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Brown v. Board of Education
May 17, 1954, there was a black man named Oliver Brown wanted his daughter Linda Brown to go to school. It took them 2 hours to get to school and back from school, in Topeka Kansas. This was a case for the Supreme Court, they decided 9-0 the separate but equal is wrong. Therefore, the supreme court wouldn’t let black students go to school with white students. -
Murder of Emmett Till
In Money, Mississippi a 14 year old boy named Emmett Till whistled at a white women named Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn then told her husband Roy and 3 days later Emmett Till was kidnapped. Roy and his step brother then brutally murdered the 14 year old boy. They did many things to him such as having a barbwire wrapped around his neck, and being weighed down by a 75 pound cotton gin fan. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was known for being a hero because she didn’t give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. She later spent the night in jail and had to pay a $10 court fee. This act then led to the bus boycott. No black person would ride the bus, and this lasted for 381 days. Bus drivers and companies lost their jobs, and the Supreme Court let black people ride the bus. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
In Atlanta, Georgia there was a christian group that had black church pastors. They were known for being nonviolent and create events. They have invited Martin Luther King Jr. to be apart of their group and Martin Luther King then became the 1st president. He helped the group have better jobs and get to vote. -
Little Rock 9
In Little Rock, Arkansas, nine Black students wanted to go to a white school. They were escorted by 1,200 military men from their house to their classrooms. The governor of Arkansas also called the National Guard to stop them from going to school. These nine students were harassed and bullied every day by white students but the black students couldn’t fight back without getting blamed. However, by 1959, all black students got the right to go to school with the white students. -
Greensboro Sit ins
Four college students went to a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, but the employees refused to serve them. In protest, the students sat at a lunch counter and word of their actions quickly spread. As the days went by, their peaceful protest grew to include up to 1,000 students. -
Freedom Riders
436 volunteer individuals from different U.S states went on a bus in Washington D.C. and stopped at the Deep South. The group was mostly diverse and college students. Once they arrived at Anniston, Alabama the bus was beaten up as well as the people. They were blocked by the KKK and they tried to light the bus on fire and slashed their tires. -
March On Washington
In Washington D.C., 250,000 people peacefully protested and marched for African Americans to have freedom. The Lincoln Memorial where many people gave their speeches and sang to show people they deserve rights. No one wanted to speak last so therefore MLK ended up speaking last. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech there. -
Civil Rights Act (1964)
Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the Civil Rights Act in Washington D.C. He and others tried convincing the federal government to stop segregation and racial discrimination. Eventually, the federal government stopped segregating based on people's race, color, and religion in private and public facilities. Not only did this affect African Americans but it also affected Jews, the LGBTQ community, and others. -
Assassination of Malcom X
There weren’t many black people who owned businesses back then. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm Little, he was a Civil Rights leader gave a speech that everyone should believe in themselves. He also said they should be making their own businesses, afterwards, a man named Thomas Hagan shot Malcolm 21 times and killed him. -
Selma to Montgomery Marches (Bloody Sunday)
On March 7th, 1965, in Alabama, African Americans wanted to protest peacefully and wanted the right to vote. They all walked 54 miles to Montgomery to try to vote. At the Edmond Bridge, troopers stopped them and waited for them at the bridge and beat everyone viciously. -
Voting Rights Act (1965)
The Voting Rights Act was a law that made sure everyone had a right to vote. The voting right didn’t matter the ethnicity or race. On August 6, 1965, in Washington D.C. this took place. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King gave a speech in Memphis, Tennessee. He went back to his hotel and went to the second floor and as he was on the railing he was shot on the lower right side of his face. He was shot with a Remmington Rifle by a man named James Earl Ray. After his death, it marked the end of Civil Rights.