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Plessy vs. Ferguson
Segregation laws during this time were in place. They seperated blacks from whites, but Plessy was 7/8 white and 1/8 black. Plessy was still considered black so when he took a seat on the white railway car, and the whites had tried to make him move, even though he refused. This eventually went to court and he had lost the case and it was decided that they can be seperate, but they must be equal. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
An African American family had tried to enroll their children into a school that was close to them but were denyed because of their race. The children were forced to go to another school that was meant for African Americans. Eventually the parents sued against the Board of Education but had lost their case, but this case later ended legal segregation in schools. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy who was accused of flirting with a white woman. He was beaten and then shot by two white men. The importance of this event is that it showed what the Jim Crow Laws really meant to people in the South. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks was a protester that had protested the segregation laws by sitting in the front sits of the bus that were reserved for white people. They had told her to move but she had refused. This eventually encouraged congress to see that segregation is unconstitutional. -
Founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Martin Luther King
This was made by trying to copy the Alabama bus boycott. They chose MLK as their firstresident and after his death they continued to win voter registration and protest in the south. -
Little Rock Nine & Central High School
Nine African American students had enrolled into an all white school but were denyed. President Eisenhower had ordered troops to escort the students into school so they could attend for a full day. This serves and importance becuase this is when segregation in schools ended. -
Greensboro Sit-In
These were nonviolent protesters that led to stores ending segregation in stores. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) & Freedom Summer
A group of black students went a lunch counter and were denied service because they didn't sit where they were supposed to, but they refused to leave. This encouraged other students to also have a sit at the lunch counter. Them the SNCC was created to orgamize these sit ins. This event was important because it marked a change in the vision we have on those African Americans who fought for what they believed in. -
Freedom Ride/Freedom Riders.
The Freedom Riders were civil activists who,rode to the South to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton vs. Virginia, where they declared segregation i interstare bus and rail stations unconstitutional. This is important because this influenced Congress to rule segregation as unconstitutional. -
Civil Rights Act
This was an act to enforce the right to vote to African Americans. It was important because this prohibited the discrimination in public places.
