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Civil RIghts Events
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Emmett Till Killed
Emmett Till, a black boy from chicago, was killed in Money Mississippi after speaking what was percieved as disrespectfully to a white woman. The Funeral that was later held revealed just a small bit of the aggressive racism the was constantly happening at the time. -
Rosa Parks Arrested
Rosa parks was arrested after not giving up her seat at the front of a bus to a white person. The arrest prompted the black community to form a bus boycott which lasted until December 21st the next year when the buses became desegregated. -
Busses Desegregated
Busses desegregated after having been boycotted prior to Rosa Park's arrest. -
Black Kids Attend Central High School
Nine black students attend the formerly all white Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. After the Arkansas governor prevented them from entering, President Eisenhower sent federal troops to guard the students. School was postponed and resumed on September 23 when police escorted the students into the school. Nearly 1,000 people surrounded the shcool and the students were withdrawn at noon in fear of the crowd overtaking the police. -
Black Students Start Sit-in's
Four university students sit-in at a diner where they are refused service. Soon many other sit-ins take place throughout the south and it helps to desegregate many things like pools, theaters, and other public domains. -
MLK Arrested
Martin Luther King is arrested and writes letters from jail responding to criticism from local religious leaders. -
I Have a Dream Speech
250,000 people march through Washington to the Lincoln Memorial and hear MLK's 'I have a dream" speech. -
Freedom Riders Take Flight
Huge efforts are made in what is dubbed "The Freedom Summer" to attempt to register large numbers of black voters in the south. One of the first groups of volunteer students on the way to the south get their bus set on fire at one of their stops. -
Bloody Sunday March
Blacks march from Selma to Montgomery for the purpose of voting rights. They are soon stopped though at the Edmund Pettus bridge where police have set up a blockade. The crowd is attacked with billy clubs, tear gas, and bull whips. Three networks broadcast footage from the event, revealing to the nation the extreme violence and racism taking place in the south. -
Congress Passes Voting Rights Act
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act which makes all restrictions imposed on the blacks voting rights at the time illegal.
