Civil Rights Movement

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

May 17, 1954

• In 1954, Linda Brown was denied the right to go to a local elementary school in Topeka. It went to the court systems and the tradition of segregated schools was broken. Integration spread slowly through the south, but with it came threats of loss of funding for schools and also crisis’ within schools.

Rosa Parks

Dec 1, 1955

An African American woman, Rosa Parks, refuses to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This is cause for a boycott and many citizens declare bus segregation to be unconstitutional. As a result, the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation on interstate busses and trains.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Sep 1, 1957

• Dr. King advocated civil disobedience, which is the non-violent resistance against unjust laws in 1955. Although these demonstrations such as marches, boycotts, and strikes were non-violent, they came with a violent response from others. He stressed having dignity in a graceful and appropriate manner.

James Meredith

Oct 1, 1962

• James Meredith transferred to become the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi in 1962. He graduated in 1963 and went on to lead a March Against Fear in 1966. He was shot at and wounded, but continued the walk before it was over.

Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

Jun 12, 1963

Medgar Evers, a civil rights leader, is killed by a sniper. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands of people at the March on Washington. Four young African American girls are killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Riots

Jul 9, 1967

Even though congress passed the Civil Rights Act 3 years prior, riots continued in Detroit and New Jersey. The first African American, Thurgood Marshall, was named to the Supreme Court. Also the first African American mayors are elected to two major U.S. cities.