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Emancipation Proclomation
On this day Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. This declared that all slaves were to be freed in the South. This had a massive impact on America in that it gave the North and South a motive to go to war, thus starting the great American Civil War. -
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were set into place after the Civil War, and they were a strict set of social codes and regulations for the recently freed blacks. These had the impact of segregating all public facilities and unequal facilities were used for blacks instead. This set the tone for segregation and discrimination for the next century in America -
Brown v.s. Board of Education
This was a a very influencial Court Case in the 50's. Amanda Brown filed under the terms that schools could be segregated as long as they were equal in quality and content. However it was clear that black and white schools were seperate but not equal. This left the impact of integrating schools in America, a huuge push for equality in a time of racial chaos. -
Rosa Parks Incident
A woman by the name of Rosa Parks was sitting in the front of a city bus in the white only section. She was told by a white man to get up and go to the back, but she refused. She was told repeatedly to move because she was black, and eventually arrested. This had a massive impact on America, outraging the public and startinf the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ended bus segregation. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Caused by the Rosa Parks incident this was an influential action when all african americans boycotted the buses until they became racially desegregated. This impacted the buses greatly because they lost large amounts of money, and led to sucess in integration of buses. -
Establishment of the SCLC
The SCLC stands for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Created by Martin Luther King Jr. This organization organized demonstrations, and had gatherings to promote equal civil rights. This impacted the movement by having many powerful protests and caused many victories such as the bus boycott that in the end led to the end of segregation. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students accepted to the former all white, Little Rock Central High. Arkansas governer, Orval Faubus had state troopers block the enterance to the school as whites refused to let blacks be in the same school as them. President sent in National Guard to escort the students into the school, and this is important because it marked the official integration of public schooling in America. -
Greensboro Sit In
On this day, a group of black high schoolers walked into and "all white" Woolworth Diner in Greensboro, NC. They sat at the counter and asked to be served, and service was declined. They continued to sit at the counter for many days, being harrassed by whites. Impact was that they achieved right to integrate restaurants and they were invited back to that Woolworth's and allowed to eat at the counter once it was desegregated. -
Executive Order 10925
This Executve Order was signed by JFK and it stated that anyone had the right to get a job where they wished and could not be denied because of their race. This was extemely important as it allowed blacks to get and maintain job security, as well as gave them equal opportunity as whites did at this time in the workplace. -
Murder of Medgar Evars
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist and extremely vocal in the public scene. He was the first black man to go on TV and voice his opinion to the entire American public on a news show. He was assassinated shortly after in the front yard of his home. This outraged the black community, and untied civil rights leaders to push even harder for a change that was so desperately needed. -
Assassination of President Kennedy
During a trip to Dallas, JFK in his motorcade passed by the Texas School Book Depository Building and was shot in the head by gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. His motive for killing JFK was his tolerence of Civil Rights and also issues with the way Kennedy was running the country. This left America in peieces at a time in which racial tension was at its height, and new President LBJ was now in charge of the volatile USA. -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment to the US Constitution was made in 1964. This abolished the poll tax to vote, and allowed all people to vote for primarys, senators, and the president and vice. -
Freedom Summer
This was a coordinated demonstration by the Congress on Racial Equality group to ride buses through the south from city ot city. These were called "freedom rides". Blacks and whites would go to deifferent stations in order to demonstrate the need for integration of bus stations in the South. This achieved the goal of desegregation of bus stations, but throughout the summer, riders were tortured, bombed, and killed. -
Mississippi Burning
Three Civil Rights activists, Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were pulled over and arrested one night in Mississippi. The racist policemen were part of the KKK and abducted the three men. Later it was found by law enforcement that the victims car was burned and thrown in a lake, and the bodys of the boys were found brutally murdered in a construction yard attempted to be hidden by the racist perpetrators. This enraged the nation, and showed how corrupt the officials were -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed on this date and ended discrimination due to cultural, religious, sex, racial differences in schools, business, voting, and other public places. This was influencial in the desegregation of America, and was a huge step forward in the struggle for Civil Rights. -
Selma March
Civil Rights demonstration set up by the SCLC in which hundreds of blacks and whites marched from Montgomery AL to Selma AL, the most segregated city in the country. The march was influencial as it stood to end segregation and improve voting rights in the South. The impact was tremendous as the law enforcement in Selma brutally attacked the marchers but in the end voting rights were achieved. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act ended the use of any test or device to deny the right to vote in states that had voting restrictions on blacks. This was important because it allowed all blacks to vote, regardless of any wealth or education gap, which was clearly unfair to them. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On this date the leader of the movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on his hotel balcony in Memphis TN by James Earl Ray. This had a massive impact on America, as everyone had puth their strength and trust in this man and now he was gone. However the movement continued and in the end, his Dream was achieved. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed on this date and it stated that no house or public place could be segregated. Any home tould be sold to anyone regardless of skin color or sexuality. It was now a federal crime to prevent someone to do something because they were a different race. This marked the official legal end to segregation in America, although racial discrimination still occurs today. -
Michael Brown Shooting - Ferguson, MO
Two years ago in Ferguson MO, a young boy by the name of Michael Brown stole a pack of cigar papers from a gas station, and when confronted the cops, he was shot 6 times in cold blood in the middle of the street and left there to die for 6 hours. This shined the light in corruption of law enforcement as the nation watched Ferguson turn into a racial war zone.
