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Brown vs. Board of Education
The issue of this case was segregation on the basis of race in public schools.The supreme court ruled unanimously that separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities is inherently unequal violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.The beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Emmett Till Murder
14 year old Emmett Louis Till was visiting family in Money, Mississippi. He was brutally murdered for allegedly "talking fresh" to a white woman. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil rights protest,during the boycott African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery Alabama due to segregated seating. Four days before the boycott began Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her seat on the bus for a white man. The Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. -
The Little Rock Nine and Integration
The Little Rock Nine was a group of African American students who made their way through a crowd of people yelling and throwing things etc.to try to attend Central High School and the National Guard prevented them from entering. The students came back on September 29th and were protected by federal troops. -
Greensboro Woolworth's Sit-ins
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American's staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. The sit-in movement spread to college towns throughout the South. Many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, their actions made an impact and woolworth's changed their segregationist policies. -
Freedom Rides
The Freedom Rides were protests to fight for desegregation of public transportation done by both black and white civil rights activists. Black and white protesters would sit together on segregated buses and this is important to the civil rights movement because it lead to desegregation laws for public transportation -
MLK’s Letter From Birmingham Jail
On April 3, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his Southern Christian Leadership Conference and their partners in the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights led a campaign of protests, against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. By April 12, Dr.King was in prison along with many of his fellow activists. During his imprisonment, King wrote an letter in defense of his action and condemning racism. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a protest march that occurred in August 1963, when about 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the events aim was to to draw attention to challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr. iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. -
Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing
A bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church (a black church) while the church members prepared for Sunday service.The racially motivated bombing killed 4 young girls.