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Plessy v. Ferguson
This court case said that things could be “separate but equal” and declared constitutional into the law. The consequences of this case were that African America were set back 50 years back due to the new limitation, they were presented. This was a big delay for the rights of the African American and made it much more difficult to be able to gain their rights. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American who was murdered for “flirting” with a white woman. When he was brutally murdered, he was carrying 75-pound cotton-gin fan, which demonstrates that he was defenseless. The funeral was an open-casket funereal to demonstrate the brutal violence of white racist people. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa parks was an African American woman whom didn’t give up her seat in the bus for a white person and was arrested for resisting. In response, Rosa created the Montgomery Boycott that meant blacks refused to ride the buses anymore, which caused the buses to loose money as a large population of the bus riders were African American. This non-violent protest set an example that if everyone put their part in they could manage to get what they want, in this case sit anywhere they wanted on the bus. -
Founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) & Martin Luther King
The SCLC was an organization brought up shortly after the end of the Montgomery Boycott and had one goal: achieve civil rights with non-violent protests. These people managed to create different types of protest to manage to obtain a civil and political stance in society to get their rights. This was a very successful organization during the 1960s. -
Little Rock Nine & Central High School
Nine black students enrolled to a white school and were denied access by the governor as he set the national guard to block the entrance. The president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, responded by sending a military escort to take the students into the school and let them inside the classes. This was one of the earlier victories for the civil rights movement. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) & Freedom Summer
This was an organization made by young people to do non-violent protest like sit-ins. One of the most famous sit-ins done was Greensboro, which was where African Americans sat in the white area and asked nicely to be served. These people were beaten to the ground for being “rebellious” but had a big influence, as they didn’t fight back and helped obtain their rights. -
Greensboro Sit-in
This sit-in was done by 4 college students who sat down in the white section and asked for service but were denied. They didn’t leave until they closed the restaurant, but came back the next day with even more students. This became a turn in history, as another kind of non-violet protest, that started to spread nationwide. Many of these students were beaten, arrested, and nearly killed but they had a great impact in history of never fighting back and protesting in non-violet ways. -
Freedom ride/freedom riders
The freedom riders were seven black and six white people riding two buses in the southern states to go against the court case Boynton v. Virginia of segregating blacks and whites in the buses. They were trying to unite people into riding the same bus and had friendly experiences. Although they suffered many tragedies and were prosecuted they manage to send the message that they could ride the same bus without any problems, which contributed, to civil movement. -
March of Washington
This was a march to Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. with 250,000 people where MLK delivered his famous speech “I have a Dream…” to gain fair and equal jobs and freedoms as white people. Due to this march, JFK felt the need to address this problem and give African Americans their rights and soon passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 (during Lyndon B. Johnson presidency). This also influenced other ethnicities to follow similar steps into demanding for their rights. -
Civil Rights Act
This act ended the segregation of public places and eliminated discrimination in job. This was able tro pass through due to the peaceful, non-violent protest of MLK, which caught John F. Kennedy attention and gained enough support to achieve this goal. This gave African Americans their human rights they had been asking for a near century. -
Assassination of Malcom X
Malcolm X was a nationalist and religious leader fighting for African American civil rights. He had a philosophy of fighting back when it was necessary and not letting people walk over you. He was shot and killed but his philosophy lived on and he contributed to the civil rights movement. -
Brown v. Broad of Education
A court case to rule against the philosophy of “separate but equal” as it was not actually equal. The court case was fought and concluded that it was violating the 14th amendment and it was declared unconstitutional destroying the barrier of segregation. The significance of this case was that it was one of the beginning factors for the Civil Rights act movement and it united black and white in schools. -
Voting Rights Act
Lyndon B. Johnson passed this bill in order to give African Americans their rights to vote which were granted by the 15th amendment. This ended the discrimination from voting as states began to add laws which prevented African Americans from voting. This helped gain their civil rights back and let them vote once again. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was the face of the Civil Right movement who led non-violent protest as sit-in, marches, and boycotts to gain enough support to make the changes necessary. Even after MLK’s assassination, his legacy lived on and managed to give African Americans their rights. This was the most important aspect of the civil movement as he was the main person that led this protest.
