Civil Rights Movement

Plessy v Ferguson

Jan 1, 1896

First Website LinkThis was a United States supreme court decision that supported racial differences for railroad transportation. This would involve colored and white people to be placed in seperate train cars. A good handful of African Americans would actually ignore the laws and go into the train cars they not aloud to. The worst part of this decison was that this actually went against the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. This had the government requiring a change.

Congress of Racial Equality

Mar 1, 1942

First Primary Source Founded by anti-racial students from Chicago-Bernice Fisher, this Civil Rights movement act seeked to change racial attitudes for good. Ever since they started expansion they have been going public with their actions like providing educational activities and sometimes experimenting, for example when they took eight blacks and eight whites to the South to test a Supreme court interstate travel ruling regarding segregation. They got four writers arrested.

Jackie Robinson

Jan 1, 1947

<a href='' >http://goo.gl/MdMEYp</a> The Dodgers baseball team decided to take part in the Civil Rights Movement and break the color barrier in baseball. They needed a great athlete and someone who could take the hate, so Robinson was chosen. He was instantly a great player and would always give the team wins. But of course, he had to deal with fans and even is own teamates giving him death threats. In the end he got rid of racism in sports. Then he spoke out about his opinion on racism

Sweatt v Painter

Jan 1, 1950

[Second Primary Source](' ><a href='<a href='http://goo.gl/iDNrEM)' This was a case very similar to the Plessy v Ferguson case. This all started because of a black man named Heman Marion Sweatt who was denied access to a University in Texas. This happened because no law school in Texas would accept "negro" students. This case lasted for quite some time, Which led the state getting time to create a seperate, only for blacks, college and law school. When this reached Supreme Court, they said the school failed to qualify.

The Cases

Period: Jan 1, 1950 to Jan 1, 1954

Brown v Board of Education

Jan 1, 1954

<a href='' >http://goo.gl/ZCpuu9</a> It is now known as one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in history. This surrounded the whole situation of racial segregation in public schools. They held that this seperation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. These hearings influenced Civil Rights groups to create challenges for racial segregation. Many believe that the Brown v Board didn't start the modern Civil Rights Movement but did make a watershedmoment

Medger Evers

Mar 21, 1954

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Medger Evers was born in 1925 and in 1954 when he was rejected from college because of his race, he became the Field-secretary of the NAACP in mississipi. After that, he began organizing demonstration and boy-cotting componies that were segregated. He was assassinate in 1963.

Montgomery bus boycott

Dec 1, 1955

[Third Primary Source](' ><a href='<a href='http://goo.gl/3Z6yxq)' > This movement was a political and social protest campaign against racial segregation involving the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama. This campaign had many events that, once again, brought up the attention of the Supreme Court. For axample, Rosa Parks getting arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person. This campaign did succeed by a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, that took effect and declared the segrgation unconstitional.

"The Southern Manifesto"

Feb 1, 1956

thingy<a href='' ></a> The Southern Manifesto was a document written in the United States Congress that actually was against racial integration. This, of course, all came from the South and was signed by mostly Democrats from southern states. They started blaming Supreme Court for abuse of judicial power. They even went as far as claiming that the tenth amendment of the United States should limit the power the Supreme Court has on getting involved with public issues.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Jan 10, 1957

Fourth Primary Source The Montgomery bus boycott was a huge step in the Civil Rights Movement because it told all of Black America to start fighting for their freedom and create strikes and boycotts all across the South. So the these protests would not get too out of hand, the protest groups created a regional organization which became known as the Southern Leadership Confrence. Also they said civil rights are essential to democracy.

Little Rock - Central High School

Sep 23, 1957

<a href='' >http://goo.gl/59Qxqb</a> This school is mostly known for being home of the strike Little Rock Nine. This involved four African American students that were enrolled in this school to attend when they were not allowed to. Now, the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, sectretly did support disegregation but his own southern Democrat party did not, thus he made it hard on the nine. After that school year the schools in the southern area, decided to shut down rather than integrate.

Greensboro sit-in

Feb 1, 1960

<a href='' >http://goo.gl/ppPRWa</a> This event was a series of non-violent protests which would hopefully stop racial sgregation. These protests obviously took place in Greensboro, North Carolina and most importantly got the attention of the government. The noise they made wanting freedom, even went as far as President Eisenhower publicly saying that he was felt bad for them and that they could enjoy their freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. This eventually to the creation of the SNCC.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Apr 1, 1960

<a href='' >https://goo.gl/So7zZL</a> This was another anti-racial segregation organization that started making their point heard from the start with a strike called the Freedom Riders. These involved people who supported racial segregation to ride buses through the South and see who would ignore the Federal Laws. One of their goals was to make colored people register for voting, it was very risky but would really get everyone's attention. It did, and got the Kennedy Administration involved.

"Freedom Rides"

May 4, 1961

First Image These strikes consisted of buses filled with many Civil Rights Activists testing who would disobey the federal laws. The KKK was, of course, the main groups of people who were attacking the buses passengers. When these rides reached the point of national attention, Kennedy suggested a "cooling off period". He said that these rides were embarrsing for the nation during the height of the cold war, but the CORE, SNCC, and SCLC rejected this.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Jan 23, 1962

The Twenty-Fourth Amendment declares that anyone can vote even if they cant pay the poll-tax. This allowed low-income citizens that would otherwise note vote, too vote.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Mar 21, 1963

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested on Friday, for violating a Court order that would prevent him from marching in Birmingham without a permit. His goal was to de-segregate the city of Birmingham: a city known for its extreme racism.

March on Washington

Aug 28, 1963

history.com
The March on Washington was organized by several Equal-rights groups and was designed to reflect upon the Civil rights Act, and to emphasize the equality that African Americans should recieve. This is where Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. gave his famous "I have a Dream" speech.

Bombing of Birmingham Church

Sep 15, 1963

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At 10:22 a bomb was detonated at the churches east side. The cause of the attack was the mandetory segregation of Birmingham, and was carried out by local KKK members. 4 children died in the attack. Those involved were not brought to justice for over 20 years. Edgar Hoover, who was the head of the FBI, had details on who carried out the attack by 1965. However, he kept it a secret since he didnt support the Equal-Rights movement.

Civil Rights Act passed

Mar 21, 1964

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The civil rights act states that you cant descriminate against any individual based on color, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. This was a major step and a glorious victory for Equal-Rights activists.

Malcom X assassination

Feb 21, 1965

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The "X" in his name refers to the African identity tt was stolen from him. For some time, he was a strong supporter of the Nation of Islam organizaion. they preached that anyone of European decent was evil and were strong supporters of segregation. After his journey to Meka, he was enlightened and upon his arrival back to America, he preached that Racism was the greatest threat to Arican Americans, not whites.

James Meredith

Jun 6, 1966

<a href='' >http://goo.gl/960o4J</a> Meredith, in the beginning, he wanted to highlight the racial segregation in the Mississippi Delta. So he set up a March against fear. It was all lead by him, and he only let black men join him. He was also trying to give black people the passion to get into voting. The governor promised to allow the march and actually provide securuity. In the end, it became the largest state March state history, and succeded in getting blacks in the political system.

King Assassinated

Apr 4, 1968

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Dr. King was 39 when he was killed by a sniper; an scaped convict named James Earl Ray. Dr. king was in his second story hotel room preparing to go to dinner whe he was shot. Apparently, King was in Memphis, Tennessee to organize a march for poorly paid sanitation workers.