CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
1947 Jackie Robinson became the first African American in the Major Leagues
1948 President Truman integrated the military
1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Charles Hamilton Houston took photographs of the poor school conditions throughout the south for African
Americans.
Linda Brown was an African American student who wanted to attend the school closer to her home. The
principal denied her father’s request. Instead, she needed to travel several miles to the all-black, segregated
school. Thurgood Marshall (who will later be the first African American on the Supreme Court) was her
lawyer. There were several similar cases, but the Court combined them into one case. In a 9-0 decision, the
Supreme Court declared segregation in schools to be unconstitutional. This overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson.
This is considered the symbolic beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.
1955 Emmett Till was a young black boy visiting relatives in Mississippi. He whistled (or had a lisp) at a white
lady. Her husband and brother-in-law killed Till and threw his body in the water. They were arrested but
found not guilty. The mother had an open casket funeral.
1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Claudette Colvin was
supposed to be the symbol but she got pregnant and the leadership didn’t think she would be a good
example.
Montgomery Bus Boycott was led by MLK Jr.
Browder vs. Gayle (PLEASE KNOW THIS) was the court ruling that stated segregation in public transportation
was unconstitutional. This overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson.
1957 Little Rock Nine – These nine students were chosen to be the first blacks to attend Little Rock Central
H.S. When they showed up for school, Governor Orval Faubus used armed guards to prevent them from
entering. President Eisenhower took the National Guard under his command and had them escort the
students into school. These students faced discrimination, taunting and abuse. The next year, Governor
Faubus closed the school for all students. The football team could not defend its state championship.
1957 Strom Thurmond gave a 24 hour and 18 minute filibuster against a civil rights act.
1960 Greensboro, N.C. college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. This was a form of
civil disobedience.
1963 MLK Jr. wrote Letter From Birmingham Jail
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists trying to expose how segregation still existed.
1964 Civil Rights Act - this ended discrimination and segregation in all public facilities. Lyndon B. Johnson
worked tirelessly to get Congress to pass this legislation. He was very skilled at working with Congress, unlike
JFK who was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
1964 24th amendment – abolished the poll tax
1965 Voting Rights Act
1965 Malcolm X, a more radical leader, was assassinated
1967 Urban race riots – Watts, Newark and Detroit
1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first African American on the Supreme Court
1968 Southern Strategy – During Reconstruction, Radical Republicans in Congress wanted to punish the
former Confederates. Confederates were thus voting for Democrats, and continued to do so for close to a
century. When the Democrat FDR was president, he received votes from all geographic sections of the
country, but he did NOT support the Jim Crow legislation. Southerners were still voting for him. In 1968,
Republicans realized that they could gain votes from the Democratic South by supporting states rights. This
was coded to me “segregation.”