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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
On Rosa Parks's court date, several African American leaders formed the Montgomery Improvent Association to run the boycott and to negotiate with city leaders for an end to segregation. They elected pastor Martin Luther Kind, Jr., to lead them.The boycott continued on for over a year, Instead of riding the bus, they organized car pools or walked to work. In November 1956, Alabama's laws requiring segregation on buses was declared unconstitutional. -
The Little Rock Nine
In September 1957, the school board in Little Rock, Arkansas, won a court order requiring that nine African American students be admitted to Central High, a school with 2,000 white students. Their governor was determined to win reelection and began to campaign as a defender of white supremecy. He ordered troops to prevent the 9 students from entering the school. After a conference between Eisenhower and Faubus, the district court ordered the governor to remove the troops. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
On September 9, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Originally proposed by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, the Act marked the first occasion since Reconstruction that the federal government undertook significant legislative action to protect civil rights. Although influential southern congressman whittled down the bill's initial scope, it still included a number of important provisions for the protection of voting rights. -
The Sit-In Movement
Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair,Jr., David Richmond, and Franklin McCain (4 young African Americans) were gonna have a sit-in at the whites-only lunch tables. They were refused service, so they sat that every day until they were served the same way as whites. The next day, 29 African Americans showed up to the sit-in. by the end of the week there was 300. The sit-in movement brought large numbers of idealistic and energized college students into the Civil Rights struggle. -
The Freedom Riders
Despite rulings outlawing segregation in interstate bus service, bus travel remained segregated in much of the South. In 1961 core leader James Farmer asked teams of African American and white volunteers, many of who were college students, to travel into the South to draw attention to its refusal to integrate bus terminals. The teams became known as the Freedom Riders. The attack on the Freedom Riders came less than 4 months after Pres. John F. Kennedy took office. -
James Meredith and the Desegregation of the University of Mississippi
James Meredith applied for a transfer to the University of Mississippi. Up to that point, the university had avoided complying w/ the Supreme Court ruling ending segregated education. In Sept. 1962, Meredith tried to register at the university's admissions office, only to find Ross Barnett, the governor of Mississippi, blocking his path. When Meridith arrived, the white mob attacked campus, and marshals had to escort him and fight. -
Protests in Brimingham
The events in Mississippi frustrated MLK and other civil rights leaders. Although they were pleased that Kennedy had intervened, they were disappointed that he didnt seize the moment to push for a new civil rights law. It seemed to MLK that only when violence got out of hand would the federal government interneve. in the spring 1963, he decided to launch demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, knowing they would provoke a violent response. This made Dr.King get arrested, -
The March on Washington
More than 200,000 demonstrators of all races flocked to the nation's capital. The audience heard speeches and sang hymns and songs as they gathered peacefully near the Lincoln Memorial. Dr.King then delivered a powerful speech outlining his dream of freedom and equality for all americans. King's speech and the peacefulness and dignity of thr March on Washington built momentum for the civil rights bill. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Determined to introduce a civil rights bill, Kennedy waited for dramatic moment to address the nation on the issue. Alabama's governor, George Wallace, gave the president his chance. Wallace stood in front of the University of Alabama's admissions office to block two African Americans from enrolling. The next day a white segregationist murdered a civil rights activist in Mississippi. Kennedy seized that moment to announce his civil rights bill. -
The Selma March
The SCLC and Dr.King selected Selma, Alabama, as the focal point for their campaign for voting rights. Although African Americans made up a majority of Selma's population, they comprised only 3% of registered voters. To prevent African Americans from registering to vote, Sheriff Jim Clark had deputized and armed dozens of white citizens. To keep pressure on the president and Congress, King joined with the SNCC activists and organized a march for freedom. The marchers were beaten by police. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This authorized the US attorney general to send federal examiners tp register qualified voters, bypassing local officials who often refused to register African Americans. The law also suspended discriminatory devices, such as literacy tests, in counties where less than half of all adults had been registered to vote. The results were dramatic, by the end of the year, almost 250,000 African Americans had registered as new voters. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4th, 1968, as he stood on his hotel balcony in Memphis. Dr.King was assassinated by a sniper. His death caused national mourning and riots in more than 100 cities. In the wake of Dr.King's death, Congress did pass the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This act contained a fair-housing provision outlawing discrimination in housing sales and rentals and gave the Justice dept. authority to bring suits against such discrimination,
