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Emmancipation Proclamation Issues
DESCRIPTION: The Emancipation Proclamation was composed by Abraham Lincoln. The proclamation set all slaves in rebelling Confederate States free.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Emancipation Proclamation was the document that eventually led to the Thirteenth Amendment -
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Key Events Of Civil Rights Movement
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Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
DESCRIPTION: This Amendment officially banned slavery in the United States. However, slavery was not banned as a punishment.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Thirteenth Amendment set the remaining slaves free from captivity and abolished slavery in the United States forever. -
Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment
DESCRIPTION: The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to those born in the United States. It also gave them equal protection under law.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Fourteenth Amendment repealed the Dred Scott case which determined whether or not African- Americans were citizens -
Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment
DESCRIPTION: The Fifteenth Amendment stated that any male citizen of the United States could vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Fifteenth Amendment allowed African-American males to become part of the governmental election. This gave them the benefits of choosing a ruler to help them better their lives as a whole. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
DESCRIPTION: Plessy was an African-American male who purchased a train ticket. His skin was very pale, and he could have passed as a white man. He sat in the white only section of the train and was thrown into prison.
SIGNIFICANCE: The case was brought before the Supreme Court. The court ruled that segregation was legal as long as equal opportunities were present. -
Brown v. Board of Education
DESCRIPTION: A Supreme Court Case between African-American students wanted to be let into the white schools. The court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson and said that racial segregation was unfair and ordered all public school to be desegregated.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Supreme Court ruled that it was unjust to segregate schooling. This overruled the Plessy v. Ferguson case where seperate but equal was okay. It also allowed African-Americans to achieve a better education. -
Murder of Emmett Till
DESCRIPTION: Emmett Till was a young Afircan-American from Chicago. He went south to visit his uncle. While there, he whistled at a white woman. The woman's husband then kidnapped him and brutally murdered him.
SIGNIFICANCE: Emmett's mother took pictures of her son's battered body. She decided to keep an open casket to show what happened to her baby. The murder was highly publicized, and it showed African- Americans that it was time to stand up for their rights. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
DESCRIPTION: The boycott was made most famous by Rosa Parks. The purpose of the boycott was to end racial segregation among public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama.
SIGNIFICANCE: This was one of the first acts to really spark the Civil Rights Movement. African- Americans came together to make a stand against separation of white and black services. -
Greensboro Sit-ins
DESCRIPTION: Four African-American students started a nonviolent movement between whites and blacks. The four boys sat in a white only section in a cafe. This was a great success and advocated more help from both races for the Civil Right Movement
SIGNIFICANCE: This was a successful nonviolent protest brought about desegregated resturaunts and played a part in the creation of the SNCC. -
Freedom Rides
DESCRIPTION: The Freedom Rides were a nonviolent protest where African-Americans and some white citizens would ride a Greyhound bus from Atlanta to New Orleans to show that whites and blacks should have equal transportation rights.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Freedom Rides became very dangerous. White people became enraged. This caused bloodshed and destruction toward African-Americans. However, the Freedom Rides continued to prove that blacks wouldn't give up even under violent attacks. -
March on Washington
DESCRIPTION: Martin Luther King Jr. led one of the largest protests ever in the United States. This is where MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
SIGNIFICANCE: The purpose of the march was to create equal job opportunities for African-Americans as well as freedom. -
Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
DESCRIPTION: President Lyndon Johnson followed through with JFK's Bill. This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.
SIGNIFICANCE: This law gave the African-Americans what they wanted to achieve all along. This gave them the rights of life they they worked so hard for and deserved. -
Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
DESCRIPTION: This law allowed federal officials to register voters in places where local officials were preventing blacks from registering to vote. It also eliminated illeteracy tests and other barriers.
SIGNIFICANCE: Set the ability for African-Americans to vote in stone and without any more discrimination.
