Major Events of the Civil Rights Movement
Greensboro Sit-Ins
When young African American students would sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Caroline. They would refuse to leave after being denied service. This soon spread through college towns in the South. The Greensboro four were the first four young black men who sat in. All four were from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. They were inspired by the nonviolent movements used by Gandhi.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Political and social protest of the Alabama public transportation system due to it's policy of racial segregation
Great Migration
Starting in the 1910s. A boom of migration of African-Americans from the South (fleeing from racial violence) to the North (pursuing job opportunities left behind by WWI soldiers).
Black Power Movement
The Black Power movement mainly focused on racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions for African American people in the United States. Promoted black interest and allowed them to gain some kind of power over people in a way. '2
Civil Rights Act (1964)
The Civil Rights Act prohibited unequal voter registration required based on race, along with banning discrimination in schools and employment
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 by both black and white activists. Founders included W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, and Ida B. Wells.
Impact of SNCC on Civil Rights Movement
The SNCC led many movements, including the Black Power Movement, which was a movement that advocated for equality for all black people. This movement would play a part in uplifting the African American community.
March on Washington (1963)
28 August 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream Speech" Almost 250,000 participants
Impact of Freedom Rides on the Civil Rights Movement
436 individuals took part in at least 60 different Freedom Rides. They were met with violence, which inspired others to join in the freedom rides and participate in other civil rights movements. The continued violence forced action, and the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations that stopped segregation on interstate transportation.
Impact of NAACP on Civil Rights Movement
They used the judicial system and peaceful protests to advance their agenda of justice for African Americans. They were known for their anti-lynching campaign and had many major legal victories.
Impact of Civil Rights Act (1964) on the Civil Rights Movement
This act was monumental for the Civil Rights Movement, dismantling the system of Jim Crow laws in the South and weakening the systematic racism and discrimination within the South. Although racism most certainly did not end with the passing of this law, it served as a major accomplishment for the Civil Rights Movement.
Impact of Fair Housing Act (1968) on the Civil Rights Movement
This allowed African Americans to buy property and not have to worry about being discriminated against by others. Made African American feel safe when buying a house. It increased black population in urban areas from 6.1 to 15.3 million.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
This civil rights group was formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the Civil Rights Movement. Their goal was to eliminate segregation in the South.
Impact of Plessy v Ferguson on Civil Rights Movement
This event prevented constitutional challenges to racial segregation for many years. This ruling ultimately made segregation legal in America.
Impact of "Bloody Sunday" on the Civil Rights Movement
This further showed the segregation that was occuring where people were dying and being hurt to advocate for the rights of minorities. Also looked very bad for the police who killed these people in the media. Police are supposed to serve and protect--when they attacked peaceful marchers, it became clear they have the wrong priorities.
Impact of Little Rock Nine on Civil Rights Movement
This inspired more African Americans to enroll and attend predominantly white schools. They ushered in integration within education.
Impact of Black Power Movement on the Civil Rights Movement
This movement uplifted the African American community and gave them a sense of pride in their history and culture. African inspired styles, literature, and stories become more popular. African American history classes began being offered in college.
Impact of Smith v. Allwright on Civil Rights Movement
This ruling moved towards less segregation used by political parties and it voting situations. It denied the previously used white primaries to happen again and attempted to further integrate African Americans politically.
Impact of March on Washington on the Civil Rights Movement
Advocated for civil and economic rights Resulted in the 24th Amendment (no more poll tax) and MLK winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Plessy v. Ferguson
This was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "seperate but equal" doctrine. An African American passenger, named Homer Plessy, refused to sit in a railroad car for blacks. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Plessy's argument that stated his constitutional rights were violated. The Court ruled that the 14th amendment only applied to civil and political rights, not social rights.
"Double-V Campaign"
This was a movement during WWII where African Americans fought for both a victory against Hitler in Europe and a victory on the homefront for African Americans with civil rights and an end to discrimination
Impact of "Double-V Campaign" on Civil Rights Movement
Through the Double-V Campaign, African Americans worked to further black advancement. As fellow soldiers, black and white people alike fought side by side for the same cause, forcing people to put the issue of race aside in exchange for winning the war. In the United States, the war effort on the homefront required factories to become integrated due to the need for more workers as many men left to fight in the war. This served as a major catalyst for black advancement as a whole.
Impact of Great Migration on Civil Rights Movement
Urbanization created a space for an African-American middle class and the Harlem Renaissance. When WWI veterans returned to see African-Americans in their neighborhoods and factories, a wave of racial violence resulted.
Voting Rights Act (1965)
Basically a law that prevented states from using literacy tests and poll taxes that prevented African Americans from being able to vote
Congress of Racial Equality
CORE was an African American civil rights organization. Founded on the University of Chicago campus in 1942, It initially had a non-violent approach to racial segregation.
Impact of Greensboro Sit-Ins on Civil Rights Movement
Even though many of the students were arrested due to trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace. The students' actions made Woolworths and other establishments change their policies to segregationists. Gave African Americans a new sense of pride and power.
Freedom Rides
Freedom riders were black and white civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the South to challenge the lack of enforcement against segregated public buses.
Little Rock Nine
Group of nine African American children who enrolled in a white school in 1957. While Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools in 1954, these 9 students were the first to act upon the ruling.
Smith v. Allwright
In 1944, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it in Texas that it was unconstitutional for the state to delegate its authority over elections to parties in order to allow discrimination to be practiced.
"Bloody Sunday"
In 1965, protest marches were held walking from Selma to Montgomery where Alabama state troops came and began to beat those who marched protesting for equal rights.
Impact of Voting Rights Act (1965) on the Civil Rights Movement
It allowed African Americans to have a say in the way the country was run, and so they were more represented in government. It gave African Americans the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and improved voter turnout.
Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Civil Rights Movement
It impacted the civil rights movement significantly because it allowed black and white students to be desegregated in schools and attend schools with other people of not the same race.
Impact of Freedom Summer on the Civil Rights Movement
It set up dozens of Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local black population. Locals resented the campaign and triggered waves of violence. Over the course of the ten-week project:1,062 people were arrested (out-of-state volunteers and locals), 80 Freedom Summer workers were beaten, 37 churches were bombed or burned, 30 Black homes or businesses were bombed or burned, 4 civil rights workers were killed (one in a head-on collision), 4 people were critically wounded, and at least 3 Mississippi blacks were murdered because of their support for the Civil Rights Movement
Freedom Summer
It was a 1964 voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of registered black voters in Mississippi. Over 700 mostly white volunteers joined African Americans in Mississippi to fight against voter intimidation and discrimination at the polls.
Legal Defense Fund
It's the country's first and foremost civil and human rights law firm. It was launched at a time when the nation's aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state sponsored racial inequality.
Impact of Legal Defense Fund on Civil Rights Movement
LDF's mission has always been to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. The most famous case of LDF was Brown v. Board of Education in which the United States Supreme Court explicitly outlawed de jure racial segregation of public education facilities. During the civil rights protests of the 1960s, LDF represented the legal arm of the civil rights movement and provided counsel for Martin Luther King Jr.
Fair Housing Act (1968)
Law created in attempt to limit discrimination when dealing with housing so that every American has the equal oppirtunity to find a place to live
Impact of Montgomery Bus Boycott on Civil Rights Movement
Led to 1956 supreme court decision which declared racial segregation on public transportation unconstitutional
Brown v. Board of Education
state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional. separate but equal approach to public schooling.
Impact of Congress of Racial Equality on Civil Rights Movement
worked with other civil rights groups, launched a series of initiatives: the Freedom Rides (aimed at desegregating public facilities) the Freedom Summer voter registration project, and 1963 March on Washington.
