Civil Rights Era of Events
Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of education took place in Topeka, Kansas in 1954. A girl named Linda Brown was forced to walk a few blocks to the bus stop, through a very dangerous blocks in order to catch a bus to school 5 miles away. After bringing the case to the Supreme Court, "Separate but Equal" was now considered unconstitutional.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
During the period of December 5th, 1955 to December 20th, 1956, Blacks in Montgomery, Alabama protested by boycotting the bus systems. After Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man, the Blacks in the south went into an uproar. The protest lasted a total of 381 days, with a total of 42,000 blacks participating in the protesting. After the events, Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected President of the organization.
Little Rock 9
In 1957, 9 black students integrated into Little Rock Highschool. Many of these students were taunted and harassed by the white kids, and President Eisenhower sent troops to escort them to and from their classes safely, these nine students were later deems as the "Little Rock 9."
First Lunch Counter Sit In
The Greensboro sit in was an example of a non violent protest in North Carolina. Although it was not one of the first sit ins that occurred, this was an instrumental sit in which increased the National Attention to racial segregation.
Blacks Sit in White Bus Section
These individuals were called Freedom Riders who were people promoting civil rights. Their way of promoting Civil Rights was to ride interstate buses that were segregated to the South, in hopes of bringing attention racial equality.
University of Mississippi
A man named James Meredith enrolled into the University of Mississippi. Soon after classes started, chaos soon began to break out. At the end of the riots, two were left dead and many others ended up arrested or wounded. The Kennedy Administration soon brought over 30,000 National Guards to enforce on the campus.
16th Street Baptist Church was a location of attack over Civil Rights. On Sunday, September 15th, 1963, the church under went a bombing by the KKK and ended up killing these 4 girls. (Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair.)
March On Washington
On the march to Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28th, 1963. This was spoken to over 250,000 civil rights supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Assassination of Medgar Evers
Field Secretary of the NAACP, Civil Rights activist, Medgar Wiley Evers, was killed on June 12th, 1963 after the overturning of the University of Mississippi segregation. He was assassinated by Byron De La, who was a member of the White Citizens' Council. After his involvement in WWII, he was buried with high honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
Murder of 3 Civil Rights Activists
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were assassinated on June 21-22, 1964 by the KKK. These men were working on the "Freedom Summer" which attempted to prepare and register African Americans to be elligible to vote.
March to Montgomery
The march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 was a part of the Voting Rights Movement for the African Americans in the south. This march raised awareness of racial injustice, and contributing to the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
Assassination of MLK Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated on April 4th, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was shot while standing outside his room at the Loraine Motel and was assassinated by the fugitive James Early Ray. MLK Jr was known for his nonviolent civil rights demonstrations and was a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.