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Truman's integration of the armed forces
Truman orders an end to segregation in civil service and the armed forces -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools is unconstituional. This ruling overturned the decision made in Plessy v. Ferguson that "seperate but equal" facilities were constitutional. REACTIONS:
- heavy oppostition in southern white cities
- Little Rock Nine, September 1957 -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
Rosa Parks was traveling by bus in Montgomery, Alabama, when the seats filled up and the driver told her to give up her seat so a white man could have it. She refused, and was arrested. This act set the tone for nonviolent protests all throughout America. REACTION:
- civil rights activists organized boycotts of the Montgomery Bus System that lasted 381 days Source: http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp
Picture: http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/12/rosa_parks.html -
Supreme Court declares bus segregation laws unconstitutional
in Alabama. CAUSE:
- Montgomery Bus Boycotts 1955-1956, which had laid economic pressures on the city Source: http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp -
Martin Luther King Jr. forms SCLC
MLKJ forms the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in order to better mobilize black churches in the South in support of black rights. -
Little Rock Nine
Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional, and 9 black students in Little Rock, Arkansas were the first to take advantage of it in their attempt to attend Little Rock Central High School in the September of 1957. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, sent the National Guard to prevent them from enrolling, provoking much protest. President Eisenhower intervened and sent soldiers to escort them in. Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Enacted under Eisenhower, this act set up a Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and attempted to protect voting rights. -
First sit-in
Four black students begin sit-ins at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. REACTION:
- sit-ins, wade-ins, and pray-ins become popular and widely used forms of peaceful protest across the South Picture: http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/freedom-struggle-2.html -
SNCC founded by students
Black students form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in order to better organize nonviolent protests by black students. CAUSE:
- increased popularity and performances of sit-ins and other peaceful protests by black students -
Freedom Rides
A series of bus rides throughout the Deep South, in which both blacks and some whites participated, attempting to test the effectiveness of the recent ruling of Boynton v. Virginia (1960) that stated that segregation in interstate bus and rail stations was unconstitutional. REACTIONS
- Much violence and protests. Some buses were attacked by mobs, and one bus was bombed.
- Washington sent federal troops to protect the protestors Source:
http://www.core-online.org/History/freedom%20rides.htm -
James Meredith goes to Ole Miss
James Meredith, a black student, was accepted to the University of Mississippi, but was not allowed to enroll when his race was realized. With the help of NAACP he took this to the Supreme Court, and it was decided that he had the right to go. After much resistance, Ole Miss reluctantly agreed, and Meredith became the first black to attend Ole Miss. Riots greeted him there. Picture: http://cwmemory.com/2012/10/01/the-last-battle-of-the-civil-war/ -
MLKJ begins his Birmingham campaign
In the spring of 1963 MLKJ led a campaign with the SCLC to bring to attention the plight of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. Police retorted with attack dogs, water hoses, and cattle prods. Televsion broadcasted these retaliations, and for the first time many Americans witnessed the wickedness of racism. REACTIONS:
- June 11 1963, Kennedy delivers a speech in response to this, for the first time naming this a "moral issue" and calling for a solution -
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Arrested during his Birmingham campaign, MLKJ sent this inspiring letter to his followers, stating his belief that it is okay to break laws that are morally incorrect. “So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. ” Letter from the Birmingham Jail, MLKJ -
March On Washington
MLKJ leads one of the largest protests in U.S. history to Washington in support of Kennedy's proposed new civil rights legislation. During this March, MLKJ gives his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." MLKJ CAUSE: Kennedy's "moral issue" speech, June 11 1963 -
Twenty-fourth Ammendment ratified
This ammendment abolished the poll tax in federal elections and thus greatly increased oppurtunity for blacks to vote. REACTION:
- Freedom Summer of 1964, a massive voter registration drive in Mississippi -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Enacted under Lyndon B. Johnson, this act forbid discrimination in most private facilities open to the public and gave the federal government muscle to ensure the prevention of segregation and discrimination. Title VII of this act also ensured that employers did not discriminate based on race in hiring. -
Malcom X assassinated
Malcom X, a black muslim leader and outspoken seperatist, was shot and killed by his own compatriots when he changed his veiws in favor of peace and understanding. -
March from Selma to Montgomery
As MLKJ led protestors on a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery to promote voter registration, they were attacked by state troopers with tear gas and whips. REACTIONS:
- President Johnson delivered a speech on television concerning what happened in Selma, and said that it was time for all Americans to "overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice". Pic: http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.com/2012/03/selma-to-montgomery-march.html
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed
This act outlawed literacy test in federal elections and sent voter registrars into several southern states to ensure that they did not exclude blacks from elections. This act had monumental success. REACTIONS:
- so great was the influx of black voters, that politicians for the first time began to court black votes
- this act marked the end of the era of nonviolent demonstrations aimed at integration -
Black riots at Watts, LA
Shortly after the Voting Rights Act was passed, violent riots erupted in Watts, a black ghetto in LA. REACTION:
- these riots reflected the change from nonviolent demonstrations in the South aimed at integration to militant confrontations in northern and western cities with the goal of black seperatism. Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots -
Stokey Carmichael and Black Power
In his 1966 speech Stokey Carmichael, leader of SNCC, preaches the doctrine of Black Power, an extreme form of black seperatism in which blacks will "smash everything Western civilzation has created". -
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black Supreme Court Justice
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
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Milliken v. Bradley
In a big step towards desegregation, this case ruled that desgregation plans could not require students to move accross school district lines. REACTION:
- "white flight" of many whites into the suburbs
