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Brown v. Board of Education was a watershed moment in the Civil Rights movement since it was a massive effort to end segregation of public schools. This case arose from the Topeka public school system's refusal to admit Linda Brown, an African American girl. Segregation was declared illegal as a result of this lawsuit, which had a major impact on the Civil Rights movement. Although no statistics were explicitly related, it is the source of the phrase "Separate but equal." -
The Montgomery bus boycott was where AA refused to ride city buses in outcry of segregated seating. The boycott is the 1st large anti-racial movement in the US. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was illegal. MLK Jr. was the first president of the Montgomery Improvement association. 4 days before the boycott, Rosa Parks (an AA woman) was arrested and fined for not giving up her seat to a white man. racially segregated seats on buses was a violation of the 14th amendment. -
The Little Rock school fixed a court order in September 1957 to let nine AA students: Melba P, Ernest G, Elizabeth E, Minnijean b, Terrence R, Carlotta W, Jefferson T, Gloria R, and Thelma M to school. Governor O. Faubus didn't allow national guard troops to let the AA into school. An angry white mob protested and harassed the students trying to get in. Eisenhower was mad and ordered the U.S. army to send troops to Little rock to protect them for the time of the school year. -
Joseph M, Ezell B, Jr., David R, and Franklin M advised a sit-in at a white’s only table at Woolworth’s department store. They ordered coffee but didn't get the service. They refused to leave and said that they would come back until they were given the same service as the whites. The Sit-In spread, many AA came to the table and also asked for service. The Sit-In got the eyes of many AA and they also did a Sit-In in many other racist places. It got members to fight and protest for equal rights. -
In 1961, J. Farmer asked mixed races to go to the south to bring integrated bus terminals into the light. Marshall heard this and gave farmer the use of the NAACP legal defense fund to continue the rides. Kennedy found out that the riders were still at it, he decided to change his plan. He told the ICC to tighten its anti-segregation regulations against segregated bus terminals while, Robert F. Kennedy did the same to the Justice Department. Interstate bus travel was no longer divided. -
J. Meredith was an African American who applied for a transfer to UM. He tried to go to the admissions office But was stopped by the governor, Ross Barnett. James had a court order requiring the school to register him, But Barnett said he would not allow it. Angry white mobs started attacking the campus. Kennedy sent tens of thousands of troops to the campus. He attended classes at the University of Mississippi under federal guard for the remainder of the year. He earned his diploma in August. -
Dr. King knew that waiting for Kennedy to push the Civil Rights bill would take a while. He searched for ways to make his message more aware to the public to gain their support. Philip Randolph had suggested a march on Washington to which King agreed to. On August 28, 1963 about 200,000 protestors of mixed race came to the nation’s capital. Dr. King delivered a powerful speech (I have a dream, freedom, equality) that got to the people which set forth a faster pace for the Bill of Civil Rights. -
Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam and there they preached black nationalism. Black Muslims believed that they should be discreet from whites and form their own self-governing communities. The people viewed themselves as their own nation and attempted to make themselves as self sufficient as possible. By 1964, Malcolm had left Black Islam after discovering the scandals involving the leader. He had continued to criticize the society and in February of 1965, he was assassinated. -
The government tried to prevent minorities from voting at all cost. They put such things as the literacy test in place to show that they don’t have the knowledge needed to vote. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which states that all requirements that stopped voting were deemed unconstitutional. Now minorities could vote too. -
In urban areas AA faced a lot of hate. Even in cities, they faced poverty. Some who did better than others found jobs as blue-collar factory workers, but did not go far after that. Most AA were only able to get low-paying jobs to suffice for their entire family. In 1965, only 15% of AA held high paying jobs compared to the 44% of Whites. The average income for an AA family was only 55% of whites. More than ½ of the AA were jobless. The Black Panthers were AA’s who preached black power.
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