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Brown v Board of Education
Brown v Board of Education was a consolidated case brought forward by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP. The case moved its way up to the Supreme Court where they eventually decided that segregated schools violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Marshall used the 14th Amendment and the doll test as the crux of his argument. -
Emmet Till murder
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy, who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white woman. His killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were tried by an all-white jury. This event was a pivotal moment in the fight against racial injustice which brought nationwide attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent in Mississippi. -
Montgomery Bus Boycotts
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a nonviolent protest that lasted almost a year. It started with a 1-day protest after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. A Union in Mongomery, Alabama met and decided to continue on the protest until they got desegregation of public transport. For an entire year, people walked and used a private transportation system, etc. anything to not ride the bus. The Supreme Court declared Bus Segregation unlawful in November, 1956. -
Little Rock 9
In 1957, 9 students were selected to begin the integration of Little Rock Central High School. This decision was very controversial and the Arkansas governor sent the Arkansas National Guard to block the children's access to the school, but took them away under the president's request causing heavy violence. President Eisenhower then sent in the 101st Airborne to enforce Brown v Board and to escort the students for the rest of the year. -
Lunch Counter sit-ins
Lunch Counter sit-ins were nonviolent protests against segregated lunch counters. They started on February 1, 1960, when 4 black students in downtown Greensboro went into a lunch counter and when denied service refused to leave. Its success spread throughout the South and these Luch Counter Sit-ins were organized primarily by students. -
Freedom Bus Rides
The Freedom Bus rides were a nonviolent protest that wanted to challenge integration of interstate bus terminals. An interracial group of people traveled from the North to the South via bus and "used Southern racists to create a crisis for the federal government to react to" and to publicise Southern segregation. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a gathering of 200,000+ held in Washington D.C. Dr Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech here. This was the largest civil rights movement of its time and was successful in pressuring the federal government to initiate a stronger civil rights bill in Congress. -
Birmingham protests
The Birmingham protests were made to re-energize the movement. Schoolchildren were enlisted to help protest, as it did not disrupt the family structure much if they were put in jail. Having children protesting also had a media impact and gave a more intriguing story to be talked about. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and it prohibited discrimination based on race or gender in public spaces and employment. The act also made it so the Justice Department was able to enforce the act. -
Freedom (Mississippi) Summer
The Freedom Summer was a project to register as many African-American voters in Mississippi as they could. This project was heavily publicised because there was an assumption that media coverage would protect those involved. Three college students went missing traveling through Mississippi for this project, and were later found murdered. -
Selma Marches
The Selma Marches are deemed the last large nonviolent protest. Groups of African Americans would convene in Selma and March to Montgomery. Three marches took place and one ended in violence by state troopers on unarmed protesters. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act was passed to tackle issues of voting among black people, it contained three main purviews. The Act prohibited literacy tests and poll taxes that were previously used to keep African Americans from voting. It also allowed federal registrars to to register voters if states did not respect the 15th Amendment. Lastly, the Act stated that the federal government can also take over polling.