-
Executive Order 9981
This excutive order, issued by President Harry Truman led to the the end of segregation in the armed forces. The excutive order's siginificance to the civil rights movement was crucial for the fact that it was the first step to ending segragation all together within the United States. -
Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
A case about letting a black girl go to an all white school in Kansas, this landmark supreme court case marked segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The monumental decision by the supreme court to abolsih segreagtion in public schools was a huge leap forward for civil rights since people could finally see domestically the walls of segregation truly fall. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks took her stand against segregation on a bus in montgumery, Martin Luther King Jr. took charge of the situation by encouraging African Americans to boycott against riding the transit buses. By crippling the profits of the transit buses, and the bombings and arrests that followed, MLK was able to bring an end to segregation on Montgumery busses, and brought mistreatment of African Americans to a spotlight.
With this non-agressive action, civil rights progressed positively. -
Little Rock Crisis
Opposition to the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision was noted when the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, prevented the "Little Rock Nine" black students who enrolled to Central High School (previously all white school) by blockading the high school with the Arkansas National Gaurd. Eisenhower enfroced the supreme court rulling by sending federal troops to prtect the students. This marked that the government would enforce civil rights laws, strengthing the civil rights movement. -
March on Washington
This march was one of the biggest political rallies for human rights in American history with the purpose of promoting civil and economic rights for minorities. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln memorial which aroused many people in support of civil rights across the country. The march further promoted civil rights by granting the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and motivating further marches that helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
24th Amendment Passes
This amendment ended the enactment of a poll tax by any state on it's citizens. The poll tax was created in individual (mostly southern) states in order to prevent low economic peoples (espically blacks) from voting. By abolishing the poll tax, minorities in mostly southern states were able to truly perticipate in the American political system. This amendment was thus invaluable to the civil rights movement. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act, signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, offically outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The act furthermore put an end to unequal applications for voting registration, and banned segreation in all public schools and accomidations. For the civil rights movement, this was fudnementally the holy grail of legislation, but the challenge of enforcing the act still layed ahead. -
Voting Rights Act
While the 24th amendment eliminated the voting poll tax, the voting rights act put federal oversight over elections in order to prevent discriminatory practices at the polls against minorities. This act is considerd to be the most effective civil rights legislation for the fact that it protected the rights of minorites througoughly, and kept civil rights in the south intact. -
Executive Order 11246
This excutive order signed by Lyndon B. Johnson ended discriminatory pracitces in hiring and employmment for government contractors on the basis of race, color, "creed"/religion, sex, or national origin. This was another stepping stone within the civil rights movement for the fact this exectuive order led to the requirement for non-discriminatory practices in all public bussineses. -
Black Panthers Founded
The black panthers were a group more geared towards militaristic action for civil rights (favoring towards Malcom X) rather Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent approach. While the black panthers did help out black neighborhoods in need, their criminal acts made them notorious. The rise of the Black Panther Party marked the fundemental change of civil rights for African Americans to the "Black Power" movement.
