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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. This stated that "all men are created equal", indicating the freedom of the slaves. However this was not the intent -
Origins of the KKK
After the Civil War, six confederate veterans began the Ku Klux Klan. Their goal was to stop African Americans from voting, but very quickly became much more than that -
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were discriminatory laws that divided society into ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’. These were most common in the Southern States. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
Homer Plessy attempted to expose the inequalities of the South’s transport system. He challenged these inequalities by sitting in the first-class area of train with the hopes of an arrest. Plessy argued that the Jim Crow Laws broke the constitution; judge Ferguson found Plessy guilty regardless. He took his case further, to the Supreme Courts, and was found guilty yet again -
Brown vs Board of Education
Oliver Brown, along with 7 other African American families, sued the Board of Education over segregated education. Their argument was that children could not get an equal education with segregated schools. The case was lost in the Kansas District Court, but upon being appealed in the Supreme Court, the schooling system was desegregated -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks sparked a revolution upon sitting in bus seats designated for white use. Upon refusing to move, she was arrested. With the help of King, and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the entire Montgomery African American community boycotted the business in protest. After 381 days, public transport was desegregated -
Little Rock Nine
In light of the desegregation of public schools, nine African American students enrolled in Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas. During their time, they were assaulted and subjected to various forms of bullying. At the end of the school year in 1958, Arkansas governor closed down all Little Rock schools and reopened them as private schools to avoid having to integrate students -
Sit-In Protests
Four teenage boys held the first sit-in upon sitting at a whites-only counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The concept of non-violent sit in protest spread quickly and within a year 70,000 active protestors were sitting in across 100 cities. Protesters were harrassed relentlessly, but remained non-violent -
Freedom Rides
Due to different states having different laws on racial segregation, travelling interstate caused conflict. Founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), James Farmer Jr. organised for a group of both white and black students to travel from Washington DC to New Orleans. The result was hostile; protestors being violently attacked as they further progressed towards the South. The result of this was the desegration of all public transport -
Birmingham Riots
Through non-violence, King and others protested through the most segregated city in America; Birmingham. Over the span of 17 days, sit-in and marching protesters were arrested. Chief of Police Connor Bull obtained a court injunction to criminalise street marches to prevent protesting in the street. Protestors continued. King was arrested, but released 8 days later to continue marching. After extreme, unnecessary violence, non-violence had won and Birmingham began the process of desegregation -
The March on Washington
After the success of the Birmingham Riots, a massive march on Washington was organised to pressure politicians to pass the Civil Rights Bill. 250,000 white and black protestors gathered, and witnessed King’s famous “I have a dream” speech -
Civil Rights Act passed
The success of the March on Washington resulted in the Civil Rights Act being passed by President Lyndon Johnson. The act came into effect in 1965.