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Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
It was a very important political and social event during the civil rights because it ruled that segregation was unconstitutional and wrong and this overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Tills death was very important as a political and social event during the civil rights movement.During a trip to visit family in Mississippi, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till from Chicago, was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot and his body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River because he allegedly whistled at a white woman. BOb Dylan wrote a song about this event and it was very socially important for the Civil Rights Movement. -
Rosa Parks Refuses Seat
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montogomery, Alabama she started the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was a very important social and economic event during the Civil Rights movement. -
Little Rock 9
9 African American students were escorted by police through a side door in to the school. When the mob learned they were inside they challenged the police and the students were removed for safety. These events were very socially important during the civil rights movement. -
RCNL Uses Bumper Stickers
The Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) was founded in Cleveland, Mississippi by T.R.M. Howard, Amzie Moore, Aaron Henry, and other civil rights activists. Assisted by member Medgar Evers, the RCNL distributed more than 50,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan, "Don't Buy Gas Where you Can't Use the Restroom." This campaign successfully pressured many Mississippi service stations to provide restrooms for blacks. It was a prime example of how effective a boycott could be. -
Woolworth Sit-In
Four African American university students from N.C. A&T University began a sit-in at a segregated F.W. Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. and although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. This event was very important socially because it sparked many other sit-ins nationwide. -
JFK Order 10925
President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, prohibiting discrimination in federal government hiring on the basis of race, religion or national origin and establishing The President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. This event was important both politically and in an economic way because it allowed African Americans to more easily obtain jobs. -
Medgar Evers Murder
Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, was murdered outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Byron De La Beckwith was tried twice in 1964 however, both trials resulted in hung juries. Thirty years later, he was convicted of murdering Evers. Medgar Evers murder was both a political and social event that happened during the Civil Rights movement. -
March on Washington
On August 25,1963 more than 250,000 people joined together in the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listened as Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech and talked about racial injustice in the US. This event was a very important social event that helped define the Civil Rights movement. -
Sixteenth Street Bombing
Four young girls named Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, attending Sunday school were killed when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which was a very popular location for civil rights meetings. Following the bombing riots erupted in Birmingham, Alabama,leading to the deaths of two more black youth. The deaths of these 6 children was a very real event in terms of what was going on socially during the Civil Rights movement. -
Voting Rights Act
The 24th Amendment abolished the poll tax, which had originally been instituted in 11 southern states. The poll tax made it difficult for blacks to vote. This event was politically important because it was more likely now that an African American representative would be elected. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion or national origin and transform American society and allowed the federal government to enforce desegregation and prohibit discrimination in public facilities, the government and employment and the "Jim Crow" laws in the South were abolished. This was the most influential political event. -
3 Civil Rights Workers Killed
The bodies of three civil-rights workers were found in an earthen dam. James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi on June 21, and went to investigate a burning black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan and murdered them. This was a very impactful political event because people now knew that people would kill. -
LBJ Order 11246
President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246 to enforce affirmative action for the first time because he believed asserting civil rights laws were not enough to remedy discrimination. It required government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment. This event was economically important because it allowed African Americans to more easily get jobs. -
Civil Rights Act 1968
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing. This act was important because it gave women the ability to vote which opened a whole new demographic that would be able to express their personal opinions and views.
