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Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS
Segregation in US public schools ruled unconstitutional
Decision overturns 1896 “separate but equal” Plessy v. Ferguson ruling
Marks a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall
Marshall later returned to the Supreme Court as the nation’s first black justice -
14-year-old Chicago, IL native Emmett Louis Till murdered in Mississippi while visiting his family
Killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman
Mutilated body found in Tallahatchie River
Two suspects were later acquitted by an all white jury for Till’s murder. Case becomes catalyst for Civil Rights Movement -
NAACP member Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up her seat at the front of the “colored section” of a Montgomery bus to a white passenger
Montgomery community launches a bus boycott
Boycott lasted 381 days (12/5/55 to 12/20/56)
Buses desegregated 12/21/56 -
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles K. Steel, & Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
King is made first president of SCLC
SCLC becomes major force in organizing the movement
King urges participants to “forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline” -
Central High School, Little Rock, AR
Nine black high school students set out to integrate the all-white school
Students were blocked from entering the school – Governor Orval Faubus’ orders
Federal troops & National Guards sent to intervene on behalf of the “Little Rock Nine” – President Dwight Eisenhower’s orders -
Woolworth’s segregated lunch counter
4 black students from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College conduct sit-in
Refused service, but allowed to stay at counter
Event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South
Parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries and other public facilities integrated because of similar efforts
Same 4 students were actually served lunch at the same Woolworth’s 6 months later -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded at Shaw University
Gave black youth a place in the movement
Grows into a more radical organization led by Stokely Carmichael
Later coined the term “Black Power” -
Freedom Riders
Both black and white student
volunteers (1,000+) took trips to South during spring and summer to analyze segregation laws of interstate travel facilities
Sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the SNCC
Attacked by angry mobs along the way -
Becomes first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. 5,000 Federal troops sent to Mississippi due to violence and riots stemming from integration – orders of President John F. Kennedy
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Martin Luther King arrested & jailed in Birmingham, AL during anti-segregation protests
Writes legendary “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Letter argues that “individuals have the moral duty to disobey laws” -
Birmingham, AL Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor uses fire hoses & police dogs on black demonstrators
Images televised and published nation-wide -
Jackson, MS
37-year-old Medgar Evers, Mississippi’s NAACP field secretary, gunned down outside his home
Byron De La Beckwith tried twice, both resulting in hung juries; convicted 30 years later -
200,000+ March on Washington, congregating at Lincoln Memorial
Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech -
4 young girls murdered while attending Sunday School when Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL was bombed
Riots following bombing resulted in deaths of 2 -
24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax
Originally instituted in 11 southern states to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote -
Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)
Network of civil rights groups that includes CORE & SNCC
Launches massive effort to register black voters -
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964
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Bodies of 3 civil rights workers (2 white, 1 black) found in earthen dam in Neshoba County, MS
Murdered by police officers/members of Ku Klux Klan
Had been working to register black voters & investigating the burning of a black church in Mississippi -
Malcolm X shot to death in Harlem, NY by members of the Black Muslim faith
Founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity -
“Bloody Sunday”
Selma, AL marchers tear-gassed, whipped, and clubbed by police -
Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965
Makes registering to vote easier for Southern black voters -
Watts/Los Angeles, CA race riots erupt
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President Lyndon B. Johnson enforces affirmative action (Executive Order 11246)
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Militant Black Panthers organization founded in Oakland, CA by Huey Newton & Bobby Seale
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Martin Luther King, Jr. shot to death at age 39
Shot as he stands on balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, TN -
Busing becomes legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools
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Congress passes Civil Rights Restoration Act (overrides President Reagan’s veto)
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First race riots in decades erupt in South-Central Los Angeles after acquittal of 4 white police officers accused in Rodney King beating
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Emmett Till’s murder case reopened
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Rosa Parks dies at age 92
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Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., dies of a stroke at age 78
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Emmett Till’s 1955 murder case is officially closed
