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Lynching of Jesse Washington
The lynching of Washington happened in Waco, Texas during Jim Crow.
It was a horrific moment becasue an innocent, 17 year-old kid with mental disabilities was accused of killing a white woman.
He was convicted in under 4 minutes and handed over by the police to a mob, which lynched him for hours. Meanwhile 15,000 to 20,000 were watching this happen. They hung him, stabbed him and burned him alive.
This is an example of how African Americans were treated, specially in the Jim Crow south. -
Scottsboro boys
The case of the Scottsboro boys started in Alabama, when 2 white men started a fight with 9 African Americans in a train. The 2 white men ended up being kicked off the train, and later 2 white young women who were riding the train falsely accused them of sexual assault.
8 of the 9 boys were sentenced to death, by an all white-jury having NO evidence. Protests emerged and they changed their sentence to serving time in jail.
This case shows how a clear violation of the 6th and 14th ammendment. -
1st mission of the Tuskegee Airmen
This was a huge step to pave the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American pilots in the United States.
Their amazing performance in WWII and incredibly low rate of death within the unit, made them the best pilots at the time. They used this to show the country that African Americans were successfully fighting for their country.
They were highly decorated veterans, and ultimately led to the desegregation of the U.S. military. -
Desegregation of the U.S. military
In July 26th of 1948, the United States president gave the Executive Order 9981.
This order prohibited segregation within the U.S. armed forces, it established an advisory committee to review the rules and procedures of the army and directed federal agencies to work with the advisory committee.
Initially this order was resisted, but after the Korean War almost all the military was integrated. This was a significant social and legal change for American society and recognizing African Americans. -
Brown v. Bar of Education
The case “Brown v. Board of education” happened between December 9, 1952 and May 14, 1954.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This supposed a legal and economic change, because it allowed African Americans to attend better schools, being supported by the law and having better opportunities.
As you can see in the graph the amount of black people going to mostly white schools increases exponentially. -
Emmett Till’s murder
On August 28th of 1955, the 14 year-old boy Emmett Till was murdered by two white men because he allegedly whistled to a white woman in a store.
He was kidnapped in his cousin’s house and then brutally murdered by the women’s husband and brother-in-law. They beat, shot and then threw his body to the Tallahatchie river.
In his funeral his mother kept the casket open so “America could see what they had done to her baby”.
This murder inspired African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, an African American woman denied a white men to take her seat and she got arrested.
This was the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where African Americans (being the largest group riding buses) wouldn’t take the bus to bankrupt the city of Montgomery.
In 1956, the Supreme Court declared Montgomery’s segregation laws unconstitutional, and the boycott was successful and brought national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. -
Little Rock Nine
This event occurred in Little Rock, Arkansas. Where 9 African American teenagers decided to attend an all-white school after 3 years of school desegregation laws, reinforcing their rights.
They faced resistance from local mobs, state authorities and even parents.
The U.S. president Eisenhower, sent the Airborne Division to protect the 9 African American students, while they were attending that school.
This was a huge social change, and the Little Rock Nine were supported by the U.S. president. -
Greensboro Sit-in
Greensboro four, were the first African American students that did a sit-in campaign.
Ezell, David, Franklin and Joseph on February 1st of 1960, went into a lunch counter where their policy didn’t allow serving non-white people.
They refused to give up their sits even though they weren’t being served, and remained peaceful.
This led to the “Sit-in Campaigns”, that represented a social and even legal change, because of the modifications in lunch counter’s policies. -
Greensboro Sit-in
Sit-in campaigns received a lot of resistance from regular citizens. The students participating in the sit-ins were harassed and sometimes even physically abused. -
African Americans become more educated
The enrollment in Ole Miss of James Meredith, supposed a huge change for African Americans, and not only them but society. It encouraged black people to attend college, get better educated and raise their quality of life, being also an economic change for the American society. In the chart you can see the increase of African Americans attending college after the Civil Rights Movement. -
Enrollment of James Meredith in Ole Miss
James Meredith was the first African American to ever attend Ole Miss. The state of Mississippi heavenly prevented him to be admitted, but after a court battle the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he should attend Ole Miss.
Riots broke out in campus because of this and there were two deaths. President Kennedy sent 31,000 National Guardsmen to protect Meredith and put order in Ole Miss.
Meredith reinforced his right given by the Brown v. Board of Education case, and encouraged many others to do so. -
Children’s crusade
The peaceful march in Birmingham, Alabama quickly became known as the Children’s Crusade.
It was an incredible social change because it opened the eyes of the moderate white. Through their television they saw children getting beaten and abused by the authorities. The strategy that MLK used was very successful, because it had a huge impact on the nation. The marchers faced resistance by the police like: using police dogs, using the firefighting hoses, etc… Which led to a national awakening. -
March on Washington
The 1963 March on Washington D.C. for Jobs and Freedom, approximately drew 250,000 people to the march, and MLK gave his famous speech “I have a dream”. Most of the people who joined this march were motivated by having equal job opportunities, as shown in the graph. MLK gave his speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the man who freed the slaves, claiming that they hadn’t been freed.
The march on Washington became one of the most significant events in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civl Rights Act of 1964, was a huge step towards racial and gender equality in the U.S.
It prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal.
This was social, legal and economic change because it increased opportunities to suppressed groups in the U.S. Now the law was the shield against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. -
Bloody Sunday
The 1965 non-violent Selma March, had as its purpose to vote and protest against the intimidation that African Americans suffered in the South, when attempting to vote peacefully. They didn’t use any sort of violence in any moment.
This event had an incredible impact on the American people, it drew so much attention to the Civil Rights Movement. It was a social change, as it continued to open the eyes of the moderate white and show America how bad they were treating African Americans. -
Bloody Sunday’s resistance
The African Americans marching found resistance by the authorities, mobs and civilians.
They were met at the end of the bridge by police officers on horsebacks, armed with police batons and even baseball bats with wire wrapped around it.
They were met with extreme violence and chased down the bridge when they refused to stop their march.
In the graph you can observe the overwhelming support the Civil Rights groups got after the Selma march, even from white citizens. -
Black panther party founding
The Black Panther Party founding in 1966, was meant to protect African Americans from police physical abuse and care for “their” people, embracing Black Power. They caused the white moderate support for the Civil Rights movement to decrease to hopeless amounts.
They used a very conflicting approach, as most people felt threatened. Because of this they faced resistance, mainly from the authorities. They were considered as a threat, and that caused a social change, altering people’s opinions. -
1st African American president: Barack Obama
Barack Obama was the 44th U.S. president, he was the president form 2009-2017. He is the representation of the impact the Civil Rights movement had in the «long-term», without the movement and all the efforts to pass laws, acts, etc… he wouldn’t have been able to be the president. He was the first African American U.S. president, and maybe in the future the U.S. will have a full African American president. There is that possibility thanks to the social, legal and economic changes.