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Brown vs. Board of Education
"Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) was a Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, declaring "separate but equal" facilities inherently unequal. This decision, which overturned "Plessy v. Ferguson", was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement and led to the desegregation of schools across the U.S. -
Emmett Till Murder
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American, was lynched in 1955 after being accused of flirting with a white woman in Mississippi. His brutal murder and open-casket funeral sparked outrage and became a key event in the Civil Rights Movement. The two white men responsible were acquitted, but the case helped ignite the fight for racial justice. -
Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her act of defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a year-long protest led by Martin Luther King Jr. that led to the desegregation of public buses in the city and became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. -
The Little Rock Nine and Integration
The Little Rock Nine were a group of Black students who integrated Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, facing intense racism and violence. Their bravery marked a key moment in the fight for school desegregation. -
Greensboro Woolworth's Sit-ins
The Greensboro Woolworth's Sit-ins began in 1960 when four Black college students peacefully protested segregation by sitting at a "whites-only" lunch counter. Their actions sparked a wave of sit-ins across the country and helped advance the Civil Rights Movement. -
Freedom Rides
The Freedom Rides of 1961 were protests where Black and white activists rode interstate buses together into the segregated South to challenge illegal bus segregation, facing violence but drawing national attention to civil rights. -
MLK's Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) defended nonviolent protest against racism and criticized white moderates for not supporting the civil rights struggle, becoming a key text of the movement. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in 1963, where over 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to demand racial equality and economic justice. It was here that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Birmingham Baptist Church Bombing
The 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four African American girls and injured others. The racially motivated attack by white supremacists sparked national outrage and further galvanized the Civil Rights Movement. -
24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections, removing a barrier that had been used to keep many African Americans and poor people from voting. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination, becoming a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement. -
"Bloody Sunday"/Selma to Montgomery March
"Bloody Sunday" occurred on March 7, 1965, when peaceful civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, were violently attacked by police while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The event shocked the nation and helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned racial discrimination in voting, protecting the rights of African Americans and others by outlawing literacy tests and other barriers. It was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement.