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Changes to the Courts
The NAACP made strategies to attack racism through the courts and the concept of "seperate but equal." Their main focus was on segregation on education. Thurgood Marshall knew the effects of discrimination in education due to being denied admission to college due to his race. The court came to the conclusion that having seperate schools for whites and blacks would harm the preparation of black students for a career in law. -
The Domino Theory
The belief that one belief action or custom would spread to neighboring countries. This became known when the United States was fighting with Vietnam. This changed the way people viewed things. -
France is Defeated
French soldiers had their last stand i a valley in North Vietnam called Dien Bien Phu. The French asked us for help but President Eisenhower did not want to send any troops to help. French the had to surrender to Vietnam. -
The Geneva Conference
After the French surrendered to Vietnam representatives from France, Vietnam, Cambodia, Great Britian Laos, China, Soviet Union, and the US got together to become known as the Geneva Conference. They wanted to work out a peace agreement and arrange for Indochina's future. -
Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
The bus system in Montgomery was very segregated. The whites sat in the front and blacks sat in the back. If the front was filled the blacks would have to give up their seat so the whites could sit down. Rosa Parks hated this so one as she was riding the bus she refused to give up her seat to a white person and she later got arrested for it. 90% of african americans stayed off the buses that day and began to carpool This became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Little Rock Crisis
In Little Rock, Arkansas governer Orval Faubus violated the court order to integrate Little Rock High School. The governer ordered Arkansas National Guard to keep the black students out. Whites harassed black students on their 1st day of school and guards made no effort to protect the black students. Guards prevented the "Little Rock Nine" students from entering the school for 3 weeks until finally president Eisenhower ordered U.S. soldiers to help the Little Rock Nine enter the high school. -
Kennedy and The Cold War
John F. Kennedy got inaugurated as president of the United States. Kennedy won over Nixon. And won the electoral votes with a 303-219 margin in electoral votes. -
The Sit-In Movement
4 college students sat down at a lunch counter and ordered coffee in woolworth's store but got denied service because of their race. They remained at the lunch counter until the store closed. Each day the college boys gained more supports until 63 out of the 66 seats were filled. These sit-ins became successful at getting businesses to change their policies. This marked a shift in the civil rights movement. -
Affirmative Action
This action helped gave preferece to minorities and women in hiring and in admissions. This helped make up for discrimiation that happened to these people in the past. -
Chicano Movement
Mexican Americans embraced a form of cultural nationalism like the Black Power Movement and called themselves Chicanos. They used their name to show pride and had assimilated someone who held the American views and not the Mexica ones. -
Bag of Pigs Invasion
A United States invasion on Cuba called for by Kennedy. On April 15th an air strike attack occured but brutaly failed. The United States turned to land invasion and that lasted 3 days but United States soldiers ended up getting captured. -
Humans Into Space
In April the United States found out that the Soviet Union had launched the first human into space. They had beat the United States at achieving this goal. Not till a year later did John Glenn of the United States match the Soviets accomplishment. -
The Freedom Riders
The Supreme Court ordered facilities to be open to all passengers such as bus and the interstate, but the courts order was not being enforced. So the CORE wanted to draw attention and sent a group of Freedom Riders on a bus trip through the south and go to white only waitig rooms, lunch counters and etc. Many Freedom Riders got beaten and harrassed and the police did nothing to stop it. -
Register Voters
Robert Kennedy wanted the SNCC to focus on voter registration rather than protests. The votes were key to changing the south. They then founded the Voter Education Project to register African Americans to vote. This created many people to become outraged and cause mobs and fights. The VEC was a success though. 1.4 million African Americans were voting in the South. -
Religious Freedom
The United States Supreme Court began too see many flaws in religion. They concluded that the government should not make any religion the nation's "official" language. And people should be able to study the bible. -
Passing the Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Congress passed this amendment which banned states from taxing citizens to vote. Although many southern states kept this law in order to keep blacks from voting which effected them because most African Americans were poor and could not afford to pay for voting. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The crisis began on August 29th and the Soviets denied to the United States that they had any offensive missiles in Cuba. United States then sent in U-2 planes which provided photo evidence of missiles placed in Cuba and caught the Soviets lying. -
March on Washington
African Americans wanted to build support for the civil rights movement so they planed to march on the nation's capitol. African Americans and people of other races marched for more jobs and for their freedom. Martin Luther King then began to deliver his speech on the long struggle African Americans had to go through. This became known as the "I Have A Dream" speech. -
Kennedy's Assassinated
President Kennedy wanted to get the support of the southern states so he went to campaign in Texas. He was riding in a open top convertable to the site where he was to deliver his speech. Gun shots then came from the top floor of a hotel and people believe he was assasinted by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Johnson Is The New President
He promised the nation no great changes were going to happen from the previous administration. Johnson pledged that he would carry on the New Frontier and passed many of Kennedy's programs which members had blocked for so long. Johnson wanted to keep his presidency much like Kennedy's so the people of the United States would like him as much as they liked Kennedy. -
Conditions Outside of the Sothern States
Segregation was wide spread in the United States. In most states it was called De Facto Segregation which is segregation that exists because of other peoples customs and practices rather than by law. This is a type of segregatio that is harder to overcome. Africa Americans could not live in the same neighborhood as whites, even in the north. Many banks would even deny blacks money to improve their lives and property. -
War on Poverty Begins
The war on poverty funded several new antipoverty programs and offered many work-training programs for the unemployed youth. Many volunteers helped provide basic needs for the poor communities. Others helped provide basic education to adults and work opportunities for unemployed mothers and fathers. -
Free Speech Movement
Arthur Goldberg set up this goal. This gave people the right to say what they feel when they feel like it. And that everyone will continue to fight for this right in order for it to work. -
Selma Campaign Begins
Martin Luther King began campaigning to gain voting rights for African Americans by organizing marchs along the streets of Selma, Alabama. Many of the marchers were arrested and police were quick to act and did not want to give King the attention he wanted. King then forced police to jail him. When out King organized a 54-mile march and police blocked their way and left many hurt and due to attacks. -
Fight For Social Justice
Latinos began fighting for the fair discrimination of advantages and disadvantages in society. Many changes began in the farm fields due to Latinos receiving low wages for hard labor. So latinos encouraged people not to buy grapes and the protest worked. And formed the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. -
Opperation Rolling Thunder
1st major US military activityin Vietnam. President Johnson ordered a bombing over North Vietnam and wanted to weaken their ability to fight. Johnson also wanted this to show America's loyalty to South Vietnam. -
Ho Chi Minh Trial
The trial was a network of paths that began in North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia and ended in South Vietnam. North Vietnam used this to send weapons, soldiers, food and other supplies. American began to spread chemicals on the trail to destroy it. -
Antiwar Movement
Antiwar activity took place on college campuses which would hold antiwar rallies and debates. Members would hold teach-ins to educate students about war. Members marched to the capitol in Washingto DC and told congress to end the war. -
A Great Society is Created
Johnson wanted poor children to be well educated so congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which provided aid to public schools. The Higher Education Act also created scholarships for college students. Medicaid was started to provide free health care to the poor, and Medicare was a health care program for people over the age of 65. The Great Society promoted a better life for Americans no matter what their economic status was. -
National Organization for Women
This group was formed by feminist women who fought to end gender discrimination in workplaces, schools, and the justice system. It also wanted to end violence against women and get equal rights. -
Black Panthers
Black Power was looked upon by many people. So Huey Newton and Bobby Seale found a group called the Black Panthers. This group rejected non-violence and wanted to use violence for African American liberation. They would carry guns with them to protect themselves from police and brutality. -
Summer Love
The hippie movement was now becoming very popular. This generation started the dawning of a blissful new age. Many young people were beginning to struggle with drugs. Hippies liked to have mellow living areas and began moving into communes. But, hippies did not like to work hard and wanted to much freedom which led to much conflict. -
The Main Attacks Begin
The main Communist offensive has begun. This was the beginning of Tet, which is the Vietnamese New Year. 84,000 Communist soldiers attacked 12 US military bases and 100 or more cities in South Vietnam. Many people were left homeless and communists killed and South Vietnamese they thought were helping Americans. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King was at a rally in Memphis to speak to the people. The next day he was then shot and killed by James Earl Ray as King was standing on the balcony of his hotel. This enraged blacks all over American and caused 46 to be killed, 2,600 injured and 21,000 arrested. Troops had to be called in to restore order throughout the US. -
Many Doubts
Many Americans began to doubt the war and started to call for it to end. People began to criticize the government's policies and Johnson began to feel trapped and unsure of what to do. People began to doubt Johnson even Johnson's own administration. They then began to seek ways to start peace negotiations. -
Election of 1968
Presidennt Johnson has decided to withdraw from the presidential campaign and his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey began running. Humphry defended the war policies while his opponents called for a end to the war. -
American Indian Movement
Founded in Minnesota, and focused o the renewal of traditional cultures, economic independece, and better education for the indian children. Many protested and US soldieres killed more then 300 Sioux Indians for the protesting. -
Vietnamization
The National Security Advisor Hery Kissinger had secret negotiations with North Vietnamese to start "peace with honor." This was to start a strategy called Vietnamization to turn more fighting to the South and bring US troops home. -
Popular Music
The hippie culture had a huge influence on popular music. Rock and roll became a way for young people to express themselves. The Woodstock Music Fair was a giant music festival that became so popular police had to shut it down. The rock and roll style of music and the new party festivals for young people showed the society changing. -
Campus Violence
Anitwar demonstrators at Kent State University set fire to buildings. Many students gathered on a grassy, campus area to protest and threw rocks and shouted at the soldiers that tried to stop them. The soldiers began shooting and 4 students were killed with 9 injured. -
Women's Movement
The number of women with jobs has increased although they were still low-paying. Women began to get senior positions in the government and more women were elected into congress. -
La Raza Uida Party
This party campaigned for bilingual education, improved public services, education for children of migrant workers, and an end to job discrimination. RUP candidates got elected to office and RUP also organized its own branch in Colorado. -
Twenty-Sixth Amendment
This amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. McGovern was running in the election when this amendmet got ratified and he hoped it would boost his chances in the election. Due to most of his supports were young people. -
New Black Power
Since African Americans got voting rights they were more politically active ation wide. African Americans governed just as good as whites did. Many blacks went on to become lawyers and argue major cases like the Brown case. And many took part in the first sit-ins. -
Political Change
Courts wanted to speed up integration in schools through out the United States. So the court ordered that some students get bused to schools in other parts of the city. This helped speed up integration.
