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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
On May 17th, Thurgood Marshall began focusing on the nations elementary and high schools. To move against the segregated school, the NAACP needed a case. The Supreme Court combined the Briggs and Brown case and several others around the country, to be known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Supreme Court’s decision agreed that segregated schools are a violation of the Constitution. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested. The NAACP saw this as an opportunity and started the Montgomery bus boycott. Most of all the African Americans walk or car pooled to places and refused to take the buses, this event lasted for 381 days until the Supreme Court issued that segregation on buses was unconstitutional. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were the first nine African American students to attend Central High. On September 4, 1957 an angry white mob harassed the nine students as they tried to enter Central High. With angry mobs, Orval Faubus sent state troops to stop Little Rock Nine. Soon President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to escort the nine into Central High. -
Greensboro, North Carolina
In Greensboro, North Carolina, 4 African American college students entered a lunch counter waiting to be served. The sit-in lasted all the way till closing time, the next day more protesters joined in with increasing numbers each day. The sit-in tactic spread across over 50 southern cities with the SNCC conducting their nonviolent protests. -
Freedom Riders
On May 4, 1961 13 volunteers left Washington D.C inbound for southern states. They experienced mild harassment. On May 14 the buses were swarmed by a mob. The mob had beaten the Freedom Riders and firebombed the bus. Another Ride bound for Birmingham was attacked by a mob with bats and pipes. -
Albany Movement
500 protestors had been jailed and local black leaders brought attention to the situation. This campaign was called the Albany Movement. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been arrested for leading the march towards the city hall. He refused to pay his fine, but was later set free by order of police chief Laurie Prichett. -
Birmingham Movement
Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. led a nonviolent marches and sit-in on April 1963. On April 12 King and hundreds were arrested and jailed, when King got out, he needed the help of children to take part in the movement. Soon Bull Conner used police dogs and firefighter hoses to break up the protesters. -
Medgar Evers
Just hours after John F. Kennedy had been shot, head of NAACP Medgar Evers was shot dead in his front yard. Evers was a very highly valued asset of the Movement. Evers's death shocked many Americans. Police arrested Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member Byron De La Beckwith. His first 2 trails failed to reach a verdict. -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, Kennedy called for a civil rights law, with African American leaders to decide the demands. This was the largest civil rights demonstration with more than over 200,000 people of all races at the Lincoln Memorial. This was where African American leaders gave their speech, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. -
24th Amendment
Congress passed the 24th amendment after having it ratified by the states. This banned states from taxing citizens to vote for presidential elections or congress. Often the poll taxes affected African Americans because they could not afford to vote. Only being able to vote for presidential or congressional elections, it still gave hope that things would change. -
Freedom Summer
First 200 volunteer arrived in Mississippi on June 20, 1964. The next day one of the volunteers went missing. Andrew Goodman and 2 CORE members James Chaney and Michael Schwerner went to inspect an African American church that was bombed. The men were arrested for speeding and after paying the fine they had not been seen again. -
Selma March
January 1965 King had began a campaign for voting rights and organized marches in Selma, Alabama. By the end of January, 2,000 marchers had been arrested. Police acted with restraint and did not give King the confrontation he was seeking. He forced the police to jail him and others. Police finally fired tear gas and beat the marchers. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A week after the Selma movement President Lyndon B. Johnson gave a speech and passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Many civil rights figures attended the signing on August 6, 1965. The law gave the federal government powerful tools which broke down barriers towards African American voting rights. -
Black Panther Party
Black Power appealed to many young African Americans. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale had been inspired by this idea of Black Power in which they founded the group called the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. They called for a violent revolution as a means for liberation. -
Poor People Campaign
Martin Luther King Jr. believed that what also affected African Americans from achieving their goals was that they were to poor. So King came up with the Poor People Campaign to not only help African Americans, but all races. King was assassinated before this campaign and could take action, so the task fell to the head of SCLC, Ralph Abernathy.
