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Executive Order 9981
"there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -Executive Order 9981
Truman used his executive power to push for some civil rights, beginning with the integration of the armed forces in 1948. -
Brown v Board of Education
"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place... Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." -Chief Justice Earl Warren
In this milestone case for civil rights, the Supreme Court overruled the previous Plessy v Ferguson case. -
Rosa Parks
"Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome." -Rosa Parks
On her way home from work, Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat in the whites-only section, and was arrested. Because she stood up for her rights, she inspired a year-long bus boycott and "served notice thorughout the south" that the blacks would no longer sit quietly and take the oppression. -
Peaceful Resistance
On February 1, 1960, four black college freshmen in North Carolina had a peaceful demonstration by having a sit-in at a restaraunt that refused to serve them because it was whites-only. This movement quickly spread throughout the South and evolved into wade-ins, lie-ins, and pray-ins to compel equal treatment in restaraunts, housing, emplyment, transportation, and voting registration.
Peaceful acts late. inspired leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, who never demostrated violently. -
Freedom Riders
In 1960, Freedom Riders sought to end segregation in facilities serving interstate bus passengers. But on May 14, 1961, a group of rampaging whitees attacked a freedom riders bus near Anniston, Alabama. This event marks the first time Kennedy becomes involved with the civil rights movement by sending federal marshals to protect the Riders, and leads to a fruitful relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr. -
University of Mississippi Fiasco
Even with the Brown v Boatd of Education decision, integration in southern schools was brutal. In the case of James Meredith, a 29 year old air force veteran, Kennedy was forced to send 400 federal marshals and 3,000 troops to enroll Meredith in his first class. -
Peaceful Civil Rights March in Birmingham, Alabama
Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a campaign in discrimnation in Birmingham, the most segregated big city in America. "Some of the people sitting here will not come back alive from this campaign" -Martin Luther King, Jr.
The nation and the world watched, horrified, as peaceful demonstrators were repelled by police with forms of violence like dogs, electric cattle prods, and high-pressure hoses.
This made Kennedy realize how serious the "moral issue" was. -
March on Washington
King's March on Washington was a peaceful demonstration in support of Kennedy's new civil rights legislation to protect black citizens (as a result of the violence he saw in Alabama). It ended at the Lincoln Memorial and King's famous "I have a dream" speech. -
24th Amendment
Abolished poll taxes in fedreal elections -
Emergence of Violent Civil Rights Leaders
After King's death and the Coting Rights Act of 1965, peaceful demonstrations gave way to violent ones. Leaders like Malcom X and Stokeley Carmichael advocated separation instead of integration. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Black southerners were given the power in regards to the ballot. As an effect, the act placed an awesome lever for change in blacks' hands -
Success in the 1970s
According to Gary Orfield, the south had the most success in the nation at integrating schools. Although the civil rights movement had made progress, there were still pressing issues like busing.
