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Brown vs. Board of Education
Chief Justice Warren persuades other justices to ban segregation in Nation's Schools. NAACP Lawyers find a case in Linda Brown (Topeka, Kansas). Who was a 3rd grader attending the all black school. These all black schools were said to be equal in quality. But in truth they were far below the quality of white schools. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Now Segregation is everywhere, except schools. NAACP Member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her segregated seat for a white person since the bus was full. She was arrested and this brought much attention to the opportunity at hand. Approximately 90% of African Americans participate in the Bus Boycott on the first day, which was led by Martin Luther King Jr. This Boycott hurts many white businesses and the bus system. It took 1 year of this boycott to integrate the buses. -
Little Rock Nine
<a href='' >http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-500142_162-3289400-3.html</a>
Governor Orval Faubus violated Federal court order to integrate Little Rock's Central High School. Faubus warned that "Blood would run in the streets". Arkansas National Guard tried to keep out the black students trying to attend the school. September 4th an angry crowd of whites harass the black students. September 24th Eisenhower announces the End by sending Federal Troops to stop the stand off. -
Greensboro Sit-ins
February 1, 1960 Four College Students launch a sit-in of their own. After being denied service they stayed until the store was closed. The next day the students returned with more protestors and filled 63 of the 66 seats at the counter. This became big and the media was all over it. The protest flourished with supporters and many followed through. At the end of each day they prayed. -
Voter Education Project
The Voter Education Project (VEP) was created to register African Americans from the South to vote. Marches were attacked by mobs and disbanded by police. Project workers were beaten or jailed. VEP workers in Mississippi had the greatest challenge, living in fear. -
Freedom Riders
Inspired by the success of the Greensboro sit-ins, the CORE established the idea of Freedom RIdes. Members of the CORE sent the Freedom Riders, a bus of African Americans who visited "white-only" facilities in order to reverse the idea of segregation in the South. On such occasions, they would only recieve mild harrassment. But in May of 1961, a mob firebombed their bus and beat the escaping passengers. This tragic event made front page news cover all of the nation. -
Birmingham, Alabama
Martin Luther King Jr raised several hundred thousand dollars to fund a campaign against segregation laws in Birmingham. Volunteers taught African Americans the techniques of non-violent protest. King was arrested along with hundreds more, in jail, he wrote a letter in the margins of his newspaper, rejecting the charges of the article about him. -
Medgar Evers Assassination
Medgar Evers, NAACP leader in Mississippi was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith in his front yard, hours after Kennedy's speech. De La Beckwith was sent free after the first two trials, on the third in 1994, he was sentenced to life in prison. -
March on Washington
The purpose of the march on Washington was to build support for the Civil Rights movement, the plan was to march on the nation's capital. This was the largest civil rights demonstration ever in the US, attended by over 200,000 people of all races. Major leaders addressed the crowd from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment was passed in August of 1962 and was submitted for ratification. It banned states from taxing citizens to vote, also known as poll tax. A lot of southern states required these taxes to keep African Americans from voting. The amendment finally became part of the constitution in January of 1964. -
Freedom Summer of 1964
In the summer of June 1964, two hundred volunteers of college students coming from the North traveleled to Mississippi to train African Americans how to register to vote. They also volunteered to educate African Americans with reading, math, and writing skills. One of the first groups of volunteers who traveled to Mississippi were three young men by the name of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner went missing for six weeks till their bodies were later found within a ditch. -
Selma March
On a March Sunday in 1965, 600 African Americans began a 54-mile march down Edmund Pettus Bridge in nonviolent protest for the African American voting rights. However, Selma city and state police officers retaliated in violence with the use of tear gas, clubs, chains, police dogs, and electric cattle prods against the marchers. The savage happenings of the Selma march were caught on film and later released to the public on TV networks for the whole nation to see. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by President Lyndon Johnson, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened up new and powerful opportunites for the federal government to eliminate restrictions that prevented African Americans to vote. Many civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King, James Farmer, and Rosa Parks were in attendence at the official signing of the document. Soon after, about 27,000 African Americans from Mississippi, Lousiana, and Alabama line up to register to vote. -
Black Panther Party
Stokely Carmichael, leader of the SNCC, and his followers abandoned the belief of nonviolent protest and established the Black Panther Party. Many people argued that the Black Panther Party called for a more violent approach of protest. However, Carmichael explained "black power" referred to the African American battle for political and economic power. He also encouraged African Americans to form their own political organizations. -
Martin Luther King Assassination
On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by James Earl Ray with a high-powered rifle as he stood in the balconey of his motel. In quick response, riots of angered African Americans occured in more than 120 cities across the United States. Upon discovering King's death, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy announced that all must "make an effort...to replace the violence with compassion and love". An idea that will later be used to put an end to racial inequality.
