movement by simply enrolling in a segregated school. After their request was denied, the government picked it up and allowed schools to desegregate. This was met with anger, hate, and bitterness. So, after enrolling again, they were declined and led to the police. Rules and laws should have let them enroll and join the school, but opinions and anger led them away as they were declined again. nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/little-rock-nine -
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference stands for the rights of education, representation, and advocates for those in need. Closely associated with Dr.King as he was once the president of this association and brought wonderful changes into place as it developed in 1957.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/sclc.htm -
Greensboro Sit-In
Greensboro sit-ins were a protest that started in the 1960s and focused on the segregation of restaurants. It took place at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil were all involved as protesters. They were inspired by CORE (Congress for Organized Racial Equality). Many other protesters in the event were arrested, showing that others didn't support the peaceful protesting taking place. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
This group was formed shortly after the Greensboro sit-in in 1960. The SNCC was created to show and represent black power, and how everyone should be equal no matter their race or gender. Chairman Julian Bond, Congressman John Lewis, Diane Nash, and Ella Baker all represented and fought for Black rights. They organized meaningful events such as the Freedom Riders. history.com/topics/black-history/sncc -
Ruby Bridgers
Born on the date of the Brown vs.Board of Education release date, she was then allowed to enter a white school by the name of William Frantz Elementary School at the age of 6 in 1960. Segregation in schools was now illegal, she was still attacked, threatened, and hated on her way to school every day. Even some teachers didn't support the movement and refused or were reluctant to teach her. She continued fighting for the movement, womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ruby-bridges -
Freedom Riders
On May 4th, 196 a group of 13 began to ride together, regardless of race. This caused an uprise as they continued to ride. At that point in time, most of the South supported segregation, so people began to attack supporters. Drawing the attention of Congress, it was known those 13 people were in harmony with one another, and it was only others that hated them. This soon leads to laws banning segregation on buses. James Farmer and John Lewis were major advocates along with 11 others. -History.com -
Birmingham Campaign
In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined Rev. Shuttlesworth in a campaign to protect and enhance human rights. It was formed to attack segregation laws passively, King spoke to citizens of color about nonviolent methods of changing the government to have more equality. King was arrested shortly after, and this resulted in a march at Birmingham. kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/birmingham-campaign -
March on Washington
About 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in August 1963. All of these people chose to come together to march for the rights of African Americans. Martin Luther King was heavily involved, but this all started because African Americans faced huge and horrible unemployment rates! This event was also called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This was organized by Raynard Rustin, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, James Farmer, and CORE. -
16th Street Bombing
The 16th street church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed by the K.K.K. Alabama was the most segregated country and the SCLC and MLK were working at this church to have non-violent protests. The K.K.K was not a fan of these protests, so they decided to put a bomb under the front doorsteps, killing 8 innocent children.
fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/baptist-street-church-bombing -
Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer was an event where people united and pushed for fair voting rights among all races. However, the KKK (Klu Klux Klan) disapproved of this and, sadly, killed three people in the process. Many were injured, but it was worth it to get their rights back.CORE and SNCC helped the process and were major advocates of the Freedom Sumer.
history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-summer -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed through congress. This public law extended the rights of citizens. It was called 88-352 and allowed the people to be free from criticism and discrimination no matter their race, sex, gender, or beliefs. President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the law with the signatures of Martin Luth King jr. and Roy Wilken. -
Watts Riot:
This riot originally started when Marquette was arrested by a white California cop, Marquette was arrested as he failed the sobriety test. While the cop was about to handcuff Marquette, a fight broke out between the two. Soon enough, backup police were called, and Marquettes' brother was involved. Finally, more people were involved in this massacre: 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 4,000 arrests, and 40 million dollars in damages.
history.com/topics/1960s/watts-riots -
Black Panthers
This 10-point program was formed to fix and acknowledge problems such as police brutality, and unemployment, and ownership allowed land and house ownership for African Americans in 1966. Being a part of a bigger movement, the Black Rights Movement, it also emphasized black pride and power. It was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1968. 2,000 people participated, however, the organization declined because of internal tensions, shootouts, and FBI action against the organization. -
Bobby Seale
Bobby was a co-founder of the black panther party, which meant he would watch the police to make sure they weren’t harming an innocent black person for no reason. The black panther party had a good impact on black people because it protected African- Americans from the violence that police caused. -
James Meredith
James had a very important goal which was to pressure the Kennedy administration to force civil rights for African-Americans. He also was a part of the marches, he was shot but still returned to marching to get justice. -
Stokely Carmichael
Stokely was one of the many inspirational African-Americans who tested the segregation laws. He was jailed for 50 days after his decision on testing the law. He was also a member of the Black Panther Party. Stokely made many efforts in his life to ensure that African-Americans had equal rights. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stokely-Carmichael -
Poor People's Campaign
In 1968 the Poor People's Campaign began, it was a march to prevent and draw attention to poverty. This impacted many Americans because not everyone could afford expensive homes or food. Especially those discriminated against, as in those with diverse backgrounds. Major advocates included Martin and Coretta King, the two started in the hope to bring focus and care t those in need. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King won the Nobel Prize Peace Award in 1964 because he peacefully fought for American Rights movements! He also participated in the Washington March in 1963 and made the memorable "I have a dream" speech. On April 4th, 1968, he was assassinated. -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday: The SNCC and SCLC have been fighting for voting rights. A non-violent protest was led by the Roman Catholic church. The non-violent turned violent in seconds as the British paratroopers opened fire, 13 people were shot, and 15 were injured badly, that's when this protest got the name “Bloody Sunday.” This terrible event took place on Jan 30, 1972. -
John Lewis
John Lewis was born on January 3, 1987. He worked in the house of representatives, was one of the main leaders of the civil rights movement of 1963, he was one of the leaders in the Bloody Sunday act. John Lewis was a very inspirational man for the Civil rights movement, sadly he passed away on July 17, 2020.