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13th Amendment
The 13th amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional and illegal. This amendment that was added to the Constitution, granted civil rights, and it was the beginning to a new era of the fight for equality. -
14th Amendment
Rights of citizenship, due process of law, and equal protection of the law. The 14th amendment has become one of the most used amendments in court to date regarding the equal protection clause. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment gave Africans the right to vote. There were many practices that prevented African Americans from voting even after the amendment was placed, so the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was placed to allow them to fully exercise their right to vote. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A Supreme Court case that upheld segregation. It ruled that, “separate but equal’ facilities did not violate the 14th amendment, and it was because the 14th amendment had such a broad definition of citizenship. -
NAACP created
An organization that pertained to civil rights. It was created to help advance equality and justice for African Americans. This organization included famous civil rights activists like WEB DuBois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, and Ida B. Wells. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment grants all American women the right to vote. This accomplishment was big for America because it took decades of protesting to get to where we got. -
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) proposed
A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that is to guarantee equal rights for every American, regardless of gender. This is a significant change from when the Constitution was first adopted because back then, white men were the only people that had rights. -
Executive Order 9981
It was passed to end any discrimination against the African Americans in the military. African Americans had played a very important role in the armed forces in the U.S., and they weren’t given much credit for their hard work, so this law was past to stop all of the discrimination against them. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This Supreme Case overturned the “separate but equal” idea in public schools. Everything that came out as a result of the Jim Crow Laws was gotten rid of because of this. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was the 13 month protest that had the Supreme Court rule that the segregation of colored people in buses was unconstitutional. The boycott was the beginning to a new era of civil rights, and it had a big effect on the bus companies because they had lost a lot of customers because of this. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) formed
This was a civil rights organization’s main goal was to advance civil rights for African American in a nonviolent approach. One big difference from this organization and all of the other ones meant for civil rights advancements was that they used children in their protests. They used children because many of the adults were getting threats from their employees, and this had a bit of an impact in getting justice and equality. -
Little Rock 9
The Little Rock Nine was an approach towards the fight for equality. There were 9 African American that were enrolled in an all white school in Little Rock Arkansas. Their enrollment was initially prevented by Arkansas’ Governor, Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower ended up sending the National Guard to help protect them. This all created the Little Rock Nine Foundation to help promote the ideals of justice and educational equality. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
This was the first law that was passed since Reconstruction. It had the Justice System look into whether anyone interfered with the right to vote law. -
Chicano Movement (Mural Movement)
This movement was meant for Mexican Americans that weren’t treated properly. Cultural murals were formed to demonstrate pride in the Mexican American identity. -
Greensboro, NC Sit-ins
A turning point in African American history. Nonviolence was used to inspire others, like the Freedom Riders, to integrate this idea into the South, because that is where the problem of civil rights was greater. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed
This organization's purpose was to lead protests led by youths against racism and segregation. These members played a very important role in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and more. -
Freedom Riders
These people challenged a Supreme Court case that ended up supporting segregation. This case was Boynton vs. Virginia, and this segregated Black people from White people on public buses, but because of the influence the Freedom Riders had, the decision was ruled unconstitutional. -
Dr. King’s: “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Dr.King wrote this letter while he was in solitary confinement after protesting segregation laws in Alabama. He was responding to a public letter from clergymen in Birmingham. The main point of the letter was to show the injustices that were taking place in the community around the African Americans. -
March on Washington: “I have a dream” speech
It brought a lot of attention to the civil rights movement that was occurring at this time. After this speech, “Martin Luther King Jr.” became a household name. Another benefit from the speech was that the Civil Rights Act was taken more seriously by Congress, which helped in passing it faster. -
24th Amendment
Prohibits any form of poll taxing during elections for federal officials. This amendment also allowed every American citizen to vote. Because of this, African Americans also gained many other rights because of the new voice they had acquired with the passing of this amendment.
