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Brown v Board of Education
Supreme court ruling that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional even if the segregated schools are equal. -
White Citizens Council
The WCC was a white-only organization that opposed the integration of schools. -
Brown v Board of Education ||
While the original Brown court case decided that separate but equal schools were unlawful, this Brown case decided that the schools should be integrated with a rapid pace. -
Lynching of Emmett Till
Emmett Till went down to Mississippi to visit his uncle's family from Chicago and was accused of offending a white woman in a convenience store so her husband went to Till's family's house and took his to the river to be lynched. His death was a major catalyst in the Civil Rights Movement to show the treatment of black people during the time. -
Rosa Parks Arrested
Rosa Parks intentionally sat in the white area of the segregated buses to show her defiance towards the system of segregation. She was then was arrested and made the news and was a catalyst for the movement. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest against seating segregation in buses. IT took place for around 13 months and is regarded as the first large-scale US demonstration against segregation. It was sparked by Rosa Park's arrest and initiated and led by Martin Luther King Jr. -
Martin Luther King house bombing
Martin Luther King Jr's house was bombed when he was 27 in retaliation by white supremacists for the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Bombing of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was an important figure in the fight for equal rights for black people. His house was bombed by KKK members in an attempt to dissuade from continuing with the movement. -
Eisenhower sends in Federal Troops to Little Rock
The Little Rock 9 in Arkansas were attempting to be the first black students to integrate into a previously white-only high school. The rioting against their integration got so violent and intense that President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to personally accompany the Little Rock 9 students to school and their classes to protect them from attempts at their life. -
SCLC Founded
Southern Christian Leadership Conference was started in Atlanta, Georgia and was mainly led by Martin Luther King and other very important figures. The SCLC led the Montgomery Bus Boycott among other large events to impact and further the civil rights movement. -
SNCC Formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed in Raleigh, NC. It gave younger black people a voice and the ability to voice their opinions in civil disobedience and nonviolence like they learned from MLK and Gandhi. -
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Greensboro sit-ins
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests against segregated lunch counters and other segregated public spaces in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was led by the 4 students originally but that number grew exponentially every day they did the protests. -
Kennedy Sends in Federal Troops
When the Freedom Riders reached Montgomery, Alabama they were met with a white violent mob that set one of their buses on fire and the other was brutally beaten. The fighting got so bad that President Kennedy sent in Federal Troops to help stop it. -
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Freedom Rides
The freedom riders were a group of white and African American civil rights activists who took trips in two buses through the American South to protest segregated bus terminals. They specifically had the bus set up so they were intermixed but it went awry when one of the buses was bombed and the other attacked by a white mob while in Montgomery, Alabama. -
White mob attacks federal marshals in Montgomery
(my photo wouldn't upload for this one I tried many times) The federal marshalls that President Kennedy sent into Montgomery were ineffective and were also beaten and attacked by the white mob. This showed that the government was seriously losing control of its citizens and couldn't control them. -
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Albany, Georgia "Failure"
Martin Luther King, SNCC and NAACP's campaign in Albany, Georgia is considered a failure because the governor in Albany read MLK's book of strategies and used them against him to make sure they would never have to give into the protests in Albany. By never running out of jail space, they could keep arresting people without any legislation changes. -
Bailey v Patterson
The Bailey v Patterson court case required that no state can have racially segregated interstate or intrastate transportation. This showed the effectiveness of the Montgomery Bus boycotts and Freedom riders. -
MLK Goes to Birmingham Jail
MLK was working in Birmingham with the SCLC to combat the treatment of blacks and was arrested and sent to jail. While in jail he wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" that reignited the spark of the Civil Rights Movement and was very influential. -
Assassination of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi and a WW2 veteran who has shot and killed by the KKK in front of his children. This was a catalyst that scared black people and also showed them the importance of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act was fought for mainly by women but also by African Americans to ensure that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. This was a large turning point for women and led them to break even more glass ceilings. -
March on Washington "I have a Dream"
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom showed the amount of support for the Civil Rights movement and the importance of all of the organizations coming together for one organized effort. The speech at the end by MLK is still renowned as one of the next speeches ever. -
Bombing of 16th street Baptist church in Birmingham
Around two weeks after the amazing March on Washington, a Birmingham church that had a predominantly black congregation and often served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders was bombed on a Sunday morning. Four little girls in their Sunday best were killed and their deaths helped the Civil rights movement to show the violence and intense discrimination that black people were facing. Their names were Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Roberston. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assasinated in downtown Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald while he was riding in a motorcade with his wife next to him. He later died at Parkland Memorial Hospital. -
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Killing of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner
These three civil rights workers disappeared and were murdered near the town of Philidelphia, Mississippi. The Ku Klux Klan was clearly who killed them and no one was charged with murder at the time. Their murders are also known as the Freedom Summer Murders. -
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Freedom Summer
Also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, the goal was to increase the number of registered black voters in Mississippi. It was started by the disappearances of Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney. Some goals of the summer were to establish Freedom Schools and community centers to teach about black history and increase literacy. -
XXIV Amendment
The 24th Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from requiring a poll tax or any other tax in order to vote in federal elections. -
Civil Rights Voting Act
This amazing act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It also forbade discrimination based on sex and race in hiring, promoting and firing. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York. It is assumed he was killed by members of the Nation of Islam because of his prior connection with them. Three were arrested but there is still a mystery of who really shot him. -
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Selma to Montgomery March
MLK and the rest of the SCLC moved their focus to Selma because of their terrible governor, Jim Clark which would garner national attention. After the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, MLK initiated the march from Selma to Montgomery. The first attempt was stopped by Jim Clark and led to "Bloody Sunday". In the second attempt, MLK turned the march around because he felt there was too much anger and revenge in the air. The third time, they went through with it and it was a huge success. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, this act aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed by the 15th amendment. Martin Luther King stood beside Johnson as he signed the act. -
Black Panthers Formed
This political organization was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland California. It was founded on the ideology of black nationalism, socialism and armed self-defense. It directly combated MLK's way of protested and encouraged black people to take things into their own hands. -
Loving v Virginia
Two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man were married. Their marriage went to the supreme court and led to the landmark decision that brought down laws banning interracial marriage! -
Minneapolis Riots
On Plymouth Avenue, Minneapolis you black people rebelled against the unjust power structure and set fire to storefronts. Hundreds of National Guard troops were deployed to the area. -
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Detroit Riots
In Detroit, there were a series of violent confrontations between residents of Mainly African American neighborhoods in Detroit and the city police department that led to a collection of major riots with 43 deaths, and destruction everywhere. This event gained a lot of national attention. -
Assasination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was an American fugitive and felon who was convicted of assassinating MLK. This event led to an outpouring of anger and mourning throughout America and helped speed up legislation to prevent discrimination. -
Assassination of Robert "Bobby" Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy running for his presidential campaign when he was assassinated a little after midnight the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. He was shot directly after winning the South Dakota and California presidential primaries in the 1968 election. He was assassinated by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.
