Civil Rights Movement

By Romescoe

  • The Emancipation Proclamation

    Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation which frees slaves in states that have seceded from the union.

  • The Thirteenth Amendment

    On December 6, 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It abolished slavery and invoultary servitude.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866

    Congres passed the Civil Right Act on April 9, 1866. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. As citizens, blacks could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property.

  • Fourteenth Amendment

    This Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. Also, all citizens were to be given full and benefit of all laws.
    No person was allowed to be deprived of life, liberty,or property without due process of law
    No person could be denied equal protection of the laws.

  • Fifteenth Amendment

    This Amendment granted black men the right to vote by declaring that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Though blacks were still denied to right to vote by other means.

  • Plessy v Ferguson

    Homer Plessy was arrested in 1892 for sitting in an all white train car in Louisiana. He decided to sue saying that seperate cars for blacks and whites violated his 14th Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to have seperate but equal treatent for blacks and whites. This decision led to legalized segregation which became known as Jim Crow laws.

  • Formation of NAACP

    The NAACP was formed in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and white citizens fighting for social justice. On February 12, 1909, a "Call" was issued by a collection of 60 signatures for a meeting on the concept of creating an organization that would be an aggressive watchdog of Negro liberties. Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard, William English Walling and led the "Call" to renew the struggle for civil and political liberty.

  • Brown v Board of Education

    In 1951, a lawsuit was filed by a group of parents who tried to enroll their children in an all white school in Topeka, Kansas. The parents lost the case in the local courts. The case was taken to the federal level and after 3 years, The Supreme Court ruled to overturn the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson "seperate but equal" mandate. This was the first step to intergration of schools.

  • Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat

    After a long day of work, Rosa Parks caught the bus to go home. As the bus filled with passengers, white and black, black passengers were required to give up their seats to white passengers. Rosa Parks refused and was arrested. She was found guilty of violating a city ordinance.This event is considered by some as the modern day beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    After the arrest of Rosa Parks, black leaders in the Montgomery area, Including a Reverened Dr. Martinn Luther King, organized a one day protest of the buses. That one day protest was so successful that it led to a 381 day boycott of the buses. Ultimately, a case was taken to the supreme court to overturn the segregation. The case was won and that ended the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

  • Civil Rights March on Washington

    The March on Washington took place in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The estimated attendance of the March was 250,000. Some of the demands of the march were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; protection for demonstrators against police brutality; a major public-works program to provide jobs; tand a $2 an hour minimum wage; The highlight of the march was the "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    This Act made all Jim Crow laws and discrimination illegal. The Act was originally inrtoduced by President John F. Kennedy.

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    This Act made it illegal to deny people the right to vote. This made the literacy test illegal. This Act built upon The 15th Amendment.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    This Act provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin.

  • Griggs v Duke Power Company

    This company in North Carolina segregated employees by race. Blacks were only allowed the low paying labor jobs, while whites were able to get any position. Once overt discrimination became illegal, Duke Power Company started requiring tests and diplomas for blacks that wanted the better jobs. Black workers along with the NAACP took the case to the supreme court. It was ruled that tests and diplomas aren't illegal requirements but they must test for ability to do the job.

  • Title IX

    The Education Amendments of 1972 were passed so that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

  • Civil Rights Restoration Act

    This Act was passed to restore federal protections for minorities, women, the elderly, and physically disabled individuals, This expanded Title IX to include everything, not just federally funded programs. This act was also to restore the effectiveness of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.