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Brown vs Board of Education
This was a combination of several court cases that pertained to segregation in schools. This case was represented by the NAACP'S Thurgood Marshal. The court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal". -
Rosa Parks Arrest
Rosa Parks had gotten on the bus and taken her seat on a normal Thursday afternoon. Later when a white woman wanted her seat she refused to give it to her. This resulted in her arrest. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The bus boycott was in response to the unfair treatment or having to give up your seat for white people, having to sit in the back, and many other things. The Montgomery Improvement Association chose Martin Luther King Jr. to lead the movement. Around 90% of African Americans who rode the bus participated in the boycott. -
Little Rock 9
This was the first step of integration that they took in Little Rock, Arkansas. The governer was set on keeping schools segregated so he took it upon himself to have the National Gaurd keep the 9 students from entering. Later Eisenhower sends in the 101 Airborne to enforce Brown v Board and each student from then on had their own guard. -
Sit-ins
Sit-ins were a form of peaceful protests. African Americans and their allies would take seats at white lunch counters waiting to get served. The workers refused to serve them and the protesters were often met with violence. -
Freedom Riders
These people rode busses from DC into the south and protested at interstate bus terminals. They were groups of white and black protesters. They brought attention to the segregation at bus terminals with their bathrooms, lunch counters, and water fountains. -
Birmingham Protests
Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States at the time. In addition to the segregation, it had a history of racist violence. This is why the SCLC chose to focus its efforts in Birmingham organizing nonviolent protests. -
March On Washington
The March on Washington was when around 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. This was in protest of discrimination both in and out of the workplace or for "Jobs and Freedom". This is also when Martin Luther King Jr. gives his I have a dream speech. -
JFK Assassination
John F Kennedy was shot and killed in December of 1963. This had a great impact on the people of the United States. The Assassination of the 35th President sent the nation into a state of mourning. -
Civil Rights Act Of 1964
The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 outlaws segregation in spaces open to the public (restaurants, hotels, transport). The Justice Department enforces it. Discrimination based on race and gender is now prohibited in the workplace as well. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer was when many college students went into Mississippi and other southern states to help register black voters. These students knew that what they were doing was dangerous but they believed that the amount of media coverage they were getting would protect them. This wasn't the case several of them were killed but this didn't stop them. -
Voting Rights Act Of 1965
The Voting Rights Act Of 1965 did two big things outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes. Although it may not seem like it this was something that was keeping African Americans from voting. Literacy tests were far more difficult for African Americans to pass due to many different factors and the poll taxes may not be a problem for most but for many black people it was a significant price to pay. -
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Selma Marches
The Selma to Montgomery March was a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state's capital, Montgomery. The purpose of this march was to protest the unfair voting process and fight for their right to vote. -
MLK Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in his room in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed by James Earl Ray who later was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to 100 years in prison. The murder of MLK had such a great impact on the civil rights movement following the mourning of his death riots broke out.