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Brown vs. Board of Education
Plessy vs Ferguson ruled that segregation was legal if separate but equal facilities were provided.
A young African American girl named Linda Brown was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas because of her race. She was told to go to the all-black school on the other side of town.
The result of Brown vs Board of Education was that segregation in public schools were unconstitutional and violated the 14th Amendment. -
Rosa Parks Boycott
Rosa Parks was riding the bus and refused to give up her seat for a white person. The bus driver called the police and Parks was arrested.
Parks spurred the Montgomery Boycott, ultimately resulting in desegregation of the buses -
Montgomery Bus Boycott Begins
In Montgomery, Alabama, Civil Rights activists started a bus boycott. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., the people participating in the boycott were mostly black. They wanted a desegregated bus and refused to ride the bus until it was desegregated. After about 7 months, the buses were eventually desegregated. -
Supreme Court Bans Segregated Seatin on Buses
On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating unconstitutional. This was brought about by the Montgomery Bus Boycott, however it did not only apply to Montgomery, Alabama, it applied to all of the U.S. however, it was mostly aimed towards the South. This court ruling was a large part of gaining African American's rights. -
Little Rock, Arkansas
9 Black students tried to enter a formerly all-white school. They were met with riots and the Arkansas National Guard. The federal government called in the 101st Airborne Division and had to be escorted by armed guards from class to class. The federal government had to uphold the constitution and help the black students. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Congress and Eisenhower passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, it protects the voting rights of all citizens -
Sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina
Although recently making advancements in the equal rights, African Americans were still widely segregated. In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students started the sit-in movement, a from of non-violent protest. These sit-ins proved very successful and often resulted in businesses changing their segregation policies. -
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were Civil Rights activists that rode the interstate buses into the South to test the enforcement of the federal government. They were attacked in Alabama by the Ku Klux Klan. The Congress of Racial Equality mainly organized these freedom rides. Freedom riders were not only black, they were white too. Both blacks and whites were attacked and beaten, although whites were more severely beaten if caught because they were helping blacks. -
James Meredith Enrolls at Ole Miss
When Meredith tried to enroll at Old Miss in Oxford, Mississippi as the first African American, he was met with large riots from the whites at the school. The federal government had to call in 31,000 men from the National Guard to get the situation under control. -
Medgar Evers Assassination
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist from Mound Bayou, Mississippi and part of the NAACP. He was assassinated on June 12, 1963 in the driveway of his home. He was shot through the heart and then taken to a hospital, where he was at first refused because of his race until his family explained who he was. He couldn't be saved and died in the hospital. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was organized to show people the social and political struggles that African Americans had to face. 200,000 people gathered at Washington to hear Martin Luther King Jr. give his "I Have a Dream" Speech. This was a big turning point in the civil rights movement. -
Poll Tax Outlawed in Federal Elections
Poll taxes were used to discourage African Americans from voting. These taxes were applied to African Americans as part of the Jim Crow Laws. When the 24th Amendment was ratified, it stated that a poll tax could not be required in order to vote in a federal election. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This Civil Rights Act was passed by President Johnson in 1964. It outlawed discrimination by race, color, religion, or sex. This ended racial segregation in schools as well as allowing blacks to vote equally to whites. -
March to Selma
The march to Selma, Alabama was organized to register black voters in the South. The marchers faced violence from both the state and local people and had to be protected by the national guard. The result was a success. People realized the voting struggles that blacks faced, resulting in a Voting Rights Act that was passed later on. -
Wharlest Jackson Killed
Wharlest Jackson, was 36 years old, living in Natchez, Mississippi, and was a member of the NAACP. He was offered a promotion to the Armstrong Rubber Company. Many people saw this as a black man being appointed to a white position. The company was filled with members of the Ku Klux Klan, and when Jackson accepted the promotion he received many threats. After work on February 27th, Jackson was driving home when a bomb blew up in the back of his truck which instantly killed him. -
Thurgood Marshall; First Black Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall was the director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He argued many civil rights cases with the U.S. Supreme Court and was successful most of the time (29/32). He helped win the Brown vs. Board of Education case resulting in the desegregation of schools. Being appointed Justice was a large step in the Civil Rights Movement. Integrating blacks into government positions showed that the U.S. was taking a step in the right direction. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On March 29th, Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike. On April 3rd, King gave a speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis, referred to as the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. He was staying at a hotel in Memphis, and was shot the next day on the second floor balcony by a sniper. King's death had a large impact on both whites and blacks and caused many race riots.
