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The Supreme Court made a statement that separating children in public schools due to their race was unconstitutional. This was due to Linda Brown being refused admittance to a whites - only school because she was African American in Topeka, Kansas. It was known to be end of legalized of segregation in the schools of the U.S. -
The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought attention all over the nations to the racial violence and injustice widespread in Money, Mississippi. While visiting his relatives in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins, and whistled at Carolyn Bryant. Her husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. -
The event that triggered the boycott was in Money, Montgomery after Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white passenger on a city bus. Local laws dictated that African American passengers sat at the back of the bus while whites sat in front. If the white section became full, African Americans had to give up their seats in the back. When Parks refused to move to give her seat to a white, she was taken to jail; she was later bailed out by a local civil rights leader. -
The SCLC was an organization linked to the black churches. 60 black ministers at Atlanta, Georgia were pivotal in organizing civil right activism. Martin Luther King Jr was elected President. They focused its non violent strategy on citizenship, schools and efforts to desegregate individual cities. It played key roles in the March on Washington in 1963 and the Voting Rights Campaign and March to Montgomery in 1965. -
Little Rock Nine, group of African American high-school students who challenged racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. The group became the focus of the struggle to desegregate public schools in the United States, especially in the South. The events that followed their entry in Little Rock Central High School caused intense national debate about racial segregation and civil rights. -
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights where some young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. It soon spread to college towns throughout the South. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing or disturbed the peace, they made an immediate impact, forcing Woolworth’s and other establishments to change their segregationist policies. -
When Ruby was in kindergarten, she moved to New Orleans and was chosen to take a test to determine if she could attend an all-white school. This was due to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. The Board of Education which ordered all schools to desegregate. Ruby was one of six students to pass the test and her parents decided to send her to an all-white elementary school to receive a better education. Ruby had paved the way for other African American children! -
In Washington, D.C, six of the riders boarded a Greyhound bus and seven took a Trailways bus, planning to ride to New Orleans. The riders knew they would face racial terms, violence, and possibly death. They hoped to have courage to face the trial nonviolently in their fight for equality. -
This event had more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, DC, to demand equal rights for all races. It was there that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. It was this peaceful protest that grew the importance of civil rights laws in the mid-1960s. -
Signed by President Johnson in the White House, the act prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Factories of this civil rights act refused discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. It prohibited discrimination in public spaces and federally funded programs. It strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools. -
An important African American activist and leader in the Nation of Islam, was assassinated on February 21, 1965, during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Three members of the Nation of Islam declared of his murder, though there have been processed debates about whether others were involved. His assassination marked a turning point in the civil rights movement, as his views on racial justice and self-determination left a lasting legacy. -
They were a series of protest marches in 1965, meant to restore voting rights for African Americans in the South. On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, state troopers and local law enforcement violently attacked peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, sparking national outrage. The brutality led to widespread support for the movement, coming to a climax in the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a law that made it illegal to deny people the right to vote based on their race. It stopped unfair voting practices like literacy tests and poll taxes, especially in the South. The law helped more African Americans vote and played a key role in fighting racism and promoting equal rights. -
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a leader in the fight for civil rights and was known for his peaceful protests against racism and injustice. His death shocked the world, but his legacy of promoting equality and nonviolence continues to inspire people today.