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Brown v. Board of Education
A consolidation of five cases into one, is decided by the Supreme Court, effectively ending racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained segregated. -
Rosa Parks
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on a crowded bus when ordered by the bus driver to give it to a white man. She was arrested by police and charged with disorderly conduct and breaking local laws. -
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
In Montgomery, Alabama, a successful 391-day boycott to desegregate its buses since the law reserved the front seats of their bus for white people. -
Little Rock Nine
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) decided that the Supreme Court's decision to end segregation in schools had to be implemented. They decided that Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, would be the place with nine African American students enrolling in this previously white-only school. -
Nonviolent Protests
Sixty black pastors and civil rights leaders from several southern states—including Martin Luther King, Jr.—meet in Atlanta, Georgia to coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. -
Greensboro
Four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served. Their nonviolent demonstration sparks similar “sit-ins” throughout the city and in other states. -
Mob violence in Alabama
The Ku Klux Klan forced the Greyhound bus off the road as it crossed into Alabama and used baseball bats, iron bars and knives to smash its windows and slash its tyres. They also fire-bombed the bus. -
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The Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. -
March on Washington
Martin Luther King helped organise a march of about 250,000 people in support of civil rights and demanding an end to segregation. At the 'March on Washington', on 28 August 1963, King gave his 'I have a dream' speech, urging the American people and their lawmakers to put an end to racial discrimination. -
University of Alabama
Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus.