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After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Civil Rights leaders banded together in Atlanta, GA to expand the Mongomery Improvement Association (MIA) into the SCLC. It was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and was an alliance of church-based African American organizations dedicated to ending discrimination. -
The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in facilities that served interstate travelers was illegal. Integrated groups sent by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) went on bus trips through the south and aimed to draw attention to violations of the Supreme Court rulings. In Anniston, Alabama, white mobs fire bombed one of the two buses and beat the activists who tried to escape. The other bus was attacked in Birmingham, Alabama.
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African American leaders organized a march to Washington DC to support the Civil Rights Movement. More than 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. A. Philip Randolph, John Lewis, and Rabbi Joachim Prinz participated in making speeches. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the final speech; the highlight of his career. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the House of Representatives and was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson. The act banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and place of origin. It also outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and gave the Justice Department the authority to bring lawsuits to enforce school desegregation. -
Of Selma, AL's 15,000 eligible African Americans, only 383 were registered voters. Those who attempted to register were beaten and arrested. Civil Rights leaders called to protest from Selma to Montgomery but were banned by the governor. 600 people trekked anyway and were attacked by the police. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which put the entire registration process under federal control