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Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. Named after a Black minstrel show character, the laws—which existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968—were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities. [https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws] -
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjixsTf_fjqAhVFmHIEHZAEDjIQ-TAoADAiegQIDRAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naacp.org%2F&usg=AOvVaw0cFOtlHwXWfRqFcP3iEjSH] -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an African American leader in the civil rights movement, minister and supporter of black nationalism. He urged his fellow black Americans to protect themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary,” a stance that often put him at odds with the nonviolent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.He achieved national prominence in the Nation of Islam, a belief system that merged Islam with black nationalism. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/malcolm-x] -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for his contributions to the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. His most famous work is his “I Have a Dream” (1963) speech, in which he spoke of his dream of a United States that is void of segregation and racism. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjM84v9_vjqAhUaoHIEHR6aDJMQFjAFegQIHRAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fbiography%2FMartin-Luther-King-Jr&usg=AOvVaw2q3yiYPWwMMaUwykTe7LK3] -
Black Power and Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael was a U.S. civil-rights activist who in the 1960s originated the black nationalism rallying slogan, “black power.” Born in Trinidad, he immigrated to New York City in 1952. While attending Howard University, he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was jailed for his work with Freedom Riders. He moved away from MLK Jr’s nonviolent approach to self-defense. -
CORE
In the late 1950s CORE turned its attention to the South, challenging public segregation and launching voter registration drives for African Americans. It became one of the leading organizations of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s by organizing activist campaigns that tested segregation laws in the South. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Congress-of-Racial-Equality] -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all.[https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka] -
SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civil rights movement. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj-5oWd_vjqAhUFZjUKHYXoB54QtwIwAHoECAIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnationalsclc.org%2Fabout%2Fhistory%2F&usg=AOvVaw1QkL4-Vl88WcAH7Mx2VUwn] -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. The first day of classes Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration] -
SNCC
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. The SNCC soon became one of the movement’s more radical branches. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sncc] -
Greensboro Woolworth Sit-ins
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in] -
James Meredith and Ole Miss
James Meredith was the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi. The school had originally rejected his application, and a legal battle ensued. In 1962, segregationists protesting his admittance to Ole Miss led to bloody riots on campus. [https://www.npr.org/2012/10/01/161573289/integrating-ole-miss-a-transformative-deadly-riot] -
John F. Kennedy's Role in the Civil Rights Movement
Kennedy defined the civil rights crisis as moral, as well as constitutional and legal. He announced that major civil rights legislation would be submitted to the Congress to guarantee equal access to public facilities, to end segregation in education, and to provide federal protection of the right to vote. [https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/civil-rights-movement] -
24th Amendment
The United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj7oNKu__jqAhUPmXIEHQ39CBAQFjACegQIFxAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americaslibrary.gov%2Fjb%2Fmodern%2Fjb_modern_polltax_1.html&usg=AOvVaw3MT69ZR7nycJOmSJBEnEBg] -
Lyndon B. Johnson's Role in the Civil Rights Movement
As Majority Leader, Johnson shepherded to passage the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960; the first civil rights bills passed by the U.S. Congress since the Reconstruction Era (1863–1877). Johnson ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1960 presidential election. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson] -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. [https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=97] -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act] -
Black Panthers and Huey Newton
The Black Panthers, also known as the Black Panther Party, was a political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community. Dressed in black berets and black leather jackets, the Black Panthers organized armed citizen patrols of Oakland and other U.S. cities. [https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/black-panthers] -
Kerner Commission
The President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders releases its report, condemning racism as the primary cause of the recent surge of riots. Headed by Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois, the 11-member commission was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in July 1967 to uncover the causes of urban riots and recommend solutions. [https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kerner-commission-report-released] -
Assassination of MLK, Jr.
At 6:05 p.m. the following day, King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he and his associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39. [https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination]
