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Plessy v. Ferguson
Homer Plessy, a man who eas only one eight of a black man, refused to sit in the "colored" car of the train. Plessy was then arrested and then sent to court. The court found Plessy guilty and decided that the law to segregate blacks and whites on a train was constitutional. This case confirmed the principle of "Seperate But Equal" and minority segragation. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The NAACP was an organization that was designed to stop civil rights issues at that time. They fought for anti-lynching laws and tried to stop segregation in public schools. Through them other civil rights groups formed and caused a movement that resulted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Act. -
Dr. Martin Luther King
MLK , a young pastor, was the prominant leader of the civil rights movement. He ended discrimination and racial segregation in America. His speech, "I Have a Dream" captured the hearts of many and caused a social change in the United States. MLK was also the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that comprised churches and clergy from across the South, and was created to organize protests inspired by the success of the bus boycott. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Several black children wanted to attend public schools that required segregation based on race. The court declared that segregation was unconstitutional and decided that segregated schools were not equal, therefor, not permitted. -
The montgomery Bus Boycott
The Mongomery Bus Boycott was a protest that African Americans started after Rosa Parks, an african american woman, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. The African Americans didnt ride the bus for a whole year. Martin Luther King Jr, a young pastor, led the movement and became known for the prominant leader of the Civil Rights Movement. The buses couldn't afford the population of only whites so the Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate their bus system. -
The Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American teenagers who attended Little Rock HIgh School after the court ruled that segregation was prohibited. The governor announced that they were not allowing those nine kids to attend the high school. On September 4th, police escorted eight of them into the high school except for Elizabeth Eckford who didnt get the message, Once she arrived, she was surrounded by the town's whit folks who harrassed her until she walked 100 yards to a bus stop. -
Sit-Ins
A group of four students walked into a diner and sat at the lunch counter asking to be served.The manager of the store didnt mind them sitting there but as soon as the next day arrived, the story spread as civil rights organizations were telling other college campuses. Soon after, groups of blacks and supportive white people would join in. They would sit at counter and wait to be served and if they werent, they still sat there waiting until they were arrested. -
Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating was an organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It was created from student meetings led by Ella Baker at Shaw University. SNCC became a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise money to support SNCC's work in the South. This allowed workes to get 10 dollar salary per week. The supporters that didnt get paid worked with the SNCC on other projects concerning the civil rights movement. -
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode on buses into the south in 1961 and were trying to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia which stated that buses that were segregated were unconstitutional. The south didnt enforce the laws and ignored what the government declared. -
James Meridith
After a legal battle, an African-American man named James Meredith attempted to attend the University of Mississippi. Once news fled, riots started, killing 2 people, and resulted in hundreds of injured people. After the event, Kennedy administration called 31,000 National Guardsmen to escort James to all of his classes and keep him protected. -
Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers served in the Army for the U.S. during World War II. Evers' main achievement was his attempt to get African Americans into college because federal help was needed to get his friend admitted to the University of Mississippi. This was a major step for the equality of the Afican American population. He was assassinated at an early age because of his movement. -
March on Washington
This march for jobs and freedom was attended by 250,000 people and was the largest gathering at the nations capital with extensive television coverage. The plan behind the march was to establish the following: civil rights legislation passage, racial segregation elimination in schools, protection against police brutality during demonstrations, two dollar an hour minumum wage increase, major public works program to provide jobs and a law restricting discrimination in hiring from both sectors. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. This act ended the Jim Crow laws in which an 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson found that racial segregation was to be deemed seperate but equal according to the constitution. This act was started by John F. Kennedy and was finished by Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy's assassination. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom summer was a campaign which brought white college students from the north to the south, mainly Mississippi, in an attempt to increase the number of African american voters. A highly publicized campaign organized Mississippi Council of Federated Organizations, which was led by the Congress of Racial Equality, and included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an influential spokesperson for the black muslim faith. He was opposite to Martin Luther King Jr. in his effort to gain equality by any means, violent or non-violent. He urged the black community to gain their freedom any way they could. He became an influential leader for the nation of Islam and after his death, his autobiography became a tool for the young, black community to empower themselves in the Islamic faith. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed the practice of using discriminatory voting techniques which were brought about after the Civil War in many southern states. These techniques were used to keep the African Americans from voting in the form of literacy tests and poll taxes. Another technique was intimidation by beating which is what happened to Fanny Lou Hamer. Hamer came out publicly to detail what she had been through and is known for her many quotes regarding equality. -
Black Panthers
The Black Panthers called on African Americans to protect themselves for the liberation struggle. In the late 1960s party members became involved in a series of violent confrontations with the police that caused death on both sides. During the late 1970s the party gradually lost most of its influence, ceasing to be an important force within the black community. -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was known for his cicil rights acheivements as a lawyer and an associate Justice of the Supreme Cort. He was a special assistant to the NAACP and represented cicil rights cases all over the U.S. He was then nominated by president Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first African American Supremem Court Justice. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assissination
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in the neck and killed on April 4th. MLK was standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when, out of no where, he was shot. After the news broke out, African Americans rioted the strrets in remorse. An escaped convict by the name of James Earl Ray was arrested, but many believed he was innocent. MLK was titled one of the greastest and most influential leaders in America.
