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Montgomery BusBoycott
In Montgomery, AL, African American riders made up two-thirds of bus passengers. But they were forced to ride in the back, separate from white passengers, and in different rows than them. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to make an available row for white riders and was arrested for it. The rest of the NAACP organized a bus boycott, in which 90% of black riders participated in on the first day. They decided to continue on wit this boycott. -
Emmett Till
In August of 1955, Emmett Till was brutaly lynched by two white men in Mississippi. Their reasn for their crime was that Emmett whistled at a white woman in a grocery store three days prior. Only after the killers had been tried twice, would they provide details of the murder to Look magazine. This event ignited the civil rights movement. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of black teens who were sent to attend a white school in Little Rock, AR. But on September 4, 1957, when they showed up for school, they were sent away. On September 25, U.S. soldiers with fixed bayonets protected the nine students all day. For the rest of the school year they endured great abuse. -
The Sit-In Tactic
The sit-in movement began in Feb. of 1960, when four college students in Greensboro, NC were denied coffee due to their race. They decided to sit in the store and stay until it closed. They would return with more supporters each day after that, and end each sit-in wih a prayer, even though outsiders sometimes abused them or they were arrested. Over the next two months, around 50 southern cities would begin to use the sit-in tactic. -
Freedom Riders
Freedom riders were sent by CORE on bus trips through the south in hopes of causing the law to be forced. At each stop, they used facilities such as restrooms and lunch cuonters. Things got very violent for a group of 13 on their way to New Orleans on May 4, 1961. On May 14, one of the buses was swarmed by a mob and was brutally attacked. The freedom rides disbanded soon after. -
The Albany Movement
In 1961, Albany, GA wouldbecome a battle ground in the civil rights movement. Civil rights leaders would bring attention to the 500 protestors that had been jailed during the middle of December, in a movement called the Albany movement. This nine-month movement would be a defeat for King, but helped him determine his new method of campaigning. He would now organize them on his own rather than aiding others'. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Kennedy believed that moving slowly was the best way to obtain civil rights for all African Americans. But the events that occurred in Alabama changed his mind. On June 11, 1963, he announced that he would request a legislation that would finally abolish segregation in establishments that serve the public. -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, African Americans marched the nation's capital for jobs and freedom. It was the largest civil rights demonstration ever held in the U.S. Famous singers and civil rights figures participated among the 20,000 people of all races. The speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave at the end of the rally would become known as the "I Had a Dream" speech. -
The Selma March
On Sunday, March 7, 1965, about 600 African Americans began a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery . Outside of Selma, city and state police blocked their way and began to attack the marchers with tear gas, clubs, chains, and electric cattle prods. King led the marchers to the base of the bridge on March 9th, and with federal protection, made it to Montgomery on March 25. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
After the Selma march, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in Congress. Many famouse civil rights leaders attended President Johnson's signing cermony on August 6. Within three weeks, more than 27,000 African Americans in Mississippi, AL and Louisiana registered to vote.
