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Plessy v. Ferguson
After Homer Plessy purchased a train ticket to travel within Louisiana, he decided to sit in a car reserved for white passengers. He was told to move to a car reserved for African American but refused to. He was charged with violating the Separate Car act but the Supreme Court concerned the act as unconstitutional; however, the court rendered its decision and proclaimed a “separate but equal” doctrine. The decision then led to laws designed to create racial segregation. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Oliver Brown filed a law suit against the Board of education of Topeka’s all-white elementary school after his daughter was denied entrance to it. Brown argued that schools for black and white children are not equal so segregation had violated the 14th amendment. Chief justice Earl Warren led the unanimous verdict against school segregation ruling that it was a violation of the 14th amendment to segregate. The court case soon fueled the civil rights movement in the United States. -
Murder of Emmett Till
A fourteen year old African American boy was accused for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi while he was visiting his family. He was brutally murdered by the woman’s husband and her brother. The two men were trialed by an all-white jury and was found not guilty despite of the witnesses and the disfigured body of Emmett Till. It showed that white racists can get away with brutally murdering a black boy. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks was released from her work, she sat down at the front row of the coloured section of the bus. She was then told to give her sit to a white person but refused. Soon African Americans began to protest segregated seating leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott where they refused to ride city buses affecting the economy of the busses and sparking the civil riughts movement as well. -
Founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) & Martin Luther King
Sixty black ministers and civil rights advocates met in Atlanta, Georgia to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and replicate the nonviolent tactics of the Alabama Bus Boycott. They had elected Martin Luther King Jr. as its first president dedicated to abolish segregation and promote non-violence movements. It impacted the Civil rights movement by encouraging its demonstrators to protest through civil disobedience. -
Little Rock Nine & Central High School
To test the ruling of the Brown V. Board of Education, a group of black students enrolled at an all-white Central High School in Little Rock. The governor of Arkansas called the National Guard to stop the students from entering the high school. However, President Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the students to ensure their protection. It showed the courage of the young activists to end segregation and they were the first black students to attend an all-white high school. -
Greensboro-sit in
A group of young African-American students started to staged a sit-in at segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and refused to leave unless they are given service. Sit in eventually spread to throughout college towns and protestors were arrested for disorderly conduct. The students’ action soon led to the change of segregationist policies in vast establishments. -
Freedom Ride/Freedom Riders
The freedom rides were fueled by two Supreme Court decisions trialed in 1946 and 1960 ruling that “segregation in interstate commerce is unconstitutional.” The freedom riders were composed of white and African American civil rights activists riding through the South to protest segregation in bus terminals. This protests inspired the southern blacks to follow civil disobedience as a way to achieve civil rights. -
March on Washington
The march on Washington was a large protest aimed to emphasize the continuing struggles and inequalities faced by African Americans. It also advocated the passage of the Civil Rights Act that had stalled in the Congress. After the march, many had been inspired to continue and pressure political leaders to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that will soon be passed by President Lyndon Johnson. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) & Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer was sponsored by civil rights organizations to encourage an increase in voter registration. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating committee was one of its popular and most active organization to support the project. The project led to an expansion of black voting in the South. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act was enacted to end segregation in public places. It banned discrimination in employment and is considered to be one of the major achievements during the Civil Rights Movements. The act had ended racial discrimination. -
Assassination of Malcolm X
The African American nationalist Malcolm X had been an advocate for the protests for equal rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. He was unfortunately been assassinated by the Nation of Islam members as he addressed his Organization of Afro-American Unity. Civil Rights Act (1964). Being a Muslim himself, his assassination had robbed the Muslims the opportunity of gaining equal rights in the United States as well. -
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was created because the vast majority of the African Americans in the South couldn’t vote. It was pursued by MLK to be enacted to ensure Civil Rights for the African Americans. It helped eliminate the barriers that prevents the blacks from voting in the South. -
Assassination of MLK event
While Martin Luther King Jr was still alive, he had led the Civil Rights Movements with nonviolent protests to fight segregation. His movements also led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. MLK’s assassination outpoured anger to the African American society that speed that way for an equal housing for the African Americans.
