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Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case that ended up upholding rights of states to pass laws allow or even require racial segregation in public and private places like schools, public transportation, restrooms, and restaurants. Homer Plessy, who was 1/8 African American, bought a first class train ticket to New Orleans. He refused to sit in the black only car and was arrested. -
Brown v. Board of Education
United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. -
Rosa Parks
Was known for the day she got arrested for not giving up her seat for a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the bus boycott which lasted 11 months as they finally desegregated buses. -
Orval Faubus
Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to support the segregationists. -
Orval Faubus
Was known for deploying the National Guard in order to prevent the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School. -
Betty Friedan
American feminist best known for her book The Feminine Mystique, which explored the causes of the frustrations of modern women in traditional roles. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
An American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Lester Maddox
Lester waves a pistol at three black Georgia Tech students trying to buy fried chicken. -
Thurgood Marshall
Won the Brown case, grew up as a grandson of a slave, grew up to be a chief of the NAACP. -
Cesar Chavez
Best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who labored on farms for low wages and under severe conditions. Chavez and his United Farm Workers union battled California grape growers by holding nonviolent protests. -
George Wallace
A four-time governor of Alabama and three-time presidential hopeful. He is best remembered for his 1960's segregationist politics. He almost died from an assassination attempt on him, but he was permanently paralyzed from the waste down.
