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World War II and Civil Rights
By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most Black Americans weren’t given the better paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military.
After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin. -
Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955, Rosa parks found herself on a bus, where during her ride she was ordered to give her seat to a white man, she denied and this would cause her to be arrested.
Parks became the “mother of the modern day civil rights movement.” Black community leaders (MIA) led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr., a role which would place him front and center in the fight for civil rights. On November 14, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They sometimes required to pass a literacy test that was almost impossible to pass.
On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting. It also created a commission to investigate voter fraud. -
Woolworth’s Lunch Counter
In February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth’s lunch counter without being served.
Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins.
Their efforts helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to encourage all students to get involved in the civil rights movement. -
Freedom Riders
On May 4, 1961, 13 “Freedom Riders" activists mounted a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C., embarking on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were testing the 1960 decision by the Supreme Court, that declared the segregation of interstate transportation facilities unconstitutional.
Fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals. -
March on Washington
Arguably one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement took place on August 28, 1963: the March on Washington. It was organized and attended by civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and MLK, Jr.
More than 200,000 people of all races congregated in Washington, D. C. for the peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone. MLK's "I have a dream" became a slogan for freedom and inequality. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964—legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination—into law on July 2 of that year.
King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated. -
Bloody Sunday
On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.
Refusing to stand down, protesters moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police, dozens protesters were hospitalized. MLK pushed for a non-violent protest. -
Citation
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
https://doerlife.com/rosa-parks-mother-of-freedom-movement-behind-1956-montgomery-bus-boycott/
https://www.britannica.com/event/March-on-Washington
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/bloody-sunday-selma-alabama-march-7-1965/