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KEY
🏆Achievement
✊Protest
đź“ťLegislation/Supreme Court Case
⚔️Violence by Protesters
đź’˘Violence by Opposition
đź—™No Violence -
đź’˘The Murder of Emmett Till
In Mississippi, the 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered while visiting family. The reason for this murder was allegedly flirting with a white woman. The husband and brother beat him, gouged his eyes out, and shot him in the head before disposing of his body, tied to a cotton gin with barbed wire, in the river. His murder was a cause of increased racism in the state, but also represented an uncommon time of the Black community pushing back against discrimination and violence. -
🏆🗙Creation of Montgomery Improvement Association
The Montgomery Improvement Association was established in Montgomery, Alabama, developing/supporting the movement to fight for civil rights. They largely focused on the desegregation of buses within Alabama. The association was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and was successful in bringing national attention to racial segregation in the South; This association also popularized Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights efforts. -
đź’˘Little Rock Nine Crisis
On their way to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, nine Black students were met by an angry, violent crowd; The crowd was enraged by the national rule to ban school segregation. The crowd threw objects at the children and yelled obscene insults. After making it through the crowd, the students were turned away by National Guard enacted by the Arkansas state governor. The governor later shut down the Little Rock school, removing local education options for the Black kids of the area. -
🏆📝🗙Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first civil rights legislation passed since Reconstruction. The act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This Justice Department began the investigation of racial inequality and increase the number of Black voters within the South. -
đź“ťđź—™Cooper V. Aaron
Five months after the Little Nine Rock Crisis, members of the school board filed a lawsuit against the U.S District Court of Arkansas. The school was urging to have the desegregation plan suspended. However, it was ruled by the Supreme Court that Arkansas couldn't pass legislation going against the previous Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education; They must obey this ruling, and continue desegregation. The school was later shut down due to its strict segregation. -
✊💢Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who protested segregation in interstate transportation. The group consisted of a diverse group of people who rode buses through the South. This protest began to fight against the previous court case, Boynton v. Virginia that segregated transportation. During one of their stops, the tires of the bus blew out which resulted in an angry mob throwing a bomb onto the bus; The riders escaped but some were beaten by the mob before authorities arrived. -
🏆✊💢Birmingham Movement
This movement was organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the intention of putting a focus on remaining segregation in Alabama. Birmingham protestors were met by the local police. The white policemen used a series of weapons against the protestors, severely injuring citizens. This series of violent events directly influenced the Civil Rights Movement of 1964, prohibiting racial discrimination in occupational hiring. -
🏆✊💢Albany Campaign
This was a movement developed in Albany, Georgia by Black leaders, ministers, and members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Later, the Federation of Woman’s Clubs and Martin Luther King Jr. joined. The intention of the campaign was to fight for the desegregation of public transportation. It quickly outstretched to fight for all local city segregation. The campaign’s protests were challenged by authorities, members were arrested and charged. -
✊🗙March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
In Washington D.C., around 200,000 demonstrators marched through the capital. It was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and intended to fight against racial discrimination in occupational hiring and treatment throughout the states. The demonstrators also used this march to show support for the pending constitutional acts on civil rights. -
đź’˘Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr., a famous and largely important civil rights activist, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed by a white man who went against his successful civil rights efforts and wanted to prevent his march MLK Jr. had the following Monday; He was going to protest for sanitation workers. King’s assassination prompted outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in 40 further national deaths and damage throughout over 100 American cities. -
🏆📝🗙Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
This was a constitutional case that unanimously ruled to speed the process of desegregation in public schools. After the previous court case, Brown V. Board of Education, little progress had been made in the South. Charlotte-Mecklenburg was charged with maintaining segregated schools by Darius and Vera Swann. The parents sued the state in hopes of allowing their Black son to be able to attend a closer, more affordable school which was originally segregated for white people. -
🏆🗙Shirley Chisholm’s Presidential Campaign
Shirley Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional district. She became the first black candidate running for a major-party nomination. She was also the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's nomination. Chisholm’s campaign slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed”, in gendered and racial inequality opposition. -
🏆🗙Hank Aaron’s Home Run Record
Hank Aaron was a famous, black baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. In 1974, he hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s famous record. Aaron still holds the records for the most career runs, extra-base hits, and total bases. During Hank Aaron’s inspiring career he also took time to speak out against racism in major league baseball, bringing attention to the topic. -
đź“ťđź—™University of California Regents vs. Bakke
This was a Supreme Court case between the University of California and Allan Bakke, a white California man rejected twice during admissions. Bakke argued that his grades and resume surpassed minorities who were being expected into the university over him. The ruling of this case said that using race as an exclusive basis for admission decisions violated the Equal Protection Clause. However, affirmative action remained constitutional under certain circumstances.. -
🏆🗙Barbara Jordan’s Address at the Democratic National Convention
Barbara Jordan was the first black woman to deliver a keynote address at a major party convention. This marked substantial progress in the civil rights movement, as even the idea of such would’ve been impossible just 10 years earlier. Within the keynote address itself, Barbara Jordan competently developed the Democratic philosophy and it's connection to the continuum of civil rights.