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Tuskegee Institute was founded by Booker T. Washington. The purpose was to train teachers in Alabama. Tuskegee's program provided students with both academic and vocational training. -
Plessy v. Ferguson was a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities. This created a doctrine that was known as "separate but equal". The decision justified the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed. -
The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It was formed in New York City by white and Black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country. It brought awareness to citizens all over the US about racial segregation. -
During early history, women were denied the right to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. This was a game-changer and gave women a sense of equality being able to have a voice. -
Truman declared that there would be equal treatment and opportunity for all people in the armed services. This meant it did not matter race, color, religion, or national origin to be able to support the military. -
Executive Order 9981 was issued by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. This led to the end of segregation in military services during the Korean War. It was a crucial event in the post-World War II civil rights movement and a major achievement of Truman's presidency. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. This lead to schools allowing black and white children to be in the same schools with the same opportunity to learn. -
Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African American who was lynched in Mississippi. He was accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till became an icon of the civil rights movement. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a social protest against the policy of racial segregation on public transportation such as busses in Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign started Monday after Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested for her refusal to surrender her seat to a white person. Later on, this protest led to the US supreme court that segregated buses were unconstituational. -
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed just after the Montgomery Bus Boycott had ended. The SCLC's main aim was to advance the cause of civil rights in America but in a non-violent manner. They created multiple changes in the government system ending racial segregation. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower after brown v the board of education ended the issue of school segregation. -
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement. The SNCC created student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. The committee sought direct action to challenge civic segregation. -
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter. They refused to leave after being denied service. This sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. -
"I Have a Dream" was a speech given by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington. This speech was given for Jobs and Freedom. MLK jr. called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. He delivered over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The speech was a moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history. -
The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from making people pay a poll tax in order to vote in any type of federal election. This led to people being able to vote because they were eligible and did not have to pay. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a civil rights and labor law in the United States. This act outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation and gender identity. It bans the unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination. It is known today as one of the most important legislative acts to be made. -
The Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez dedicated his life’s work to what he called la causa (the cause) he used nonviolent tactics to gain union contracts with California vineyard owners. -
The Selma to Montgomery marches were protest marches, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression. These protests created the passing of the voting rights act. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement. This allowed for all citizens to vote without being upheld by their race, color, sex, or origins. -
Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman, and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a prominent civil rights leader who gave the "I have a dream speech" and used nonviolent protests to gain civil rights for African Americans. He was also a noble peace prize winner for his civil disobedience.