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Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a young boy, who at the age of fourteen traveled to Mississippi from Chicago. In Mississippi, he called out to a white woman saying 'bye' in a flirtacious way. Emmett Till was then beaten and killed for speaking in such a way to a white woman. They found him dead in a river four days after the incident. The men who killed him were sent for trial, but were found not guilty. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In the 20th century, there were many places that were segregated and unfair. African Americans were separated from the white communities and were treated very poorly. In this time period, buses were also separated in which whites sat in the front of the bus and the blacks had to sit in the back. A black woman named Rosa Parks once refused to sit in the back of the bus which caused the Boycott by many other black people. These people were beaten and killed because of this issue. -
Little Rock Nine
There were nine brave students who were the first African Americans to attend a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. They started integration, because they were not allowed into the schools for their race. These nine students faught for their rights to be in Central High School, but were stopped by the National Guard. Soon, President Eisenhower protected these students, removing the Guard and allowing them to attend the school. Although they were severely threatened, they got what they wanted. -
Sit-Ins
Sit-Ins were actions taken by African American people to show their wants and needs for equality. There were four black college students who started the sit-in at 'whites only' lunch counter and refused to leave. Eventually, more people participated, making the whites more angry for them being in their space. They had many supporters. Some were beaten, and some were arrested. The leaders of the sit-ins created other nonviolent protests to fight for their rights. -
Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were a group of people that took bus trips through the South, stopping in areas for whites only such as, bathrooms, lunch areas, waiting rooms, etc. The whites did not approve and were sick of the blacks trying to be apart of their society. They were finally fed up and a mob of people surrounded the riders and bombed the bus, killing a few and hurting many. -
Albany Movement
The Albany Movement was a successful movement towards desegration in Albany, Georgia. MLK Jr. was invited to lead the people after hundreads of them were put in jail for their actions. During this movement, Dr. King was arrested and he stayed in jail because he wanted people to be for desegregation so he didn't want to be bailed out. This movement lasted a long time and was very successful. -
"Bull" Connor
Eugene "Bull" Connor was Birmingham’s police cheif in 1961. Connor encouraged the violence and was known to be close with the KKK. He was against the Civil Rights Movement and felt that protestors caused many problems. To control the nonviolent protestors, him and the policemen would use high-pressured fire hoses to spray at the people, even children. The policeman also used dogs to stop the protestors. -
MLK Jr. letter from Jail
Martin Luther King Jr. was in jail for the actions he made. While in Birmingham Jail, an article was written by men, going against Dr. King's methods. So Dr. King responded on the actual article addressing his reasons against the comments made by the men who wrote the article and torwards the nonviolent demonstrations against segregration. -
March on Washington
The great March on Washington was for the freedom of the citizens in the country. African American leaders led protestors on this march to fight for their rights. Over 200,000 people participated. Not only blacks, but also white people marched. They filled up the entire National Mall, starting from the Lincoln Memorial. During this march, MLK Jr. delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech, discussing all of the issues African Americans were having and their struggles trying to reach freedom. -
Civil Rights Movement of 1964
The Civil Rights Movement deeply affected American society. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of the major laws passed that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. President Johnson signed this bill after President Kennedy's assassination, which brought joy to many people. It banned discrimination in public areas, outlawed unequal voting, etc. which were the main issues with people.
