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Plessy v. Ferguson
Jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad.When Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, legally segregating common carriers in 1892, a black civil rights organization decided to challenge the law in the courts. In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case and held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional. -
NAACP
The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. -
Fannie Lou Hamer
Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. On August 31, 1962, Mrs. Hamer decided she had had enough of sharecropping. Leaving her house in Ruleville, MS she and 17 others took a bus to the courthouse in Indianola, the county seat, to register to vote. On their return home, police stopped their bus. They were told that their bus was the wrong color Fannie Lou and the others were arrested and jailed. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X, the activist and outspoken public voice of the Black Muslim faith, challenged the mainstream civil rights movement and the nonviolent pursuit of integration championed by Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm's assertion that President John F. Kennedy's assassination amounted to "the chickens coming home to roost" led to his suspension from the Black Muslims in December 1963. Assassinated Feb 1, 1965 -
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. Black protestors would engage in no acts of violence themselves; they would "turn the other cheek."The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King -
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers was an African-American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi. Evers applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School in February 1954. When his application was rejected, Evers became the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school, a case aided by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education 347 US 483 that segregation was unconstitutional. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The blacks of Montgomery, Alabama, decided that they would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being relegated to the back when a white boarded.When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat. -
The Little Rock Nine
Nine Black African-American students were prevented from entering Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School. hen-Governor Orval Faubus calling in the National Guard to stop the students at the door. Although segregated schools were declared unconstitutional after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, Arkansas officials neglected to heed the ruling after the NAACP registered nine students to attend a high school for the fall of 1957. -
Sit-Ins
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)
The basic plan of the sit-ins was that a group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be served. If they were, they'd move on to the next lunch counter. If they were not, they would not move until they had been. If they were arrested, a new group would take their place. The students always remained nonviolent and respectful. on February 27, sit-in students in Nashville were attacked. -
Freedom Riders
New Volunteers for Civil Rights MovementFederal Marshals arriveIntegration of Ole MissJames Meredith Birmingham Kennedy focuses on problems at homeTakes a stand for Civil Rights -
James Meredith
James Howard Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. Meredith spent nine years in the Army Air Force before enrolling in Jackson State College—an all-black school—in Mississippi. On October 1, 1962, James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. -
March on Washington
March in WashingtonMartin Luther King Jr. gave the speach about his Dream of equality
Civil Rights Act 1964
Outlawed major forms of discrimination, including racial segregation. -
Freedom summer
A campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi, which had historically excluded most blacks from voting.The project also set up dozens of Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local black population. COFO, SNCC, CORE, NAACP and SCLC -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Black Panthers
Was an African-American revolutionary socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The Party's ideals and activities were so radical, it was at one time assailed by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States." And, despite the demise of the Party, its history and lessons remain so challenging and controversial that established texts and media would erase all reference to the Party from American history. -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an African American Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from October 1967 until October 1991. Later became Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Brown vs Board of Education court ruled that separate schools for black and white children were unconstitutional. -
Martin Luther KingJr.'s assassination
James Earl Ray Assassinated Martin Luther King. King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when, without warning, he was shot.