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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott took place on December 1, 1955 until December 20, 1956. Rosa Parks, an African American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated Montgomery bus. She was arrestrd and fined, and the boycott of public buses by blacks in Montgomery began.The Supreme Court and Marlin Luther King Jr. ordered to intergrate the bus system. Fun Fact: After her death, Parks was the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. -
The Little Rock 9
On September 2, 1957 a group of nine black teenage students enrolled in a formely all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This was to test a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The Court had mandated that all public schools in the country be integrated. On the first day of school, The Arkansas National Guard ultimately prevented any of the nine entering. Fun Fact: Ernest Green graduated in 1958. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was enacted on September 9, 1957 introduced in Eisenhower's presidency. It aimed to ensure that all African Americans would have the right to vote. It wanted a new division within the Federal Justice Department to monitor civil rights abuses and a joint report made by major representatives by both Democrats and Republicans on the issues of race relations. Fun Fact: This act signaled a growing federal commitment to the cause of the civil rights movement. -
The Sit-In Movement
The Greensboro Sit-Ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina from Feb. 1-July 25 1960. This led to Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the South. Four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter, and asked for coffee. When service refused, the students sat patiently. Despite threats and intimidation, they sat quietly and waited to be served. Fun Fact: It became a Civil Rights Center. -
The Freedom Riders
On May 4, 1961, a group of thirteen African Americans and white civil rights avtivists launched the Freedom Rides. A series of bus trips through the South, to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. They were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Departing from Washington D.C., the group encountered tremendous violence from white protestors. The next few months several hundred Freedom Riders engaged in similar actions. Fun Fact: Helped bring both races together. -
James Meredith and the Desegregation of the University of Mississippi
On September 30, 1962 the Desegregation of the University of Mississippi, African American James Meredith was being escorted onto the college's campus by U.S. Marshals when suddenly a deadly riot set off. The next day, Meredith successfully enrolled in the school. In 1966, he returned to the public eye when he began a lone civil rights march in an attempt to encourage voter registration by African Americans in the South. Fun Fact: Created the March Against Fear walk. -
Protests in Birmingham
Known as the Birmingham campaign and Birmingham movement from April 3 to May 10, 1963. It was organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. African Americans were sprayed down with powerful water hoses, hit with batins, and were threatened with police dogs. Fun Fact: The Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church caused the clash between the protestors and the police. -
The March on Washington
A political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by a number of civil rights and religious groups. The event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continues to face across the country. The march became a key moment in the growing struggle for civil rights in the U.S., culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Fun Fact: His speech was a call for racial justice and equality. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Was the act that ended segregation in public places and banned employment discriminationon the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from Southerm members of Congress, and then was signed into law by Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. Congress expanded the act, and also passed additional legislation and it aimed at bringing equality to African Americans. Fun Fact: Was an achievement. -
The Selma March
The Selma March started on March 7-25, 1965, about six hundred people started a plan march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, it was called a demonstration. When state troopers met the demonstrators at the edge of the city Edmund Pettus Bridge, the day became known as "Bloody Sunday." The state troopers violently attacked the peaceful demonstrators in an attempt to stop the march for voting rghts. Fun Fact: Martin Luther King Jr. led the long 54 mile march. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. It was signed in by President Lyndon Johnson with Martin Luther King Jr. The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for frderal oversight of voter registration. Fun Fact: The act is considered the most far-reaching pieces in civil rights legislation. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and mortally wounded as he stood on the second-floor balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Suspect James Earl Ray was caught and convicted in killing King. After his death, both blacks and whites mourned the death of King, who has remained the most widely known African-American leader of his era. Fun Fact: King's memorial was held at the Mall of Washington D.C., the site of his "I Have a Dream" speech.
