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The Passing of the Jim Crow Laws
The “Jim Crow” laws were the laws that said that African Americans were to be segregated from European Society. They were first passed in 1877 and began in the south after the Civil War. The segregation of schools was changed in 1954 and it became “unconstitutional” with the Brown Vs Board of Education decision. The “Jim Crow” Laws forced public segregation in all public facilities and gave African Americans an “equal but separate” status. -
The Passing of the JIm Crow Laws
The laws changed many things such as giving African Americans economic, social and educational disadvantages. There were many attempts to break the “Jim Crow” laws such as in 1875 by Charles Summer and Benjamin Butler. None were successful till 1954. These laws are the rules that caused all the problems in the 1950’s and 1960’s when the people realised segregation was not fair. -
Aboriginal Day of Mourning
The Day of Mourning was a protest held by aboriginals. It took place in the Australian Hall, Sydney 148 Elizabeth Street. It occurred on Wednesday, 26th January 1838 (Australia day). From 10a.m. – 5p.m. It occurred due to the fact that January 26 1938 was the 150th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet, for most white Australians it was a day of happiness and celebration and for the aboriginals it was a day to mourn. The leader of the aboriginal protest group was William Cooper. -
Aboriginal Day of Mourning
The Australian Prime Minister at the time was Joseph Lyons. It was significant to the referendum because it was the first major aboriginal protest, then over 29 years it grew more until they got their way. -
Brown v Board of Education decision
The Brown v Board Education was a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that the segregation of black and white children in public schools was unconstitutional. The decision that ‘separate educational facilities are inherently unequal’ was made on May 17, 1954 and was a landmark moment for the rights of African Americans, making huge progress towards equal education. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
In December of 1955, an African American woman named Rosa Parks was riding the Montgomery, Alabama bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white American. Rosa was consequently arrested and fined, but on the day of her court hearing began a boycott of all public buses in Montgomery by black people, in protest of segregation. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
After nearly 400 days of this boycott Montgomery were forced to remove segregation from its bus system. Rosa Parks’ simple action and the Montgomery Bus sparked a larger civil rights movement that had significant consequences for the rights of coloured people all across the United States, and gave rise to the prominent civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students who uses their right to go a public school even though they were the only black students in the school. It was three years after the Brown Vs Board of Education ruling. On the first day of school, the students were meet by a white mob. The Governor of Arkansas, which is a southern state, deployed the state guard to stop the Little Rock Nine from entering the school. -
Little Rock Nine
In response to this the NAACP (National Association for the advancement of Colored People) lawyers won a federal district court battle to prevent the governor blocking the students from entering. President Eisenhower, after being convinced by Martin Lither King, ordered personnel from the 101st airborne division to protect the students. And they finished school with one of them graduating. -
Little Rock Nine
But once the year finished the Governor shut the schools down instead of continuing with the process of desegregation but once he did this a supreme court ruling forced him to reopen them. This was a major step in equal rights for education and against segregation. -
Commonwealth Electoral Act
In 1962, the Commonwealth Electoral Act was made to amend certain aspects of the Principal Act (the Commonwealth Electoral Act from 1918 -61), predominantly to allow aboriginal natives of Australia to ‘Enrol and to Vote as Electors of the Commonwealth’. This meant that Indigenous Australians in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory were given the right to enrol and vote in federal elections, though enrolment was not compulsory. -
Commonwealth Electoral Act
The act also made it illegal to encourage or discourage any aboriginal native of Australia from enrolling to vote. This event was significant as it was one of the large steps on the path to equal rights between Indigenous Australians and Australians of European descent, Aboriginals could now vote and decide the future of their nation. -
"I have a dream" speech
This speech and the march that came with it put pressure on the Kennedy Government and to advance on civil rights in the Congress. -
"I Have a Dream "Speech
The “I have a dream” speech by Dr Martin Luther King Jr took place Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It was delivered on August 28th, 1963. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time. It was delivered to 250,000 civil rights activists. He used to call to an end to the discrimination against African Americans and to give them equal rights. The most recognisable part of the speech was when Martin Luther King told the crowd about his dreams for equal rights. -
The passing of the Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a pivotal moment of the civil rights movement, a legislative accomplishment that did much to obviate discrimination from the American society, particularly towards African Americans. The Act banned segregation and discrimination on the basis of race or religion in all public places, (such as restaurants, theatres, hotels etc.) and also prohibited employment discrimination, creating a commission that could file lawsuits against -
The passing of the Civil Rights Act
employers who refused potential employees because of their skin colour. This Act was the culmination of all the hard work of individuals like Martin Luther King in fighting for equal rights, and also paved the way for future legislation pertaining to the rights of women and disabled people. -
Freedom Ride
February 1965, a group of Sydney Students went on a bus tour of Coastal and Western New South Wales towns. They planned to draw attention to the poor conditions of Aboriginal health, housing and education. They were also focusing on the racism faced by aboriginals. The Students hoped to also encourage the Aboriginal people to resist discrimination. They called themselves the SAFA and Charles Perkins was their President. One of the most controversial things they did was at Moree. They attempted -
Freedom Ride
to help Aboriginal children into the swimming pool which had a race ban on it. While they did this the locals aggressively fought and defended the race ban. They filmed the racism and it was displayed all over Australia putting pressure on the government. This Freedom Ride was a major advancement for Aboriginal Rights as it showed how racist the treatment of aboriginals was and how bad their living conditions were. -
Vincent Linagiari and the Wave Hill Walk-off
On 23rd of August 1966, 200 Aboriginal walkers lead by Gurindji Tribe leader Vincent Lingiari about equal pay while working for the British Pastoral Company Vestey. It was about 600 km south of Darwin. The strike would go on for 7 years. They were complaining about their low wages and poor conditions. But as this strike went on it became about Land rights for the aboriginals. -
Vincent Lingiari and the Wave Hill Walk-off
They eventually won the rights to the land with Lord Vestey offering to surrender 90 square kilometres of land to the Gurindji People. This was officially done on the 16th of August 1975 with PM Whitlam symbolically handing over soil to Vincent Lingiari. But the original strike in 1966, was a massive event in Land rights and equal pay for aboriginals. It was one of the biggest walk offs in Aboriginal History. -
Federal Referendum
In May of 1967, a Federal referendum was held to remove sections of the Constitution that discriminated against the Aboriginal people. Considered by many to be a prevailing moment in the rights of Aboriginal Australians, this referendum succeeded overwhelmingly with 90.77 percent of people voting YES. The specific purpose of this referendum was primarily to include Aboriginals as part of the Australian population and to allow the government to make laws for Aboriginal people, -
Federal Referendum
by removing parts of section 51 and all of section 127 from the Constitution. This referendum came as a result of years of protest and petitioning for better rights for Indigenous Australians. -
Martin Luther King Assination
On April the 4th, 1968 at approximately 6PM, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The killing took place at the Lorraine hotel in Memphis, King was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead one hour later. King was standing of the balcony of his hotel room when he was shot in the cheek by a sniper rifle. The force knocked him back onto the ground and even ripped off his necktie. King regularly received death threats as a result of his involvement in the controversial civil rights movement, -
Martin Luther King Assination
he is even said to have told his wife upon seeing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy “this is what’s going to happen to me”. James earl Ray was arrested for the murder two months later in London. Following the killing riots erupted in more than 100 cities in America
