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Montgomery Bus Boycott
While riding a Montgomery bus, Rosa Parks was told by the bus driver to leave her seat for the white man to sit. She did not get up and was arrested by Montgomery police. Within days of her arrest, African Americans had organized a boycott of the bus system. -
The Little Rock 9
Faubus had the National Guard prevent 9 students from entering the school. The troops with the angry white mob were there to intimidate the students trying to register. Eisenhower had the Army send troops to allow 9 African American students enter the school. The soldiers had to stay there the rest of the school year. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Protected African Americans right to vote. Gave authority to seek court injunctions against anyone interfering with the right to vote.The SCLC registered 2 million African American voters. -
The Sit-in Movement
Members of CORE went to segregaed resturants and if they were not served they sat and refused to leave. Doing this integrated many resturants, theatres, and other public facilities in Northern cities including Chicago, Detroit, Denver, and Syracuse. -
The Freedom Riders
African Americans and whites mostly college students would board southbound buses and mobs would attack the buses and try to harm the passengers. These passengers would then have to face gangs and mobs when they got off the buses. Many people died through the violence. -
James Meredith and the Desegregation of the University of Mississippi
Meredith tried to enter the Mississippi campus but was not allowed through. President Kennedy then sent 500 Marshalls to allow him to enter the campus. Mobs had come attacking the Marshalls, but Kennedy sent more troops and had Meredith attend the school and graduate under federal guard in August. -
Protests in Birmingham
Martin Luther King Jr. led the protests in Birmingham. He was arrested and wrote letters on scraps of papers smuggling into his cell saying how they were protesting a higher moral law based on injustice. When he was released the protests grew again and Birmingham police used clubs, dogs, and high pressure fire hoses on demonstartors. -
The March on Washington
200,000 demonstrators of a races had flocked to the nations capital. Dr. King gave a powerful speech outlining his dream of freedom and equality for all Americans. Congress however still did whatever they could to slow the bill down. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Gave the federal government broad power to prevent racial discrimination in a number of areas. It made segregation illegal in most places of public accomodations. This established the Equal Employment Opprotunity Commission. -
The Selma March
Dr. King organized a marech from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery taking U.S. Highway 80. When aproaching the bridge the police force beat the protesters leaving 70 hospitalized and many more injured. Johnson was furious and proposed new voting rights law. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This law suspended discriminatory devices, such as literacy tests, in countries where less than half of all adults had been registered to vote. By the end of the year almost 250,000 African Americans had been registered as new voters. This marked a turning point in the civil rights movement. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr.King was assassinated by a sniper when he was on his hotel balcony in Memphis. Kings death touched off both national mourning and riots in more than 100 cities. His death marked an end to an era in American history.
