Civil rights movement

The Civil Rights Movement

By kbeaner
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    The Civil Rights Movement

    Black Americans organized this movement in order to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law.

  • Military segregation ends

    Military segregation ends
    President Truman signed an executive order, in his 2nd term, to end segregation in the armed services. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces.

  • Brown vs. Board of Education

    Brown vs. Board of Education
    This was a Supreme Court case that comprised of about 5 trials. The result of these trials declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
    The Plessy vs. Ferguson trial in 1896 was when it all began.
    The Supreme Court voted unanimously after a 2 year court battle.

  • Rosa Parks

    Rosa Parks
    Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.
    This event sparked the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott that worked to end segregation in the public transportation system.
    She was nicknamed "the Mother of Civil Rights".

  • Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Martin Luther King, Jr met with many other pastors and civil rights leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. They met to plan non-violent protests against segregation and racial discrimination.
    MLK was an American Baptist minister and activist.

  • "Little Rock Nine"

    "Little Rock Nine"
    9 African American students were blocked from integrating into Central HIgh School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
    President Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort them.
    Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis. This is when the Governor of Little Rock wouldn't let them enter the school.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1957

    Civil Rights Act of 1957
    President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law. This law protects voter rights and allows for federal prosecution to anyone that stands in another's way.
    First federal civil rights legislation passed by U.S. Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

  • Greensboro sit-ins

    Greensboro sit-ins
    Began with 4 African American college students from Greensboro, North Carolina. They refused to leave a "whites only" lunch counter without being served. This was a non-violent protest that started many other "sit-ins" around the city and other states.
    This sit-in led to the Woolworth department store to change its policy of racial segregation in the South.