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Brown v. Board Of Education
Thurgood Marshall, turned his attention to cases might have resulted in the overturning in the Plessy v. Ferguson. This court case allowed public schools to be separated but equal facilities. One case in 1954 involved a young African American girl named Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her school because of her race. This case lead to the Brown v. Board of Education, and the result in the Supreme Court stating that segregation was unconstitutional ,and violated the fourteenth amendment. -
Rosa Parks arrested for Refusing to give up her Bus Seat
During sit-ins, a form of protest in which African Americans would sit in segregated restaurants, public buses, ect. One famous sit-in took place on December 1, 1955, a young African American lady named Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus. The front was considered to be the whites seats. When she didnt move after the Driver demanded her too, she was thrown into jail. Her stand helped the Civil Rights Movement, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Once Rosa Parks was arrested, Jo Ann Robinson, head of a local organization called the Womens Political Council on African Americans to boycott Montgomery buses on that day. The boycott was a huge success to the African American boycotting group. That evening, several African American leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to run the boycott and push for the end of segregation at last. They elected a pastor, Martin Luther King to lead them. -
Events at Little Rock, Arkansas
In september 1957, the Schoolk Board in Little Rock, Arkansas admitted nine African American students to an all white Central High School. The governer of Arkansas worked to desegregate their schools. The community was furious with this decision. A huge white mob waited outside the school, waiting for the nine students to enter the school. The mob brought violence and threats to the African American students.This pushed Eisenhower to send troops to escort the students around the school -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
After the Little Rock crisis, Congress passed the first civil rights law during this era. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was intended to protect the right to vote for the African Americans. Several Southern Senators tried to stop the act, so the Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, created a compromise that enabled the act to pass. The act created a Civil Rights within the Department of Justice, and it also created the United States commission on Civil Rights. -
The Sit-In Movment
In North Carolina four students decided to take action again segregation in a new way. Sit-Ins were where African Americans would sit in some place that was segregated and not leave until they were served. This new type of protest soon spread to more than 100 cities. Once the protest spreaded over 300 students were doing to new protest within a week.Those who conducted the sit-ins were most likely met with abrupt violence, but most African Americans did not fight back and remained peaceful. -
Attack of the Freedom Riders
The CORE group sent teams of African Americans and whites to travel to the South, in order to draw attention tot he refusal to integrate bus terminals. This brought alot of violence, and a risk of death to the members. the head of the police in Birmingham, Connor became furious with the act, and later called the Ku Klux Klan. He told them he wanted to go after the Freedom Riders. -
James Meredith enrolls at Ole Miss
James Meredith applied for a transfer to the University of Mississippi denied it. Even though the court ordered directed the University to register him they still refused. Kennedy was frustrated with the situation and resulted in dispatching 500 federal marshals to escort him to campus. After this action, white mobs violently attacked the marshals. Afterwards Kennedy sent several thousand troops to the campus. Meredith attended class under federal guard. -
Medgar Evers Assassinatred
Medgar Evers, civil rights activist and field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. As a field worker in the NAACP, Evers traveled through his home state, trying to encourage as many African American to register to vote as he could. He was also working hard to recruit African Americans into the Civil Rights Movement. On June 19, 1963, Evers was shot in the back while walking towards his house. -
The March Of Washington
Organized by civil rights and religious groups, The March of Washington held 200,00 African Americans protesting for their freedom and jobs. The march was designed to show the world the political and social challenge African Americans had to face across the country. Martin Luther King Jr. took place and presented his famous speech, "I Have A Dream," a spirited called for racial justice and equality. -
The Civil Right Act of 1964
President Kennedy used the violent events in the South as a platform to announce his Civil Rights Bill. The bill is a is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination on race color religion national origin or sex. Many people were furious with the bill and believed that segregation should live on forever. -
The Struggle for Voting Rights
Even after the Civil Rights Acts were passed, voting rights were still not secure. The Twenty-fourth Amendment helped by eliminating poll taxes or fees paid in order to vote, in federal elections. African Americans were stilled faced with violence from the whites when they tried to vote. Bombs exploded in African American business and churches across the South. Convinced that the law was indeed necessary, Dr. King decided to stage another dramatic protest. -
March Of Selma
Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC organized the March Of Selma, and turned their focus on Selma to register African american voters in the South. The attempt on the march was met with violence, after Sheriff Clark ordered them to disperse, and more then 200 troopers and deputized citizens rushed the demonstrators. After the attack, 70 blacks were injured, and footage was caught on the attack. President Johnson later proposed a new voting rights law. -
The Watts Riot
Within four days, after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act Race, a riot broke out in Watt, an African American neighborhood in Los Angeles Allegations of police brutality lasted for six days, and required over 14,000 members of the National Guard and 1,500 law officers to restore order. The riots killed 34 people, and about 900 suffered injuries. Many more race riots broke out in dozens of American cities between 1965 and 1968. -
Thurgood Marshall first black Supreme Court Justice
After WWII the NAACP's chief counsel and director of its Legal Defense and Education Fund was a African American attorney Thurgood Marshall. Marshall turned his attention towards segregation in public schools seeking out cases that night have resulted in overturning of Plessy v Ferguson. He worked with local lawyers that were both white and black. He was appointed to the supreme court by President Johnson .Marshall was made the first African American in history to sit on Americans highest court. -
The Kerner Commision
President Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to study the causes of race riots, and to make recommendations so they will be prevented in the future. The Kerner Commission conducted a detailed study of the problem. The commission blamed white racism as well as the white society for majority of the problems within the inner cities. The commission recommend the creation of new jobs,new public schools,new housing,and renewed federal commitment to stop segregation. -
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King supported and lead the strikes for African American rights People of all races and nationalities moved towards the nations capital, during the march of Washington where they camped and waited until both Congress and President Johnson agreed to pass the requested legislation .That same day, Dr. King was assassinated by a sniper .His death created anger that created riots. It also pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
