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Brown v Board of Education
Achieved desegregation of schools -
Emmet Till
Emit Till, a young black boy, is murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Two white men charged with the crime were acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder. The public outrage generated by the case helped spur the civil rights movement -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the “colored section” of a bus to a white passenger (Dec 1). In response to her arrest, the Montgomery black community successfully boycott the busses for a year. The buses are desegregated on Dec 21, 1956 -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education. On the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Banned voting restrictions like voter literacy tests -
Woolworths Counter
Brought new idea of peaceful demonstrations
Four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. Their passive resistance and peaceful sit-down demand helped ignite a youth-led movement to challenge racial inequality throughout the South. -
Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw Univers ity by young people who emerged as leaders by participation in the sit-in protest movement initiated on Feb 1 of that year, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. -
Ruby Bridges Attends Elementary School
Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. She as escorted to school by armed federal marshals sent by President Eisenhower. She spent most of her first grade year walking to school admidst white protesters. -
Freedom Riders
Whites and African Americans rode public buses unsegregated
Resulted in the Interstate Commerce Commission issuing regulations to stop segregation in interstate transit terminals -
James Meredith
James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident lead to President Kenndy sending 5,000 federal troops to the university and to escort Meredith everyday to his classes. -
March on Washington
March drew attention to inequality
March for “jobs and freedom”
MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school were killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was an act of white supremacist terrorism. Riots erupted in Birmingham, which led to the deaths of two more black youths. -
Malcolm X Speech
Malcolm X: “I see America through the eyes of a victim. I don’t see any American dream. I see an American nightmare.” -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Achieved equal employment
Outlawed discriminated on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
Allowed feds to ensure public facilities were integrated -
Split of the Movement
The movement split into two parts: peaceful protesters and those who embraced a quick and violent approach. Many young African Americans became impatient with the Movement and reasoned that if white people were being violent, then the only way to retaliate was through violence as well. Many riots were associated with the Black Power movement and Malcolm X. -
Malcolm X Killed
Malcolm X, blacl nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated -
Bloody Sunday
State troopers violently attack peaceful demonstrators led by MLK as they try to cross the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. Fifty marchers are hospitalized on “Bloody Sunday,” after polic use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The March is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later, -
Voting Rights Act
Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal -
Martin Luther King Wins Nobel Peace Prize
MLK receives the Nobel Peace Price for his non violent approach to protesting -
Black Panthers
The Black Panthers were organized by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and other militants as a revolutionary socialist movement advocating self-rule for American blacks. -
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Poor People’s Campaign
MLK speaks out against social inequality
Addressed the issues of unemployment, housing shortages for the poor, and the impact of poverty on the lives of millions of Americans.
The Campaign addressed issues that impacted all who were poor regardless of racial background. Their immediate aim was to secure Federal legislation ensuring full employment and promoting the construction of low-income housing to raise the quality of life of the nation's impoverished citizens. -
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
MLK was shot and killed while standing on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, by a white man
Massive riots erupted in 168 cities across the country, leaving 46 people dead
Riots revealed the anger and frustrations among African Americans in both the North and South
Violence fed a growing “white backlash,” especially among white blue-collar voters, to the civil rights movement. This was reflecting in election results -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing
