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Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy was an African American man, who sat in a white train car. He was asked to move, but he refused. The police came and arrested him. Plessy brought his case to the Surpreme Court. They voted 7 to 1, saying that Louisiana did not violate the 14th amendment. This soon lead more states in the South to use the “separate but equal” segregation. It started being used more widely because the federal government could not intervene.
* Date based on the aresst of Homer Plessy, and not the court date -
Brown v. Board of Education
It was a Supreme Court case, that ruled that state laws that had separate schools for African Americans and whites was considered unconstitutional. As a result de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the 14th amendment. -
Emmett Till's death
Emmett Till was a African American boy from Chicago and he was visiting his relatives in Mississippi. He was dared by some of his friends to say "Hi", to a white girl, and he did. The girls father later, picked up Emmett from his house and murdered him, dumping his body in the river. Till’s murderers were taken to court and found not guilty. This shock the foundation of Mississippi, both African American and white. Racism was getting to a point, where not even a child was safe. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks refused to move out of the white section of the bus, and was later arrested. African Americans began to boycott the buses, by not riding on them. They represented 2/3 of the buses business. A law was later passed saying that there should not be any kind of special seating on buses.- Date based on the arrest of Rosa Parks, and not the timespan of the boycott.
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Little Rock School Desegregation
Nine African American kids were being integrated into an all white school. The parents of the school, did not like the idea, so they began to protest. The mayor sent the National Guard, to stop them from entering the school. Once the presidnet caught wind of it, he sent in the 101st Airborne Division and the U.S Army, to make sure they made it to the building alive. It was a big moment for the Civil Rights Movement, because,it was the first African American to graduate from an integrated school -
Sit-ins in Greensboro
African American’s started sitting in a white section at a lunch counter. Police would escorted them out or arrest them. It soon lead to sit-ins in Nashville. This lead to the de-segregation of lunch counters. -
March on Birmingham
Martin Luther King went to the most segregated town in the South, Birmingham, Alabama. He organized kids to protest on the streets of Birmingham. The chief of security, told the firefighters to spray the kids with high pressure hoses, and the police to use their attack dogs. Martin made a deal with the city of Birmingham, to start to desegregate the town, that include lunch counters, water fountains and fitting rooms. -
March on Washington
African Americans from all over meet in Washington DC, to put pressure on lawmakers to pass the bill to end legal segregation. Thousands gathered at the Lincoln memorial, and listened to Martin Luther King deliver his "I have a dream" speech. The rally worked, lawmakers passed a bill ending legal segregation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawed major forms of discrimination against race, ethnic, minorities, and women. -
March on Selma
Protesters marched from Selma Alabama to Montgomery, to protest their voting rights. The people in Selma refused to register African americans as voters. They attempted 3 times to march to Montgomery and they made it on the third try, while being escorted by the U.S. army and National Guard. In the first two attempts to march, the local police violently beat the protesters, and pictures of it were shown around the world. This encouraged Lyndon b. Johnson to later pass the Voting Rights Act. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act is a piece of national legislation that outlawed discriminatory voting practices. The act prohibited a state from imposing a sort of voting qualification or to deny a person based on their color. African Americans now had the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
It was a bill that was signed to prohibit discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. People now had equal housing opportunities, regardless of race, creed, or national origin.
