Civil Rights

  • Brown V Board of Education

    This was the court case that pointed out that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, which overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy vs Ferguson. This was really the start of desegregation.
  • Emmett Till murder

    The Emmett Till murder in Mississippi was what really drew attention to the civil rights movement after the open casket funeral held in Chicago. The really sad part about this murder was that his murderers weren't convicted of any crime and then later confessed to the murder, and they both came away from the trial clean.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    The Montgomery Bus Boycott started by Rosa Parks when she refused to give her seat to a white man, was the start of the bus boycott that led to the desegregation of public transportation in Montgomery Alabama
  • Little Rock Nine

    This was an event that occurred when 9 African American students faced opposition as they were integrated into Central Little Rock High School. There was a lot of resistance to this event and the desegregation of schools in the South.
  • Lunch Counter Sit-Ins (Greensboro)

    This was when four African American Students did a sit-in at a Greensboro lunch counter in North Carolina. Which then created there to be tons of nonviolent protests across the South which then showed the injustice of segregated public places.
  • Freedom Bus Rides

    The Freedom Bus Rides were when Civil Rights activists rode interstate buses through the South to challenge segregation laws which then resulted in violence and arrests against them throughout their travel. But this drew national attention and created there to be federal intervention.
  • March on Washington

    Over 250,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. to demand civil and economic rights for colored people. This was where Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech happened.
  • Birmingham Protests

    Nonviolent protests and civil disobedience tactics led by Martin Luther King Jr. and others targeted segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, where African Americans filled up the jails and prompted Kennedy to push for Civil Rights legislation.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    The Civil Rights Act of 64 outlawed the discrimination of Race in public places. It was a major victory for the Civil Rights movement which paved the way for more legal protections.
  • Freedom Summer

    Civil rights activists from across the country traveled to Mississippi to register African American voters and promote civil rights education, facing violence from white supremacists but this significantly increased voter registration from African Americans.
  • Selma Marches

    This was where "Bloody Sunday" first happened when peaceful protestors were met by state troopers and beaten violently. But then in a couple of weeks, the Selma March happened and they marched from Selma to Montgomery successfully.
  • Voting rights act of 1965

    It addressed racial discrimination in voting practices by eliminating barriers such as literacy tests and providing federal oversight of elections with a history of discrimination