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Brown v Board of Education
This supreme court decision was an incredible success in the civil rights movement. It ruled that segregation in the public school system was unconstitutional. It became unlawful for states to have separate public schools for black students and white students. -
White Citizens Council
The White Citizens Council was a white supremacist organization that consisted of about 60,000 members. Their primary focus was to support segregation and oppose public integration and minority voting rights. They carried out boycotts and propaganda and committed violent acts against civil rights activists. -
Brown v Board of Education II
Many all-white school did not follow the original Brown v Board and were still segregated. Brown v Board of Education II ordered that schools must integrate. It also set out how schools were supposed to integrate and what needed to be done. -
Lynching of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14 year old african american boy from Chicago who was visiting family in Mississippi. While he was visiting, his friends dared his to talk to a white girl and other white men heard. Later, Roy Bryant and JW Milam abducted Emmett and murdered him by the Tallahatchie River. Emmett’s mother decided to have an open casket so the world could see the violence that was used against her boy. -
Rosa Parks Arrested
Rosa Parks sat in the colored section on the bus, but when the white section gets filled up, the blacks must give up their seats. A white person ordered her to give up her seat but she refused. The bus driver then called the police and Parks was arrested for violating segregation laws. This act held great significance in the civil rights movement and sparked more rebellion against unjust segregation laws. -
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott campaign started with the famous civil rights activist, Rosa Parks. She was an african american woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white bus rider. The campaign ended successfully on December 20th, 1956 with the ruling of Browder v Gayle which declared segregated buses as unconstitutional. -
Martin Luther King House Bombing
While the King family was in the house, white supremacists bombed his house. Luckily, no one was harmed. Many african americans were furious, but Martin Luther King was able to settle and maintain peace. -
Bombing of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
In Birmingham, Alabama, Ku Klux Klan members bombed the home of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights activist. The white supremacists planted dynamite and destroyed the home with the explosion. Luckily, nobody inside the home suffered any serious injury. -
SCLC Founded
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was one of the well known civil rights movement organizations. The organization was formed to coordinate protests such as bus boycotts. They set up strategies for mass nonviolent protests and boycotts. -
Eisenhower sends in Federal Troops
At Little Rock Central High in Arkansas, nine african american students were to integrate and attend the school. However, not all approved integration. Many segregationists held protests outside the school and they attempted to block the students from attending. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to support the segregationists and block the african american students. -
Greensboro sit ins
The Greensboro sit ins were nonviolent protests in North Carolina. The movement led to stores removing their racial segregation policies. The Greensboro sit ins are the most well-known because they are considered to have started the chain in the sit in movement. -
SNCC Formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee was a major civil rights movement organization. It was made up of students who organized nonviolent protests like sit-ins. They also played a role in the Voter Education Project and Freedom Rides. -
Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode buses to fight against the segregation of blacks and whites on the buses. The first freedom ride left Washington DC on May 4th, 1961 to arrive in New Orleans. Many freedom riders were attacked and even killed. Eventually, the movement was successful and segregated public buses were ruled unconstitutional. -
White mob attacks federal marshals in Montgomery
After a mob of white people attacked the bus riders in Montgomery, federal government sent 400 marshals to end the violence. Twenty bus riders were beaten because they were racially mixed and riding for the freedom ride civil rights movement. -
Albany Georgia “failure”
In Georgia, the Albany movement promoted desegregation and voting rights. Many well known leaders and organizations took part in the movement, for example SNCC, NAACP, SCLC and Martin Luther King Jr. It is considered to be a failure because it was unsuccessful in its attempts at desegregation in Georgia. -
Bailey v Patterson
Bailey v Patterson made it so no state can require racial segregation for transportation facilities. This was a huge step for the civil rights movement and the freedom riders and Rosa Parks’ fight. -
MLK goes to a Birmingham jail
In Birmingham, Alabama, SCLC lead a campaign against racial segregation. They protested for african american rights through marches and sit-ins. The Birmingham police arrested King and put hi in jail where he wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. -
Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act was put in place to make pay among individuals equal regardless of sex. The bill was passed by President John F Kennedy as a part of the New Frontier Program. -
Kennedy sends in Federal Troops
When the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, refuses to let african american students integrate into the school, JFK takes action. Robert Kennedy went to try to get Wallace to stop blocking the entrance. National Guard was sent under Executive Order 11111 to get Wallace to comply. Wallace was eventually defeated and three black students were able to attend school three days later without interference. -
Assassination of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers was an african american civil rights activist in Mississippi and NAACP secretary. He fought for voting rights and to end segregation. Evers was eventually assassinated by a Ku Klux Klan white supremacist named Byron De La Beckwith. -
March on Washington “I have a Dream”
The March on Washington was held at Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Over 250,000 civil rights supporters attended. This is the event where Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous, most well-known speech titled “I Have a Dream”. The speech calls for an end to racism and segregation. -
Bombing of a church in Birmingham
The bombing of the Baptists church in Birmingham was a terrorist attack by white supremacist. The Ku Klux Klan planted explosives at the church and set them off at the same time. Four young girls were killed in the bombing and four members of the KKK were accused of murder and three were convicted. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
In Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, JFK was shot while riding in presidential motorcade. He was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald who was a former US Marine and he was also a Marxist. Oswald was arrested by Dallas Police about 70 minutes after the shooting. -
XXIV (24th) Amendment
The twenty fourth amendment prohibited poll taxes for voters in federal elections. Poll taxes were historically used as a way to prevent african americans and poor whites from voting. With this amendment, all would now fairly be able to vote. -
Freedom Summer
In Mississippi, Freedom Summer was a campaign to register as many african american voters in the state as they could. It was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations which was a civil rights organization. -
Killing of Goodman, Chaney, Schwerner
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were associated with civil rights movement associations. They worked with the Freedom Summer campaign fighting for African American rights to vote. They were pulled over in their car and abducted and shot at close range. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The CIvil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination of people based on race, religion or gender. It applied to voter registration, segregation in schools and employment and public facilities. This act was a huge step for the civil rights movement. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an african american muslim who fought for black rights. He became a leader of the Nation of Islam which promoted black supremacy and did not support the civil rights movement because they stood for integration. However, he left the Nation of Islam because he changed his views to promote more unity and was assassinated by three of their members. -
Selma to Montgomery March
The Selma to Montgomery March was a protest along the highway that reached from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. The protests were nonviolent, but they were met with unjust police brutality. The protests cause was mainly for voting rights but also for civil rights causes in general such as racial justice and integration. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 established that it was unlawful to discriminate in voting. It is considered the most effective act for the federal civil rights movement. -
Black Panthers Formed
The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland California by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The Party fought against police brutality and promoted racial justice and equal treatment. -
Loving v Virginia
Richard Loving, a white man, had been sent to prison for a year for marrying Mildred Jeter who was an african american woman. Loving v Virginia overturned the Racial Integrity Act and end legal race restrictions on marriage. It allowed for interracial marriages to be legal across the nation. -
Minneapolis Riots
On Plymouth Avenue, acts of arson, assault and vandalism lasted for three nights. Minneapolis was mostly considered to be advanced in terms of racial inequality despite its housing restrictions for blacks. The discrimination in housing was the main reason for african americans’ violent protests and frustration. -
Detroit Riots
The Detroit Riots were also known as the bloodiest race riots. It was mainly conflicts between african americans and police when the police raided a bar called Blind Pig. It erupted into a riot that lasted five days. It is considered one of the deadliest and most destructive in American history. -
Assissination of MLK
In Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee the civil rights leader was shot. He was rushed to the hospital, but did not survive. MLK was an extremely influential leader for the civil rights movement which made him a target for segregationists. -
Assassination of Robert “Bobby” Kennedy
At the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, Robert Kennedy was shot multiple times. A man that went by the name of Sirhan was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Kennedy with a handgun.
