Key Events in the Civil Rights Movement

Strategy shift to "direct action" (1955-1956)

Nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. This action consisted mostly of bus boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides.

Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964)

Students were brought from other states to Mississippi to assist local activists in registering voters, teaching in "Freedom schools," and forming the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Three workers disappeared - murdered by the KKK. It took six weeks to find their bodies. The national uproar forced LBJ to send in the FBI --> he was able to use public sentiment to effect passage in Congress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955 - 1996)

This occurred in Montgomery, AL when Rosa Parks refused to move to a different seat so a white man could have it. She was arrested and then tried, convicted and charged with civil disobedience and violating a local ordinance. The black community organized a bus boycott in protest that lasted 381 days against the segregation of blacks and white and promote equality, until the ordinance was lifted.

The Birmingham Campaign (1963-1964)

A campaign was planned to use sit-ins, kneel-ins in churches, and a march to the county building to launch a voter registration campaign. Birmingham obtained an injunction forbidding all such protests, but the balk community believed this to be unconstitutional and defied it --> they were arrested. While in jail, King wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. When the campaign began to falter, the "Children's Crusade" called students to leave school and join the protests --> the event became news when more than 600 students were jailed. The next day, more students joined the protest. The media was present; its valid national broadcast showed children being knocked down with fire hoses and attacked by dogs sent after them. The resulting public outrage caused the Kennedy administration to intervene --> about a month later, a committee was formed to end hiring discrimination, arrange for the release of jailed protesters, and establish normative communication between blacks and whites. Four months later, the KKK bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four girls.

Freedom Rides

Activists traveled by bus throughout the Deep South to desegregate bus terminals (required by federal law). Those protestors undertook extremely dangerous protests. Many buses were firebombed and attacked by the KKK, and protesters were beaten. They were crammed into small, airless jail cells and mistreated in many ways. Key figures in this effort included John Lewis, James Lawson, Diane Nash, Bob Moses, James Bevel, Charles McDew, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Jones, Lonnie King, Julian Bond, Hosea Williams, and Stokeley Carmichael.

The March on Washington (1963)

This was a march on Washington for jobs and freedom. It was a combined effort of all major civil rights organizations. The goals of the march were: Meaningful civil rights laws. A massive federal works program. Full and fair employment. Decent housing. The right to vote. Adequate integrated education. It was at this march that MLK Jr. made the famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

The Desegregation of Little Rock (1957)

Following up the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 (Equal Protection Clause), the Arkansas school board voted to integrate the school system (FINALLY!). The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chose Arkansas as the place to push integration because it was considered a relatively progressive Southern state. However, the governor called up the National Guard to prevent nine (9) black students from attending Little Rock's Central High School.

Formation of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) (1957)

Formed by MLK, John Duffy, Rev. C. D. Steele, Rev. T. J. Jemison, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Ella Baker, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Stanley Levison. Provided training and assistance to local efforts to fight segregation through nonviolence (central doctrine and a major method of fighting segregation and racism).

Sit-ins --> "jail-no-bail" (1960s)

In 1960, students began to stage "sit-ins" at local lunch counters and stores as a means of protesting the refusal of those businesses to desegregate. The first was in Greensboro, North Carolina --> a rash of similar campaigns throughout the South. Demonstrators began to protest at parks, beaches, theaters, museums, and libraries. When arrested, the protesters made "jail-no-bail" pledges. This called attention to their cause, and put the financial burden of providing jail space and food on the cities.

Selma to Montgomery marches (1965)

MLK came to the city to lead a series of marches to promote voter registration and equality --> he and over 200 demonstrators were arrested and jailed. Each successive march was met with violent resistance by police. In March, a group of over 600 intended to walk from Selma to Montgomery (54 miles). New media were on hand when, six blocks in the march, state and local law enforcement officials attacked the marchers with billy clubs, tear gas, rubber tubes wrapped in barb wire, and bullwhips --> protesters were driven back to Selma. National broadcast of the footage provoked a nationwide response --> LBJ again used public sentiment to achieve passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law changed the political landscape of the South irrevocably.