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Brown versus Board of Education
The Brown versus Board of Education event was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement. Mr. Oliver Brown filed a class-action lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas after his daughter was denied permission to go to Topeka’s all white elementary school. In Brown’s lawsuit, he claimed that school’s for black children were not equal to white schools. He also said that segregation violated the 14th amendment. The court ruled in favor of Mr. Brown. -
Emmett Till murder
In Money, Mississippi, an African American was visiting family. He was caught flirting with a white woman. The woman’s husband and brother tied a 75 pound cotton-gin fan to him and made him take off his clothes. They then beat him and gouged out his eyes. They shot him in the head and threw him in the Tallahatchie river. They were not convicted of their crime. His mother made the casket be open so everyone could see what the men had done to him. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was a civil rights protest when African Americans refused to ride on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for not giving her seat to a white man. She was also fined. After her arrest, Park's called E.D. Nixon, a prominent black leader. He bailed her out of jail. The U.S. Supreme Court finally ordered Montgomery to combine its bus system. It was known as the first large demonstration against segregation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights act of 1957. The law was originally proposed by Attorney General Herbert Brownell. This act was the first since the Reconstruction that the government took the legislative branch to protect civil rights. The act allowed the African Americans to vote. It also created a 6-member civil rights commission. The most important thing though, is that it showed that the federal government was a growing commitment of civil rights. -
Temple Bombing (Atlanta, Ga.)
Fifty sticks of dynamite exploded at the church of Hebrew Benevolent Congregation. It was the oldest synagogue in Atlanta. It was known as “The Temple”. The sanctuary had minor damage, but some other parts of the church had heavy damage. Surprisingly, no one was hurt or killed. After the bombing, Atlanta was referred to as “the city too busy to hate. One suspected bomber, named George Bright, was tried and acquitted. Charges against the other suspects were dropped. -
New Orleans school integration
Four girls, protected by US Marshals, integrated two schools. At the school McDonogh 19, Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, and Gaile Etienne entered. At the school, William Frantz, Ruby Bridges entered. In the days that followed, there were riots about student enrollment. The integration of public schools drew national criticism from those who condemned segregationists. Norman Rockwell, an american painter, made a painting of Ruby Bridges being escorted by 4 marshals to school at William Frantz. -
University of Georgia Integration
The federal district court Judge W. A. Bootle ordered permission for Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to enter the University of Georgia. As rumor circulated Atlanta regarding the possibility of the University closing, college staff urged students to be calm. This ended 160 years of segregation at the school. An angry mob gathered outside Hunter’s dorm, causing damage to the property. State officials arrested the rioters and repealed the the laws barring state support for integrated schools. -
Ole Miss Integration
A black man tried and tried to get into Ole Miss University. With the help of the NAACP, he filed a lawsuit against the school. He won the lawsuit. After the legal battle, the African American man named James Meredith enrolled at the university. At the campus, chaos broke out. Riots started leaving 2 dead and hundreds wounded, and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration ordered 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal people to enforce order. -
John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States was shot in Dallas, Texas. He was riding in an open top convertible. His wife and the governor of Texas was riding beside him. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald, shot 3 times at him. The president was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. The governor was also shot. This mattered to segregation because he was helping the African Americans through all of it. Oswald hated blacks. This is why Oswald killed the president. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Prize
Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. At 35 years old, he was the youngest person ever to win it. He won it for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. He won $54,600 for the prize. He donated it all to the civil rights movement. He was the son of a Baptist Minister. He received a doctorate degree in theology and in 1955 organized the first major protest of the civil rights movement. His role model was Mohandas Gandhi. This caused him to be nonviolent.