-
Schools are Unsegregated
In 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public education was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This allowed African American students to go to school with white children. -
Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott Begins
The bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama started when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to white passengers and move to the back of the bus. -
Period: to
Predominantly African American Cities Swept With Violence
During the 1960's predominantly African American cities got swept with bursts of violence. They were caused by simple things--police insensitivity and brutality, inadequate educational and recreational facilities, high unemployment, poor housing, and high prices. Most outbreaks were unplanned. The fighting that took place was mostly between young African Americans and police. -
Greensboro, North Carolina Sit Ins Start
In February 1960, 4 black college students sat down at a segregated lunch counter in Greesboro, North Carolina and asked to be served. They were refused service, but they refused to leave. Within days, more than 50 students were doing the same thing, and within weeks, the movement spread to other campuses. -
John F. Kennedy Becomes President
When President John F. Kennedy became president African American throughout the South weren't allowed to vote, were banned from public buildings, were subjected to insults and violence, and couldn't expect justice from the court. -
Freedom Rides
In May 1961, James Farmer organized Freedom Rides to defy segregation. Freedom Riders were arrested in North Carolina and beaten in South Carolina. In Alabama, a bus was burned and the riders attacked with baseball bats and tire irons. -
"Ole Miss" Riot
In 1962, James H. Meredith Jr., an African American Air Force Veteran, was denied admission to the University of Mississippi, known as "Ole Miss," four times. When federal marshals accompanied Meredith to campus in another attempt to register for classes, rioting erupted. Two people died and dozens were injured. President Kennedy sent federal troops to the campus. Meredith registered the next day and attended his first class, and segregation ended at the University of Mississippi. -
Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter From Birmingham Jail"
Int he spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth launched a campaign of mass protests in Birmingham, Alabama, which King called the most segregated city in America. On Good Friday, King was arrested and spent a week behind bars, where he wrote one of his most famous meditations on racial injustice and civil disobedience, "Letter from Birmingham Jail." -
Civil Rights Legislation Submitted to the Congress
Governor George Wallace had stood in the schoolhouse door to stop two African American students from entering. On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy addressed America. He announced the major civil rights legislation would be submitted to the Congress to guarantee equal access to public facilities, to end segregation in education, and to provide federal protection of the right to vote. -
March On Washington
At a protest march organized by Randolph and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin King addressed the throng of some 250,000 demonstrators gathered on the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial. The march helped secure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbade discrimination in voting, public accommodations, and employment and permitted the attorney general of the United States to deny federal funds to local agencies that practiced discrimination. -
John F. Kennedy is Assassinated.
The Civil Rights Bill was on it's way to being passed. It was not passed before John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson had the bill passed as a way of honoring John F. Kennedy. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Tennessee on Wednesday, April 3rd to prepare for a march the following Monday, but he was assassinated by James Earl Ray, a white criminal.
