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civil rights movement
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Brown v. Board of Education
Brown V. Board of Education was a landmark case which decided that segeration was uncostitutional. Earlier Plessy V. Ferguson ruled that segeration was costitutional as long as the facilities were "seperate but equal". Brown V Board started as a result of black schools being overpopulated and under funded unlike the white schools. Greensboro was the first city to abide by to Brown V. Board of Education, the desegeration was peaceful unlike Little Rock. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott
On December 1 1955 Rosa Parks reefused to give up her seat for a white passanger as a result she was arrested. Before she was arrested she attened a NAACP meeting in Tennesse which the topic was civil disobedience. Most of Montgomery's 50,000 African Americans boycotted, the boycott lasted 381 days, and the bus company lost 80% of their revenue. In November 1956 under a federal order Montgomery desegerated the buses. -
Desegeration of Little Rock
On September 4 1957 nine African American students were chosen to attend Little Rock Centrel High School. Arkanas govener Orval Faubus sent the National Gaurd to prevent the studnets from entering, but Eisnhower sent federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine. The students were harassed all that school year, but only one of the Little Rock Nine graduated because Little Rock shut down all the public schools instead of integrating all of the schools. -
Sit-ins
On Febuary 1 1960 four African American students sat down at the white section of the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro. After being denied service they asked the cashier why their money was good everywhere but the lunch counter. This sit-in inspired many others in southern cities. -
Freedom Rides
The freedom rides were organized by activist and were journies to the segerated south. The first trip was from Washington D.C to New Orleans. Their misson was to intergated the interstate buses in the Deep South. In Anniston Alabama one bus was bombed, and in Birmingham an FBI informant tipped off the KKK that they had 15 minutes to attack the riders before they had police protection. It was reported that one of the activist had beaten so much that he had 50 stiches in head. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was planned by Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King. Between 200,000- 300,000 people demostrated in front of the Lincoln Memorial. This is were MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speach. -
Birmingham Campain
The Birmingham Campain was lead by the SCLC. The goal was to desegerate downtown Birmingham businesses. The campain was successful, but Martin Luther King was arrested. Some of the white community was outraged, and four monthes later they bombed a church and killed four young girls. -
Race Riots (1963-1970)
The first riot was in Harlem in the summer of 1964. It was caused by a police officer shooting a uarmed African American. This lead to riots all over the country. -
Mississippi Freedom Summer
In the summer of 1964 a 1,000 white college students joined black actvists in the area to protest jim crow laws. The local KKK din't like the project and harassed and intimidated the demostrators and killed three activists. Over the course of the summer 17,000 blacks tried to vote only 1,600 succeeded. z -
Civil Rights Act
The civil rights act was proposed by Kennedy, then carried out by LBJ. The bill called for the banning of discrimination based on race and nullified local segeration. Southern senators tried to stop the bill by having a 54 day fillabuster. -
Black Power Movement
The black power movement was made public by The Black Panther Party. They followed the ideology of Malcomn X and they took a "by any means necessary" apporch towards inequality. The movement also believed that violence was necessary to obtain equality. -
King Assassination
In March 1968 Martin Luther King traveled to Memphis to support a sanatation workers strike. King was shot on April 4 1968 in his hotel room. The following days riots broke in more than 110 cities nationwide.