-
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
An African American student was not allowed to enroll in a local school that was segregated. She was sent to an all-black school that was farther away. Her parents sued the school board, and the case went to the Supreme Court. It ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The landmark case showed "separate-but-equal" was not equal. Southern schools found loopholes that allowed them to avoid desegregating, but the case was a critical step in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white man on a bus in Alabama. After the word of her arrest was spread, African American bus riders (75% of all passengers) boycotted the system. The Montgomery Improvement Association was formed to demand reform. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was elected president of the MIA, and he encouraged peaceful protest. In late 1956 the Supreme Court ruled segregation on Alabama buses unconstitutional, ending the boycott. -
Sit-In Movement
The first sit-in happened when four African Americans went to a store and chose to sit at a whites-only lunch counter. The workers refused them service, so they sat there until the store closed and said that they would do the same every day until they received equal service. The news spread, and a new movement began. Sit-ins were held at an array of public venues across the country. The campaign allowed African American college students to push for change and energized the Civil Rights Movement. -
The Freedom Riders
While the Supreme Court declared segregation on interstate buses unconstitutional in 1946, it was still practiced in much of the South. The Freedom Riders were white and black bus riders that rode together and challenged the non-enforcement of the ruling. As they rode to the South, the black bus riders tried to use whites-only facilities. Riders were often met with violence. As a result of the Freedom Rides, the Interstate Commerce Commission prohibited segregation in interstate transit. -
Birmingham Demonstrations of 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. decided to launch demonstrations, even though he knew that they would result in violence. He thought that doing so was the only way to get the Kennedy administration to make change. King was arrested after the first few demonstrations. Once he was released and more protests began to happen, police officers used force on the protesters. One of the most significant demonstrations was the Children's March. Reports of police attacking children gained support for the movement. -
March on Washington
The March was a massive protest that had some 250,000 people in attendance. Both white people and African Americans gathered around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Its goal was to draw attention to the inequalities that African Americans still faced. This was the day that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. He called for freedom for all people from coast to coast. The March pressured the Kennedy administration to propose a critical civil rights bill.
