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Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow Laws were a set of state laws in the Southern part of America which enforced segregation against African people. Segregation got so bad during the time of the Jim Crow Laws that people of colour had segregated schools, separate seating on public transport and voter suppression. It was not until the Civil right movement of the 1950s and 1960s that these laws started to be banned. -
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The Early Years - policy of protectionism
The legal status of Aboriginal people during this time was to make them all wards of the state. In each state, a Chief Protector was appointed. authorities were able to move Aboriginal people out of towns and into the reserves and missions and remove children from their homes to be raised as ‘white’ with other families. This caused many women to not want to reveal that they were pregnant in fear that their babies would be taken away to be raised as white people. -
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The Stolen Generation
The stolen generation is a period in time in Australias history where children were removed from their families through goverment policies for about a century thousadns of aboriginal children were taken from their families known as the stolen generation. These children were tkaen from their communities, on their way to school and taken by the police, these children were denied access to their culture and had to adapt to white culture. -
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Strikes and Walkouts
throughout these years there where many walking protests and strikes conducted by the Aboriginal people in protest of racial segregation and the policy of protectionism. An example of this was the Pilbara stike where Aboriginal workers defied Pastrol station owners and refused to work slowing production. -
Day of Mourning & 10-point plan
The day of mourning or otherwise known as Australia day for aboriginal people is not a day of joy it is a day to reflect on the invasion of the British settlers. A ten point plan published in an indigenous newspaper was also created on this day in 1938 marking the 150 years since settlement which was aimed at spreading indigenous equality asking the government to implement rules noted in this ten point plan. -
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Policy of Assimilation
The policy of Assimilation was the expectation of the aboriginal people which was that all Aboriginal people were to attain the same matter of living as all Australians. This meant they were to stay in the same communities, enjoying the same facilities and privileges as white people. -
Brown Vs Board of Education
In the Brown Vs Board of Education the US supreme court ruled that racial segregation in schools went against the Fourteenth amendmant to the constitution. The decision declared that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were inherently unequal. Then in 1954 racial segregation was removed from public schools and later would be applied to all schools. -
Rosa Parks and Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a mass protest against the bus systems of Montgomery, Alabama led to a 1956 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery’s segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. The event that triggere the boycott was when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white passenger. She was then taken to jail whershe was later bailed out by a local civil rights leader. -
Little Rock Arkansas - Little Rock nine.
The "Little Rock Nine" were a group of nine African American students who made history by integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. This event marked a significant milestone in the civil rights movement. Despite encountering strong obligations, including from the governor of Arkansas, these students played a crucial role in advancing the cause of school desegregation in the United States. -
Greensboro sit-ins
The Greensboro sit-ins occurred in 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina, as a protest against racial segregation. African American students, sat at whites-only lunch counters in stores, and resteraunts demanding equal service. Despite facing verbal abuse and violence, they remained peaceful and determined. These sit-ins gained widespread media attention, becoming a firestarter for the broader civil rights movement in the United States. -
electoral act amendment
In 1962, Australia amended its electoral law, the Commonwealth Electoral Act, to grant voting rights to all adult Aboriginals in federal elections. This was a pivotal moment in addressing historical discrimination and ensuring equal citizenship rights for Indigenous Australians. -
Martin Luther King arrested and jailed - letter from Birmingham jail
Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were arrested and began serving sentences in Birmingham jail in 1963 because they led peaceful protests against unconstitutional bans on race mixing in Birmingham. It was from this jail where Martin Luther King wrote his response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. -
Beginning of the land rights movement – Yirrkala petition
The Yirrkala petition was the first traditional documents prepared by Aboriginals that were recognised by the Australian Parliament. The petitions recognized that the Yolngu people owned land which the government had granted mining rights to a private company. The petition was the first major attempt by first nations groups to have their land rights recognized. -
March on Washington - (I have a dream speech)
The "I have a dream" speech was delivered by Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. The speech was a call for equality and freedom for African Americans and become the most defining moment during the civil act movement of that time. The speech has now become one of the most iconic if the not the most iconic speeches in history. Around 250,000 people gathered to listen to Luther King deliver this speech at the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. -
President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964
This Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2nd,1964. The Act prohibited discrimination in public places and made employment discrimination illegal which allowed for African American people to find jobs much easier. -
Freedom Rides - and legacy of it.
In 1965 a group of students from the university of Sydney wanted to bring national and international attention to the harsh living conditions of Aboriginal people. They did this by going on a 15 day bus journey through Regional New South Wales which became a defining moment in Australian history and activism. -
Wave Hill cattle station strike – Gurindji people.
In August 1966 Vincent Lingiari led a group of Aboriginal pastoral workers and their families in a walk-off from Wave Hill Station. The strike was a protest of the poor conditions that these Aboriginal workers had experienced for over 40 years. -
referendum
During this referendum a massive percentage of Australian citizens voted to change the Constitution so that Aboriginal people could be included in the census. When they were included in the Census it finally meant that they would be recognized as Australian citizens by the government. -
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Land rights - Mabo - Wik Case
The Mabo Case in Australia recognized the land rights of the Meriam people, overturning the idea of 'terra nullius.' This legal victory allowed Indigenous communities to claim their traditional land rights and compensation, emphasizing the importance of preserving Indigenous culture and land connections. -
Road to reconciliation - Redfern Speech (Paul Keating)
Keating was the first Australian prime minister to publicly acknowledge to Indigenous Australians that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: "It was we who did the dispossessing", he said. This speech was a major milestone in the recognization of Australian Aboriginal people as the original custodians of the line. -
Bringing them home report
The 1997 Australian Report of the National Inquiry into the Removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families is titled "Bringing Them Home." The publication of the report was a turning point in the civil rights movement for Aboriginal people in Australia. -
Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generation
At 9:30am on 13 February 2008 Kevin Rudd delivered a speech apoligising to the Indigiounas Australians on behalf of the nation. In this aplogy Rudd said "We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country."