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Period: to
The Civil Rights Movement
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Slavery Begins in the US
Sometime in 1619, a Dutch ship carrying English colonists, arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. This ship was full of about 20 African prisoners who had been taken from their homes. Although they claimed they were only indentured servants, this goes down as the first American slave trade. -
The Start of the American Civil War
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, South Carolina announced the fact that they wanted to be part of a different country. The Civil War officially started when Confederate soldiers attacked a union fort, Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, South Carolina. -
End of the Civil War
The American Civil War ended with General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. By the end of the summer all other Confederate generals had surrendered to the Union and the US remained one country. After the war was over, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which ended slavery in the United States. -
13th Amendment Ratified
The 13th Amendment was the first of three amendments to the constitution after the Civil War to ensure rights to colored Americans. The goal of this amendment was to end slavery in every part of the United States. However, this amendment wasn't even ratified until 8 months after the end of the Civil War. -
Formation of the KKK
In Pulaski, Tennessee, several Confederate Civil War veterans got together and formed a social group for white superiority which quickly grew into a group focused on stopping the government's reconstruction after the Civil War, and were prepared to use any method. And these methods consisted mostly of lynching and burning (especially crosses). To hide their identity, they wore white hoods and robes. Although most of the KKK is long gone, fragments of the fraternity still live today. -
14th Amendment Ratified
The 14th Amendment was the second of three amendments added to the constitution after Civil War to give colored Americans rights. The Fourteenth Amendment was made to give, ensure, and protect citizenship for those in the US. It guaranteed citizenship to people who were previously slaves, and also stated anyone born in the US is granted citizenship. -
15th Amendment Ratified
The 15th Amendment was the third amendment added to the constitution after the Civil War to ensure rights to colored Americans. This amendment gave the right to vote to any man who was a citizen, and "shall not be denied [...] on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Even though this was stated, there were still other tricks that were used to keep African-Americans from voting like poll taxes and literacy tests. -
Jim Crow Laws
During the year 1877, the Jim Crow laws and the Black Codes were put into place, and twisted into everyday life in America. There were several ideas that these two sets of etiquette put forth. Including (but not limited to): the fact that whites and blacks should not shake hands, this being a sign of equality; races should not eat together; public displays of affection between blacks was offensive; if a black and a white were in a car together, the black would sit in back; and more. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
On this day, Homer Plessy was arrested and thrown into prison on the East Louisiana Railroad. He was charged for sitting in the "white" section of train. Even though he looked of a whiter background, he was of mixed origins (some French, Spanish, and Caribbean), and identified as black. Some people screamed of the case as unconstitutional, but it was eventually decided that segregation was abiding by the constitution as long as it was equal. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This day marked the end of the Brown v. Board of Education case in Topeka, Kansas. Linda Brown was a 7-year-old black girl who had to go to an all black school on the other side of town from her home. But the white school was only a few blocks away. Linda's father didn't understand why he had to take his daughter all the way to the other side of town, when there was a school four blocks away. His dilemma eventually made it to the Supreme Court and segregated schools were ruled unconstitutional. -
Start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
On this day, a 42-year-old, African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks was sitting in the colored section of the segregated buses. When the first "white" rows were filled, Rosa was forced to give up her seat. When Rosa sat back down, she was arrested and started a boycott of the Montgomery buses. African-Americans all walked to work instead of riding buses and 381 days later, ended segregation on buses. -
1st Sit-In
Four African-American college freshmen were fed up with having to sit in the "colored only" section in restaurants. They decided that they would sit in the better, much better kept, white section until they got service. They figured it would work, because they would take up space for customers who were buying something, therefore causing the owners to lose business, just a little. -
Freedom Riders
Starting in the year 1961, volunteers from all over rode the now desegregated buses to protect them. Even though they're legally considered desegregated, many whites still thought the old rules were to be abided by. Some people even burned buses where blacks were asserting their new found rights on buses. Freedom Riders were blacks and whites who kept the peace and desegregation on buses. -
The March on Washington
Organized by people such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, and others, the March on Washington was another peaceful form of protest by the African-Americans. Over 250,000 people from around the country made it to Washington to march (and about 60,000 were white). It ended at the Lincoln Memorial where MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to all the marches gathered around the reflecting pool. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
In Dallas, Texas, just after noon, a shot was heard as the president of the US was assassinated. Kennedy was campaigning in Dallas, riding in a car with an open roof as he did so. After the shot he was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead at 1:00 that afternoon. Lee Harvey Oswald was later arrested on the pretenses of killing the president, and a police officer. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
In Memphis, Tennessee on this day, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel. He was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead an hour later. After his death, riots from his followers rand through the streets. People accused the FBI agents, who were investigating the scene, of being directly involved. Eventually the escaped convict, James Earl Ray was accused of the murder and arrested, though some of King's followers still don't believe Ray was guilty.
