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Plessy v. Ferguson
A supreme court decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal". The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1 with the majority opinion "separate but equal." -
Brown v. Board of Education
After the Brown V. Board Education went to Court, they declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement. However, the decision did not end racial segregation in schools. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
An event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, to December 20, 1956 when Browder v. Gayle effected a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Because of their enrollment, it was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Greensboro lunch Sit-In
The sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. The Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the most well-known sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement. These sit-ins led to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in US history. -
Sibley Commision
Once the General Assembly supported resistance to desegregation. Governor Vandiver made a committee, that John Sibley was in charge of, to investigate Georgians' opinions. The committee found that 60% of people would rather shut down public schools than do the federally mandated integration. The committee was charged with gathering state residents' sentiments regarding desegregation and reporting back to the governor. This led to the end of massive resistance to desegregation in the state. -
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee consisted mostly of highschool and college aged students.They focused on protesting peacefully and nonviolently. This began the Albany movement, which was a successful failure. The SNCC was one of the most important organizations of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. They played a major role in the sit-ins and freedom rides, a leading role in the 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. -
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 and following years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. -
Intergration of UGA
A judge ordered the immediate admission of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to the University of Georgia, ending 160 years of segregation at the school. Bootle's passed legislation several years earlier mandating an immediate cut-off of state funds to any white institution that admitted a black student. On January 11 an angry mob gathered outside Hunter's dormitory, causing significant property damage, and it repealed the laws barring state support of integrated schools. -
Albany Movement
The Albany Movement, which was led by William G. Anderson, was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, on November 17, 1961, by local activists, the SNCC, and the NAACP. This event was an epic failure but a valuable lesson learned. SNCC tried to organize peaceful protests to desegregate a Georgia city, but police put so many in jail there was nobody left to protest. There were important lessons learned there, however, so that the Atlanta demonstrations were more effective. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. It was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage with an estimated quarter of a million people. The march was noted for its civility and peacefulness and was also where MLK gave his favorite speech, "an American dream". This event in history led to the passage of the Civil and Voting Rights Act of 1964 and 1965. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public. The Act was signed into a law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, at the White House. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.
