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Plessy v Ferguson
Homer Plessy bought a ticket and rode in an all white train car, however he was arrested for doing so because he was one-eighth black. The Supreme Court ruled that it was okay to segregate places only if the conditions were "separate but equal".
•http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_plessy.html -
Brown Vs Board of Education
Oliver Brown sued the Topeka Kansas school board because segregation violated the Equal Protection clause. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor and stated that segregating public schools was against constitutional values.
•http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html -
Murder of Emmitt Till
Emmitt Till was a 14 year old boy who lived in Chicago with this mother. He went down to Mississippi to visit family but ended up murdered by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two white men. The case went to court and got national attention, however the men were found not guilty by the jury.
• http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/emmett.html -
Rosa Parks and the bus boycott
Rosa Parks rode the bus on the first row of the colored section. The white section became full and the bus driver, James Blake, demanded the African Americans to move back, Rosa Parks refused and got arrested. African Americans began to boycott buses, hurting them economically, forcing them to desegregate their buses.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/54b.asp -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
SCLC was founded by Martian Luther King Jr. to promote non-violent resistance. It was founded as a response to the bus boycott after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. SCLC formed campaigns such as the March on Washington and organizations such as Operation Breadbasket to create jobs for African Americans.
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_southern_christian_leadership_conference_sclc/ -
Little Rock High School
Governor Orval Faubus called the National Guard to prevent nine African Americans from entering Little Rock High School. President Eisenhower intervened and forced the school to allow the students in, even though they had to be protected by the police.
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/ar1.htm -
Greensboro Sit-Ins
Four young men inspired by Martian Luther King Jr's non-violent protests decided to sit in Woolworth restaurant until they were served. Each day they would come back and sit until closing time, eventually getting arrested.
http://nchistory.web.unc.edu/the-greensboro-sit-ins/ -
Student Non-violent Coordinating Committe
Those who had started the sit-ins founded the SNCC and became the leaders. They created campains such as the Albany Movement and participated in the March in Washington.
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_student_nonviolent_coordinating_committee_sncc/ -
Freedom Rides/ Freedom Riders
!3 African Americans and whites rode together to the south in order to protest segregation in bus terminals. Massive violence occurred as people would follow the buses and blow them up, proceeding to beat the passengers. However, the freedom riders did spark change as they got national attention. -
March on Washington
Around 250,000 people showed up to march peacefully for jobs and freedom. The march drew attention to the social challenges African Americans were facing in that time period. In this March MLK Jr. gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.
http://www.core-online.org/History/washington_march.htm -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act ended segregation in public places and discrimination in a work place. The discrimination the civil rights act meant was anything that dealt with race, religion, color, sex, or nationality. This was a dramatic step forward as it no longer made segregation okay and in fact illegal.
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act -
Assasination of Malcom X
Malcom X was killed in New York trying to address the Organization Afro American Unity. Malcom X was assassinated by rival Black Muslims after leaving the Nation of Islam.
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/142725 -
Voting Rights Act
The voting rights act was signed by President Johnson in which outlawed literacy tests and a voting fee for African Americans. The Voting Rights Act had dramatic impacts as a quarter of a million new African Americans had registered to vote.
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100 -
Assasination of MLK Jr.
MLK Jr was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968.His assassination lead to major violence in the streets . http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_kings_assassination_4_april_1968/
