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Supreme Court decision that overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision (1896); led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court ruled that "separate but equal" schools for blacks were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. -
This happened as a result of Rosa Parks not giving up her seat to a white man. African Americans tried to accomplish being treated as equal as whites and they wanted to defy the laws of segregation. The leader of this boycott was a 26-year-old pastor named Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott proved that the laws of segregation on buses were unconstitutional and that African Americans deserved equal rights as white Americans. -
Nine African American students were admitted to a Central High School with 2,000 white students after winning a court order. The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus did not want the African American students to attend the school so he sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent them from coming in. An angry white mob at the school also intimidated them from registering. Eisenhower wouldn't allow Faubus to defy the federal government so he sent troops to the school to protect the students. -
The Sit-in Movement was led by the SNCC or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This group was formed to give younger black people more of a voice in the civil rights movement. SNCC played a key role in desegregating public facilities in dozens of Southern communities. SNCC also began sending volunteers into rural areas of the Deep South to register African Americans to vote. This idea became known as the Voter Education Project created by Robert Moses. -
The Freedom Riders were student volunteers who took bus troops through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities. The CORE leader James Farmer asked teams of African American and white volunteers to do this. They boarded buses that took them to different towns in Alabama where angry white mobs attacked them but fortunately, no one was killed. -
James Meredith, an black air force veteran who applied for a transfer to the University of Mississippi. Up to that point, the university had avoided complying with the Supreme Court ruling ending segregated education. Meredith tried to register at the university’s admissions office and the governor from Mississippi, Ross Barnett, blocked his path. President Kennedy dispatched federal marshals to guard and escort Meredith to the campus. An angry white mob attacked the campus and the troops.
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Civil rights advocates marched on Washington to urge the passage of JFK's bill through Congress. MLK delivered his famous and powerful speech that outlined his dream of freedom and equality for all Americans. Opponents in Congress, however, continued to do what they could to slow the bill down, dragging out their committee investigations and using procedural rules to delay votes. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed shortly after the March on Washington. -
Malcolm X was convicted of burglary and sent to prison for six years. He joined the Nation of Islam and developed a philosophy in which he argued for black separation from a white oppressive society and use of violence. After seeing Muslims from many races worshipping together, he concluded that an integrated society was possible after all. After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X continues to criticize them and they shot him because of this. Malcolm X's ideas many African American leaders. -
Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, it didn’t support voting rights. SCLC and SNCC members were often attacked and beaten, and several were murdered. Dr. King decided to stage another dramatic protest. Protesters marched from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery and were attacked along the way. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was then created to register African Americans to vote and suspended discriminatory devices. -
African Americans were still prejudiced and discriminated when they moved to urban areas. Many African Americans had low-paying jobs and lived in poverty. Poor neighborhoods were unsanitary and created illnesses. Young people dropped out of school and there was a rise in single-parent households. A group called the Black Panthers organized by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver and they urged African Americans to prepare to force whites to grant them equal rights.
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