The Civil Rights Movement

Brown V. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

The Brown V. Board of Education case was about a situation that occured when a young African American girl named Linda Brown wanted to enroll in a local school in Kansas and was denied access due to race. After this happened, her parents sued the school with help from the NAACP, whos director was an African American attorney named Thurgood Marshall. The outcome of this case was that the court announced segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Dec 5, 1955

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was led by Martin Luther King Jr. The whole idea of it began when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on the bus. She was arrested and this grew public attention. On December 5, 1955 MLK held a meeting to give people motivation. The boycott was meant to show the bus system just how important African Americans were to their profit. The boycott was peaceful and led to segregation on buses being judged as unconstitutional.

The Little Rock 9

Sep 24, 1957

In September 1957, 9 African American students were required to attend Central High in Little Rock due to a win in court. The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus ordered troops from the National Guard to scare away the students and intimidate them. The 9 new students were shown violence, along with extreme intimidation. President Eisenhower responded to this by sending troops to Little Rock to protect the students, and federalizing the Arkansas National Guard.

Sit-In Movement

Feb 1, 1960

Sit-Ins were used as a form of protest, to put an end to segregation in restaurants. In these Sit-Ins, African Americans would sit and refuse to leave. A group called SNCC led these Sit-Ins. An example of a Sit-In was when a group of freshmens sat at a lunch counter that was designated for whites only, because they were refused service. This reached the news and the next day they were joined with 29 more students.

The Freedom Riders

May 4, 1961

The Freedom Riders was a group of African Americans and white volunteers, mostly college students. This group was organized by CORE leader James Farmer. The Freedom Riders purpose was to go to the South and draw attention to it's refusal to create bus terminals. The Freedom Riders were met with extreme violence, including a firebomb being thrown into one of the buses. Luckily, nobody was killed but many were hurt from all the violence the Freedom Riders experienced.

James Meredith and the Desegregation of Universities

Sep 15, 1962

James Meredith was an African American air force veteran who was trying to transfer to the University of Mississippi. Ross Barnett, the governor of Mississippi, was not allowing him even after Meredith had a court order. In response to this, President Kennedy sent 500 marshals to escort Meredith to the campus. They were shortly met with an angry mob. Several thousand troops were then sent over. James continued going to classes there and graduated in August.

The March on Washington

Aug 28, 1963

A march was set to commence in Washington to lobby Congress and build more public support for the Civil Rights Movement. A. Phillip Randolph suggested this, and Martin Luther King Jr. agreed. This march is now famous for the King's speech, and the overall peacefulness of the protest. Shortly after the march, the Civil Rights Bill was passed.

Voting Rights Among Minorities

Jul 2, 1964

At this point the 24th amendment had been verified, yet African Americans were still facing troubles with local authorities when it came to voting. Selma, Alabama was named the focal point for the Civil rights voting campaign. The Selma March was conducted to raise public attention. Many African Americans joined to march, yet the march ended in 70 African Americans hospitalized due to a brutal attack on them from the state troopers. A short while after, a new voting rights act was passed.

Urban Problems and the Black Panthers

1965

For a lot of African Americans living in urban areas, life was pretty difficult. Along with the immense amount of discrimination they had to deal with on a daily basis, it was also hard for them to get jobs. This meant that the poverty rate increased greatly. The Black Panthers was a group set up by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver. This group believed that African Americans should arm themselves and and fight back to the whites.

Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Movement

Feb 21, 1965

Malcolm X was a young man who quickly became a head figure of the black power movement. During his younger years, he drifted into crime and was sent to jail for 6 years. Jail taught him many things, because once he got out he joined the Nation of Islam, which is a group who preached black nationalism. He ended up leaving due to constant scandals. He continued to criticize the group, which led to his assassination on February 21, 1965.