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Brown v. Board of Education
strikes down school segregation -
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes majority Senate leader
He helps Kennedy win southern support in 1960 election -
Formation of Montgomery Improvement Association
Lead by MLK this association organized one of the most successful bus boycotts to desegregate busses. Created following the Rosa Parks incident -
Brown v. Board of Education II
desegregation at "all deliberate speed" -
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Vietnam War
In a fight for containment the United States were involved in prohibiting the expansion of communism in Vietnam. The Domino effect determined that if a few countries begin to turn communism more countries will fall to communism easier. -
Rosa Parks Doesn't Give Up Her Seat
NAACP Officer Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on a Montgomery bus, she sparked the movement for the desegregation of public busses -
Supreme Court outlaws bus segregation
Bus boycotts, carpools, lawsuits were some of the tactics African Americans used to end bus segregation -
MLK and others found Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
promotes MLK's peaceful protest approach to desegregation, by 1960s African American students think pace is too slow. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957 passes
voting rights measure, gives federal gov't power -
1957 Civil Rights Act
federal government power over schools and voting protection for African Americans -
Fidel Castro is sworn in as Cuba's Prime Minister
Fidel Castro leads Cuban revolution, begins to turn country communist -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded
Students who believe King's "soul force" is too slow paced join this group and begin using violence -
lunch counters desegregated in 48 cities, 11 states
Sit in tactics used by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) have been occurring throughout 1960 and by the end of the year they have made significant progress -
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Most Blacks that live in cities live in slums, black unemployment rate twice as high as white rate. Whites leave cities as blacks move in, violence and rage from African Americans and Blacks begin to erupt.
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The First Televised Debate - Kennedy vs Nixon
The first televised Presidential debate was between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. JFK is a better TV talker than Nixon, while Nixon is a better radio talker. -
JFK Elected President
Foreign Policy:
Flexible Response - we need more than just nukes, increases both nuclear and conventional arsenal Domestic Policy:
New Frontier - deficit spending to stimulate economic growth, increased defense spending and funding space programs -
Affirmative Action introduced
extra effort to hire, enroll discriminated groups -
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A Gagarin is first man in space
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
Eisenhower started secret army of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro, Kennedy deploys it, fails. -
Period: to
Freedom Riders test enforcement of interstate bus segregation
Freedom Riders from around the nation used bus sit ins to keep an end to bus segregation. This resulted in a wave of violence from whites and those who opposed racial equality but eventually lead to success in the courts -
Alan Shepard first American in space
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Berlin Wall Built
By 1961, 20% of East Germans flee to West Berlin as a result of horrible economy. USSR builds Berlin Wall to stop citizens from leaving, symbolizes "iron curtain". -
Micheal Harrington's The Other America published
Brings attention to poverty. In 63' Kennedy begins work on poverty -
Poverty Rate at 21%
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James Meredith may enroll at University of Mississippi
Governor Ross Barnett refuses to let James Meredith enroll because of his race, is overruled by courts -
John Glen first American to orbit Earth
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Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published
exposes dangers of pesticides -
Cuban Missile Crisis
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Period: to
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviet nuclear missiles were found in Cuba by an American spy plane, United States creates naval quarantine around Cuba until missile shipments stop. Very close to nuclear war. -
SCLC demonstrate to desegregate Birmingham
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) have child marchers, protests, and economic boycott to end segregation. Many children and others are killed. -
King writes "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
MLK writes letter claiming that those who say we must wait for racism to end, really mean it will never end, and that those fighting for desegregation should do so nonviolently -
NAACP's Medgar Evers is murdered, killers not prosecuted
Jury let murders go free, huge uproar by protesters -
"I Have a Dream Speech", said by Martin Luther King Jr.
Over 250,000 people converge to Washington D.C. to listen to speakers discuss the fight for racial equality. The day ended with Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" were he demands for a world for his children to live in where one's value is not determined by the color of their skin, or the gender, or any other prejudice -
John F Kennedy Assassination
JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. -
Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in as President
succeeds Kennedy as vice president, people question if he has power to do so -
Economic Opportunity Act
education, training, small business loans. -
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The Great Society
LBJ's domestic policy to end poverty and discrimination. LBJ takes funding away at end to spend on Vietnam War. -
Freedom Summer
CORE & SNCC project to register blacks to vote in Mississippi. Many volunteers were victims to violence -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 passes
prohibits discrimination with enforcement. Outlaws discrimination on race, religion and gender in public places -
LBJ's "Daisy" Ad Against Goldwater Aires
Goldwater was a hawk, wanted to use nukes in Vietnam. LBJ scares Americans of what a hawk might do. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k) -
1964 Election (LBJ Wins)
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Water Quality Act of 1965
Didn't become law till 1977, requires states to clean up rivers -
Malcolm X killed while giving speech
Malcolm X was a muslim black rights activist who pleaded blacks to separate from whites and form a separate society -
The Selma Campaign
voting rights demonstrators killed in Selma, Alabama. MLK leads 600 people, TV shows police violently stopping them. Becomes known as "Bloody Sunday". Second march has 25,000 protestors join. -
Medicare and Medicaid programs established
Medicare- low-cost medical, hospital insurance for elderly
Medicaid- health insurance for welfare recipients -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 passes
Bans literacy tests, allows federal officials to enroll voters. Ends up increasing black voter enrollment -
Department of Housing and Urban Development created
creates cheaper public housing for low-, moderate- income homes. -
Stokely Carmichael calls for Black Power, moves away from nonviolence
Stokely Carmichael became chairman of the SNCC and had largely lost faith in MLK's nonviolence method -
Black Panthers form, fight police brutality, want black self-sufficiency, violent
Win popular support by providing social services in ghettos -
Kerner Commission names racism as main cause of urban violence
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King gives Memphis Speech, objects preaching of violence, senses own death
King objects violence being used by blacks, he says in his speech that he doesn't have a lot of time left to lead the Civil Rights movement. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
James Earl Ray, the suspected murderer, pleads guilty to avoid receiving the death penalty even though he says he is innocent and stays in prison -
Civil Rights Act of 1968 passes
prohibits discrimination is housing -
Neil Armstrong first man on the moon
Kennedy said within a decade they'd be on the moon, they beat soviets in space race. -
Poverty at 11% (caused by LBJ's Great Society)