-
Plessy vs. Ferguson
An African-American train passenger refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking the law. He felt that it was unconstitutional to segregate but the court disagreed, saying that legal distinction between whites and blacks is not violation of the 13th or 14th amendments. -
Formation of NAACP
NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It focused on legal strategies designed to confront the critical civil rights issues. They organized events like the March on Washington and were very involved with civil rights movements. -
Malcolm X leads the Nation of Islam
After a traumatic experience with the Ku Klux Klan, he began to disgrace whites. This is when he then considered himself Islamic. He was a changed man with a new identity. Believing his true lineage to be lost when his ancestors were forced into slavery, he took the last name of a variable: X. -
Brown vs. BOE of Topeka
It overturned the provisions of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, which allowed for separate but equal public facilities like schools. This helped "break the back" of state-sponsored segregation, and got the civil rights movement going. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African-Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. It started when Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving her seat up on the bus for a white man. The Supreme Court then ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. -
Formation of SCLC
SCLC stands for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This is an African-American civil rights organization. Their goal was to coordinate the local protest groups throughout the south. They were under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. -
Integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Nine black students enrolled at formerly all-white high school since all public schools were now supposed to be integrated. On the first day of classes Governor Orval Faubus called in the state National Guard to bar the black students’ entry into the school. Later, Eisenhower sent in troops to escort the students safely into the school and they started their first day of classes on September 25th. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
This was the first occasion since Reconstruction that the government took legislative action to protect civil rights. It also created a six-member U.S. Civil Rights Commission charged with investigating allegations of voter infringement and signaled a growing federal commitment the cause of civil rights. -
Greensboro Sit-in
A lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina was still segregated, causing a protest by African Americans. They all decided to go to the place and sit inside, despite that it was segregated. Although some were arrested for doing it, the point was made and had lasting effects of integration. -
Formation of SNCC
SNCC stands for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. Their purpose is to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movements. They also encouraged people to look beyond integration and more into social change. -
Boynton vs. Virginia
This was a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only". They said the racial segregation in public transportation was illegal. This forbade discrimination in interstate passenger transportation. -
First Freedom Ride
13 African American and white civil rights activists launched a series of bus rides through the south to protest segregation. As they went on the rides through the south, they tried to get cities to become integrated. -
James Meredith enrolls in Ole Miss
An African American man wanted to enroll and the University of Mississippi. This caused riots with two people dying and hundreds arrested. -
Birmingham Protests
This was the beginning of a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches, and boycotts on downtown merchants to protest segregation laws. The peaceful protesting turned violent and is a major turning point in the civil rights movement. -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington D.C. for a political rally for jobs and freedom. It was designed to show the political and social changes blacks faced across the country. The march culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. -
24th Amendment Passed
This amendment outlawed the poll tax as a voting requirement in federal elections. This was outlawed at a vote of 295 to 86. There were five states, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. -
Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer was a voter registration drive. The purpose was to dramatically increase voter registration in Mississippi. This upset the Ku Klux Klan, some of the police officers, and state and local authorities, causing an outbreak and the deaths of 3 people. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. It also ended the unequal voter applications for elections for all people. This act got much stronger as time went on and guaranteed all citizens equal protection. -
Malcolm X Assassinated
In New York City, Malcolm X was assassinated by a group of Black Muslims. This occurred while he was addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. -
Selma March
They wanted to register black voters in the south. The protesters finally achieved their goal, walking around the clock for three days to reach Montgomery. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The efforts of this were to break the grip of state disfranchisement. Acts of violence and terrorism were included. State troopers attacked on peaceful marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, -
Black Panthers Founded
A political party that the African Americans founded to patrol the neighborhoods and protect them from the police that may have wanted to harm them. -
MLK Jr. Assassinated
He was shot by James Ray at a Memphis hotel. This led to much more violence and angry black Americans. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Wanted to give equal housing to all people, despite their race, religion, sex, or national origin. The bill was the subject of a contentious debate in the Senate, but was passed quickly by the House of Representatives -
Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated
Fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel shortly after winning the presidential primaries in California.
