The Civil Rights Movement

Brown vs. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

This Supreme court case involved a young African American girl named Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas, because of her race. Her parents then sued the Topeka school board.
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Dec 5, 1955

The leader of the boycott was Jo Ann Robinson, head of an organization called the Women’s Political Council. It called on African Americans to boycott Montgomery’s buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in court. This marked the start of a new era of the civil rights movement for African Americans. Instead of limiting the fight for their rights to court cases, African Americans began organizing protests, defying laws that required segregation, and demanding they be treated as equal to whites.

The Little Rock 9

Sep 4, 1957

The school board in Little Rock, Arkansas, won a court order requiring that nine African American students be admitted to Central High. The governor of Arkansas ordered troops from the Arkansas National Guard to prevent this from happening. An angry white mob joined the troops to protest and to intimidate the students trying to register. Eisenhower ordered the Federal Army to send troops there and federalized the Arkansas National Guard to protect the black students.

Sit-in Movement

Feb 1, 1960

Four young black men named Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, and Franklin McCain, who were Freshman at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, an black college in Greensboro planned a sit in at Woolworths store. They later became part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). They organized efforts for desegregation and voter registration throughout the South. SNCC played a key role in desegregating public facilities in dozens of Southern communities.

The Freedom Riders

May 14, 1961

Teams of African Americans and whites rode buses into the South to protest the illegal segregation on interstate bus lines. When the buses arrived in Anniston, Birmingham, and Montgomery, Alabama, angry white mobs attacked them. FBI evidence later showed that the Public Safety commissioner, Connor, had contacted the local Ku Klux Klan and told them to beat the Freedom Riders until “it looked like a bulldog got a hold of them.”

James Meredith and the Desegregation of Universities

Sep 1, 1962

James Meredith was an African American air force veteran who applied for transfer to the University of Mississippi. But Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi blocked his path. Meredith had a court order directing the university to register him. Pres. Kennedy ordered 500 federal marshals to escort Meredith to the campus. An angry white mob attacked the campus and a full-scale riot erupted. For the rest of the year, Meredith attended classes at the University of Mississippi under federal guard.

March on Washington

Aug 28, 1963

It was a very difficult time getting civil rights bill thru Congress. So Dr. King needed a way to lobby Congress and build more public support. A. Philip Randolph suggested a march on Washington, King agreed. Dr. King gave a powerful speech outlining his dream of freedom and equality for all Americans. King’s speech and the peacefulness and dignity of the March on Washington built momentum for the civil rights bill. On July 2, 1964, Pres. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Movement

Jan 1, 1964

He started The Nation of Islam. Black Muslims believed that blacks should separate from whites and form their own self-governing communities. They did not advocate violence, but did advocate self-defense. By 1964, Malcolm X broke with the Black Muslims because of scandals involving the Nation of Islam’s leader. He concluded that an integrated society was possible. Malcolm X continued to criticize the Nation of Islam. Because of this, organization members shot and killed him in February 1965.

Voting Rights Among Minorities

Mar 7, 1965

African Americans faced attacks and bombing when they tried to register to vote. Dr King staged another protest. The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. He chose Selma because only 3% of blacks were registered voters there. These marches and protect help bring about the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and by the end of 1965, almost 250,000 African Americans were registered voters.

Urban Problems and the Black Panthers

Oct 5, 1966

In 1965 nearly 70 percent of African Americans lived in large cities. The inner cities had poverty, the unemployment rate was 2x that of whites. The neighborhoods were overcrowded and dirty, higher rates of illness, infant mortality, crime and juvenile delinquency. In 1966 in Oakland, California, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver organized the Black Panthers. The leaders called for an end to racial oppression and control of major institutions in the African American community.