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De facto segregation or segregation by unwritten custom was something African Americans faced everyday. African Americans were also constricted by Jim Crow laws that forced strict separation of the races. -
In 1955, an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. After she was arrested civil rights activists did a one day bus-boycott to voice their dispute on Parks' arrest. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. This was the first Civil Rights Act passed by Congress since Reconstruction. -
Once Democrat John F. Kennedy won the 1960 election he made a promise of a ¨New Frontier¨ which entailed improvements in the economy, education, healthcare, and civil rights. -
In Dallas, Texas Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed John F. Kennedy. -
At the start of his presidency, Kennedy moved slowly in his act on civil rights in fear of losing the support of conservatives. However, he realized that African Americans needed the federal government to protect their rights so he introduced a bill that used federal money to aid school desegregation and demanded other reforms. -
To pressure Congress to pass a new civil rights bill, over 200,000 people gathered in Washington DC for the march. People found a deep certainty and faith in Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his inspiring ¨I Have a Dream¨ speech. -
After JFK's assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson became president. As someone who grew up around minorities, Johnson worked for equal rights. An important bill introduced by John F. Kennedy called the Civil Rights Act was passed during Johnson's presidency. The Civil Rights Act was a major victory in the struggle to end discrimination in voting, education, and public accommodations. -
Malcolm X was the most well known African American radical. After he died young African Americans considered themselves heirs of X and moved away from nonviolence. ¨Black Power¨ was a term used to gain equality using economic and political muscle. The Black Panthers soon became the symbol of young militant African Americans. -
During Johnson's presidency he made the war on poverty a big part of his plan. Johnson called his vision for American the Great society which demanded ¨and end to poverty and racial injustice¨. And in 1965, congress began to pass his Great Society legislation. -
During the 1960's the Supreme Court was also interested in reform. Often referred to as the Warren Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, decided cases on controversial social, religious, and political issues. This liberal court supported civil rights, civil liberties, voting rights, and personal privacy.