GENESIS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
1. WORLD WAR II- Soldiers were given an
opportunity to advance because of their abilities as a
soldier not based on color.
2. DESEGREGATION OF THE MILITARY1947 (military based on performance not on race)
Linda Brown in 1954
3. Brown vs the Board of Education 1954 The
Supreme Court overturned an 1896 decision. (Plessy
v Ferguson) The Supreme Court ruled that separate
but equal was not legal. The Supreme Court
declared segregation to be illegal.
4. Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott of 1955
Rosa Parks refused to move to the rear section of the
bus. (01 December 1955) The front seats were
reserved as “white only.” Parks was arrested.
Reverend Martin L. King began a protest to end
segregation on the Montgomery buses.
Rosa Parks
5. Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas (Central High
School) 1957
Black students were prevented from entering a
“white” school by Governor Orval Faubus. President
Eisenhower called in the 101st Airborne to allow
black students entry into the school.
Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus
6. Creation of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference in 1957, by Reverend Martin King
Reverend King hoped to end discrimination through
non violent means. The methods of the SCLC would
be through peaceful forms of resistance.
7. University of Mississippi in October 1962
James Meredith, a veteran of the Korean War,
attempted to attend college. Governor Ross Barnett
stood at the front door of the university and
prevented Meredith from entering. Meredith was
banned for racial reasons. He had met all necessary
academic and financial requirements.
8.) 28 August 1963 “I have a dream speech” by
Reverend King
DJN
I say to you... in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is
a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I
have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to
be self-evident: that all men are created equal...
I have a dream that my four children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their
character.
I have a dream today...
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And
when we allow freedom to ring... we will speed up
that day when all God’s children, black men, and
white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will sing... Free at Last! Free at Last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
9.) JFK began legislation in 1963 for Civil Rights
but was assassinated before Congress voted.
10 .) The Civil Rights Act passed Congress in
1964. (President Lyndon Johnson)
Equality is a work in progress. Events in
2014 & 2015 demonstrate the need for
more work.