-
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Brown vs. Board of Education case is now known as the greatest Supreme Court decision in the twentieth century. They all agreed that racial segregation of children in public schools was against the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision did not fully succeed in desegregating schools in the United States, but it did prove that the Constitution was on the side for racial equality which pushed the civil rights movement into full revolution. -
The Murder of Emmett Till
Fourteen year old Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot, and dumped into the Tallahatchie River on August 28th 1955. The two white males, John W. Milam and Roy Bryant, committed this vicious crime because Emmett was accused of whistling at a white woman. Both men were arrested for the murder, but soon acquitted by an all-white jury. This whole horrible incident, including the trail, shook the conscience of the nation and helped sparked the movement for civil rights for black Americans. -
Rosa Parks
On this date, NAACP member Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white male which disobeyed a southern custom at this time. In response to her arrest, the black community of Montgomery launched a bus boycott that lasted until buses were desegregated a year later. Newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., played a important role in leading the boycott. -
Martin Luther King Jailed
During an anti-segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King was arrested as well as jailed. Whiled jailed, Martin Luther King wrote his notorious address, "Letter from Birmingham Jail". This letter argued about the fact that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unfair laws. -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
In Birmingham, Alabama four young girls named Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins were killed from a bomb exploding at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. This particular church was known as a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots soon broke out in Birmingham which led to the deaths of two more black youths. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
On this date, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibited discrimination against all kinds based on color, race, religion, or national origin. This law also gave the federal government the power to enforce desegregation. -
Malcolm X Murdered
In Washington Heights, New York Malcolm X, black nationalist and original founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, was shot to death. It is believed that the assassins were members of Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm abandoned in favor of Orthodox Islam. Others believed that the government was involved. This tragic event affected the people fighting for equal rights because so many of them looked up to Malcolm. -
Martin Luther King Assassinated
At age thirty-nine, Martin Luther King was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. Escaped criminal and dedicated racist James Earl Ray was convicted of the crime. The aftermath of his death angered black Americans all around the nation and sparked rioting in more than 100 cities.
