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Period: to
Civil Rights Movement
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Jackie Robinson
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player. Jackie was born in 1919 in Georgia, and died in 1972 in Connecticut. He led the Brooklyn Dodgers to 6 National League titles and one World Series game (which they won). He helped establish the Freedom National Bank, and served on the board of the NAACP until 1972, and was the first African American to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. -
Executive Order 9981
This order called for desegregation of the armed forces. President Truman stated, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." Naturally, there was resistance, and full integration did not happen until the Korean War. -
NAACP
NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed on February 12, 1909. It's purpose was to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. On July 26, 1948, President Truman passed Executive Order 9981. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Brown vs. Board of Education symbolized the turning point in the history of race relations in the United States of America. On this day, the news of the unanimous ruling in this civil rights case was delivered. This decision marked the end of African Americans and whites being "seperate but equal." -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, born in 1913, was a Civil Rights Activist. On December 1st, after a hard day of work, Rosa boarded a bus and sat in one of the seats designated fpr "colored" people. However, that day, there were white citizens on the bus who had to stand, so the bus driver asked four "colored" people to please give up their seats, and Rosa refused. The police arrested her at the scene, all because she was tired of not being treated equal. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This is regarded as the first largescale demonstration against segregation in the United States. This occured 4 days after Rosa Park's arrest and lasted 381 days, ending on December 20, 1956. Therefore, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montogomery to integrate it's bus system. One of the leaders of the boycott was Martin Luther King Jr, who later became an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement. -
SCLC
SCLC stands for Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was formed on January 10, 1957. This organization is an African-American civil rights organization and it's first president, Martin Luther King Jr., was closely associated with it. The SCLC played a major role in the American Civil Rights Movement. This event followed the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Sit-ins
On April 1, 1960, four African American students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat at a counter and asked to be served, even though the counter was for whites only. They sat and refusted to get up until they were either served or forced out by the closing of the store later that night. This was known as a sit-in. This happened more than once all over the country. If they were hit, they couldn't hit back. If they were taunted, they remained quiet. -
Freedom Riders
On this day, a racially mixed group called Freedom Riders, departed Washington D.C., heading for New Orleans. Whenever the Riders stopped along the trip, they were met with protests and violence. People threw stones at the buses and the tires were slashed. They never made it to New Orleans, and more than 300 people were arrested along the way. They did succeed, however, in raising awareness for civil rights. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr, born on January 15, 1929, was a Civil Rights Avctivist. He played a pertinent role in ending segragation throughout the United States. He was assassinated in April 1968, but was not assassinated before he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. He organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott and by 1960 he was gaining national notoriety. His speech moved America. -
A. Philip Randolph
Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the African-American civil-rights movement. When Congress was asked by President Truman for a peacetime draft law, Randolph wanted young black men not to register. When Truman needed the support of the growing black population up north, so in 1948 he abolished racial segregation in the armed forces. He helped form the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 1950. He organized and led the March on Washington in 1963. -
March On Washington
On this day, 250,000 people gathered for a peaceful demonstration to promote Civil Rights and economic equality for African Americans. Participants walked down Constitution and Independence avenues on this day. This day was the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclomation and listened to the memorable "I Have a Dream" speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, and sex. The bill started with President Kennedy, who was assassinated, and the next President, Lyndon B. Johnson, immediately took up the cause. Johnson signed it into law on July 2, 1964. This act paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. -
Malcom X
Malcom Little, or Malcolm X as he came to be known as, was an African American Muslim minsiter and a human rights activist. At the age of 6, Malcom's father was killed by white racists and a few years later his mother was placed in a mental hospital leaving him orphaned. After the eighth grade, Malcolm dropped out of school and headed for a life of crime. He became known as the "Detroit Red." He was assassinated on February 21, 1965 and became known as a Civil Rights hero. -
Black Panther
The Black Panther party was a black revolutionary socialist organization active in the US from 1966-1982. It initially set forth a doctrin calling primarily for the protection of black neighborhoods from police brutality. In 1967, the BPP marched on California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a selevtive ban on weapons. By 1968, the party had expanded throughout many cities in the US. This party became an icon of the counter culture of the 1960s. -
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and name for various associated ideologies aimed at achieving self-determination for people of African Black descent. The movement was effective in the late 60s and early 70s emphasizing racial pride and a creation of a black political system. On the 29th of October in 1966, Stokely Carmichael gave a speech that brought the concept of Black Power into the spotlight. All they wanted was to obtain equality with white people.
