Civil Rights

Board v. Board of Education

• In the early 1950s, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America.
• Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.
• In Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away.

Brown v. Board of Education

• On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the decision of the unanimous court: “We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Montgomery, Alabama

• 1952: Segregation on interstate railways was declared unconstitutional
• 1954: A similar judgment concerning interstate buses
• 1955: Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott
• Rosa Parks, a tailor's assistant who was tired after a hard day's work, refused to give up her seat to a white man. She was arrested.
• The Rev. Martin Luther King, a pastor at the local Baptist Church, helped organize protests against bus segregation.
• 1956: U.S. Supreme Court forced the bus company to accept integration.

Little Rock, Arkansas

• September 1957: Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used the National Guard to stop black children from attending the local high school in Little Rock.
• Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops.
• The 101st Airborne Division was sent to protect eight black children going to Little Rock Central High School.

March on Washington

• August 28, 1963: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
• An estimated 250,000 to 400,000 people attended the march.
• Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech, I Have a Dream.

Martin Luther King Jr.

• March 1968: King went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city's sanitation workers.
• April 3: King made his famous speech, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. A sniper killed King the next day.
• Riots in 125 cities and 46 people were killed
• March 1969: James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray later claimed that he was innocent of the killing, but so far no one else has been charged with the crime.

Malcolm X

• Early 1960s: Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, emerged as an important figure in the Nation of Islam and became head of the mosque in Harlem.
• Founder and editor of Muhammad Speaks
• 1963: Suspended after saying the assassination of JFK was a "case of chickens coming home to roost.”
• 1964: Malcolm X left the Black Muslims and established his own religious organization, the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
• 1965: Assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam

Freedom Riders

• 1961: Segregation on transportation continued in some parts of the Deep South
• The Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) organized “freedom rides.”
• After training in non-violent techniques, black and white volunteers sat next to each other as they traveled through the Deep South. In Anniston, Alabama, one bus was destroyed and riders on another were attacked.
• U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent a special representative to accompany the riders. He was beaten.

Mississippi Burning

• 1964: CORE, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the NAACP organized a voter registration campaign.
• James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were killed.
• 1967: Seven men--members of the Ku Klux Klan--were convicted under federal law of depriving the men of their civil rights.

Watts

• August 11, 1965: Two white police officers arrested two African Americans for a minor vehicle violation in Watts, a predominantly black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Local youths quickly surrounded the police car.
• When the police sent reinforcements into Watts they were attacked with stones and bottles. A five-day riot ensued with 34 people dead and property damage of more than $40 million.

Black Panthers

• October 1966: Bobby Seale and Huey Newton formed the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.
• The Black Panthers said the organization was formed “to protect local communities from police brutality and racism.”
• About 2,000 members throughout the country. FBI Director Hoover described the Black Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country."
• Twenty-four Black Panthers died in gunfights with police.

Laws

• The Civil Rights Act of 1957 provided for the establishment of the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote.
• The law also established a federal Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and he recommend corrective measures.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1960 enabled federal judges to appoint referees to hear persons claiming that state election officials had denied them the right to register and vote.

Laws

• The 1964 Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination illegal in public places, such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels.
• The law also required employers to provide equal employment opportunities.
• Projects involving federal funds could now be cut off if there was evidence of discriminated based on color, race, or national origin.

Laws

• 1965: President Lyndon Baines Johnson persuaded Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.
• The law removed the right of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections.
• Johnson argued: "Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes."