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NAACP is founded
The NAACP, is one of the oldest civil rights organizations in America. It was founded by W.E.B Du Bois who was the first African American to earn a doctorates' degree at Harvard. This organization was biracial and was the group that was behind the Brown vs. Board Case. The NAACP found lots of success in legally challenging laws that limited equality for African Americans. -
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NAACP Legal Achievements up to 1950
The NAACP had a very successful legal team of lawyers lead by Thurgood Marshall who joined in the 1930's and was known as "Mr. Civil Rights". Marshall and his exceptional team of lawyers won many Civil Rights cases and won more than $50 million in higher pay and better educational facilities for African Americans. On lawyer in particular named Oliver Hill won many cases in discrimination in education and wages. -
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African American Migration-New York
After the Civil War, many African Americans began to migrate to northern cities. Many settled and established themselves as doctors and lawyers. An example is New York City which grew from 60,000 African Americans to 450,000 African Americans -
National Urban League is founded
The National Urban League helped African Americans that were moving to major American cities find homes and jobs for stable lives. They also looked for migrant families and ship docks and train stations to find clean and safe apartments for them. They also insisted for union leaders and factory owners to teach them more skills that could lead to better jobs. -
LULAC is founded
LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens was founded in 1929 in order to achieve equality for Latin Americans. For instance, they protested when a funeral home in Texas refused to bury World War II veteran Felix Longoria, who ended up being buried in Arlington National Cemetery. They were also involved in the Delgado vs Bastrop ISD lawsuit to help make segregation of Mexican American children in Texas illegal. -
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New Deal on African Americans
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt tried to win African American votes to make them support the New Deal. The number of African Americans working for the federal government dramatically increased. -
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Rise of African American Influence
In these early years, African Americans began to fuel the Civil Rights movement and to challenge the status quo of "separate but equal". Many factor contributed to this growing movement -
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World War II Effect on African Americans
World War II greatly changed the racial climate in America with African Americans. Northern cities were in great need of labourers which brought many African Americans. The great number of African AMericans gave them great voting power. Furthermore, the Holocaust produced an ideological change in the United States making the nation realize the racism that existed, but the impact of these realizations was gradual. -
CORE is founded
CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, was a civil rights organization that was dedicated to making progress with civil rights through peaceful confrontations. It was an interracial organization that was directed by James Farmer. CORE became a national organization that would greatly impact the Civil Rights Movement. -
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Brown vs. Board of Education
Oliver Brown sued the Topeka Board of Education in Kansas in order to let his daughter go to the whites only school there instead of needing to get a distant ride on the bus. The case reached the Supreme Court and Thurgood Marshall argued on behalf of Brown and against segregation in American schools. -
Native American "Termination"
The federal government treated native Americans very poorly, forcing them assimilate into mainstream American cultures and to eliminate the reservations. Native Americans were poor, discriminated against, and lived in poverty. The federal government used an approach called "termination" to get rid of reservations so that Native AMericans could assimilate into American culture. -
Brown vs. Board of Education Ruling
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional and could not be applied to education. African Americans rejoiced at this decision while most white Americans hoped that desegregation could take place peacefully. The Ku Klux Klan and deep Southern Whites reacted very angrily in protest. Over 90 Congressional representatives disagreed with the ruling which became known as the "Southern Manifesto". Congress people of the deep south protested together in 1956. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up a seat on the bus for a white man, Civil Rights leader in Montgomery joined together to find a solution. Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council called for African Americans to boycott the bus system making the bus companies lose money. Martin Luther King was the spokesperson for the movement. Over 50,000 African Americans participated in the boycott -
Little Rock Nine
9 African American students were supposed to attend Central high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, but the mayor of the state defied the Supreme Court's Brown decision by stationing Arkansas National Guard Troops at the school to prevent them from entering. President Eisenhower was forced to send soldiers to the students to let them into the school. -
SCLC is founded
Martin Luther King Jr. created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which advocated nonviolent protest against racism and segregation. The idea of nonviolence was to not react violently even if attacked or harmed. The SCLC focused in on the Civil Rights Movement of the South involving other African American Church leaders. -
SNCC is founded
SNCC, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was a civil rights organization comprised of students and young adults. This committee began in Raleigh, North Carolina by a group of students. SNCC would cooperate with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., the SCLC, CORE, and other civil rights groups. SNCC was full of young leaders and activists, such as Robert Moses, a Harvard graduate and math teacher from Harlem who was a soft-spoken and influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize
MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his tremendous work and leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. He used the policy of nonviolence in order to peacefully protest against the racism and segregation that existed. MLK was inspired by the peaceful ways of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau.
