Civil Rights Era

Brown v. Board of Education was a court case against the board of education regarding segregation. The supreme court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, even if the schools were created equal.

Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American who was brutally lynched. He was beaten so bad his face was severely and almost unrecognizable.

Rosa Parks was a woman of color who was arrested for not moving to the back of the bus for a white man. As a result of this incident, people began boycotting the bus until they were desegregated.

The little rock nine were a group of nine African American students who were enrolled at Central High School in 1957. On September 4th, the national guard was sent to block them from entering by the Arkansas governor. This resulted in a court case that ended up desegregating schools.

The lunch counter sit-ins were a series of peaceful protests in which people of color would sit at the white only lunch counter in Woolworth and refuse to leave in protest of segregation. The protests led to the F. W. Woolworth Company desegregating their lunch counters.

The freedom rides were a series of protests against segregation after the Supreme court banned segregation on buses and at bus stations. The buses were vandalized, and the riders were attacked. After some of the riders made it to the south, they were arrested.

James Meredith was a person of color who applied at the University of Mississippi and was denied twice. He filed a lawsuit alleging that they denied him only because of his race and won. The court ordered that James be registered at the university.

250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The goal of the peaceful protest was to draw attention to the problems that people of color still faced.

The Birmingham church bombing was an incident where members of the KKK planted dynamite in a church. The attack killed four girls and injured 22 people.

Freedom summer was a voter registration drive that helped people of color register to vote. The goal of the movement was to fight intimidation and voter suppression to make their voices heard.

The civil rights act was signed by president Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed discrimination in public places, and made employment discrimination illegal.

Malcolm X was a popular political activist during the civil rights movement. He was assassinated while preparing to speak to the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan. The autopsy found 21 gunshot wounds.

The Selma-Mongomery march was a peaceful protest where the protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery. They were brutally beaten and attacked. President Johnson had to call the national guard to protect them.

The voting rights act was an act signed by president Johnson. It outlawed segregation and discrimination at polling places.

Martin Luther King a civil rights pioneer was assassinated on April 4th 1968 while standing on a hotel balcony. His assassination led to widespread rioting that resulted in the deaths of 13 people.