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GI Bill
The GI Bill became a catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement as many Black veterans from World War II and then later war was able to reap the financial and educational benefits of the bill. These benefits elevated many Black families and communities to the middle class. Their position in the middle class gave many African Americans power and independence, and they left later generations with similar benefits. With more educated Blacks and leaders, the Civil Rights Movement gained traction. -
"To Secure These Rights" Report
President Truman ordered a report about race and rights issues in the U.S. During this time, Truman needed the support of Black voters who had established themselves up North. Additionally, during the Cold War, America was in a constant struggle to "one-up" the Soviet Union whenever it could. Segregation back home was a stain on America's philosophy of equality and democracy. Truman tried to fix this with executive orders and collaborating for greater racial equality policies in Congress. -
States Rights Democratic Party Created (Dixiecrats)
As Truman shifted to granting more racial equality to Blacks in America, some of his fellow Democrats disagreed with him, especially in the South. Though they and Truman were New Dealers, they contrasted in their views of civil policies as Southern Democrats argued segregation was a Southern way of life and the federal government acting on it was unconstitutional. Thus, they created their own coalition in the Democratic party which would fracture it and many even left to the Republican party. -
Brown V Board of Education
The NAACP and Thurgood Marshall led a case around discrimination at public schools. They brought their case to the Supreme Court where the Supreme Court established the segregation of public schools unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. This was the strategy the NAACP and its lawyers used to broaden racial equality by challenging segregationalist policies in court and taking them down one by one. This was typically done with the segregation's general breach of the 14th amendment. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In one of the first and biggest organized demonstrations in the Civil Rights Movement, Black people decided not to ride the segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama after an organized arrest of Rosa Parks sparked outrage after she denied giving a White person her seat on the bus. With the leadership of up-and-coming figures like MLK, the boycott was successful as the bus companies were going under and were forced to desegregate so that Black people would ride again, their biggest customers. -
Emmett Till murder
Emmett was a boy from Chicago who had been murdered on a trip to Mississippi where racial tensions were extremely high. Whites thought themselves very superior to Blacks and often treated them violently like animals. After Till talked to a White woman, her husband beat and killed Emmett and was then declared innocent by the court despite clear evidence it was him. This caused outrage about the suffering Black people had to face as second-class citizens and catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference is Established
The SCLC was an important Civil Rights Movement organization that centered around one of the most important institutions for Black communities, the church. Church officials were often leaders of Civil Rights activist groups such as MLK. They followed a doctrine of peaceful protest as they believed that the only way to achieve equality in a White society was to make sure they weren't perceived as dangerous protestors but simply people seeking equality; this explained their sit-ins and boycotts. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
As the Civil Rights Movement gained traction, students in colleges also demanded equality and wanted to involve themselves in the movement as well. This led to the creation of SNCC. This organization first gained prominence with the sit-ins across the country where Blacks would wait to get served at segregated diners. These were successful and the importance of young people in the movement was recognized. Later, the organization would have a focus on Black power and more radical ideas. -
Freedom Riders
Another important Civil Rights organization of the time was the Congress of Racial Equality or CORE. This organization developed the Freedom Rides which was a movement for racial equality by riding integrated buses across the country. This challenged previous segregation found on roadways and in which people of all colors could participate. However, after a bus was attacked and burned by white racists, JFK had to send federal officials to protect the freedom riders from White racists. -
Demonstrations in Birmingham
The South became a battleground during the Civil Rights Movement period. The South in general was more segregated than the North so Black leaders such as MLK often made protests and marches in Southern cities to oppose their tendencies. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the country and when protestors were beaten in what was known as Bloody Sunday, another peaceful protest was organized by MLK who was arrested during the march. Here he wrote "A letter from a Birmingham Jail." -
March on Wahsington
This was a huge rally in Washington D.C. in which hundreds of thousands of people went to D.C. to show their support for the Civil Rights Movement. Here, MLK made his "I Have a Dream" speech in which he highlights his goals of achieving a society where people weren't discriminated against and were judged based on their character and not on the color of their skin. This march marked the centennial anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation as well. -
Civil Rights Act Passed
After JFK's death and constant pressure for a guarantee of civil rights for black people, LBJ began joining forces with figures such as MLK to sign the Civil Rights Act which would ban segregation in any public work and would promote racial equality. This was an important milestone for racial equality in America as segregation was officially banned but it didn't solve all the problems the Black community faced because of inequality such as economic unequalness often hurting black communities. -
Freedom Summer
This was a movement that was supposed to continue the message of the Civil Rights movement after the Civil Rights Act was passed. The movement was meant to spread awareness of the Black voter suppression found in Southern states, especially Mississippi. However, it saw huge resistance as racist Whites wanted to make sure that the power stayed with them, and beatings and arrests took place. Though it was not entirely successful, it did inspire the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Voting Rights Act
A year after the Civil Rights Act was signed by LBJ, he also signed the Voting Rights Act which banned the use of literacy tests for elections so people could vote. Previously, Black communities had their voting rights taken through things such as literacy tests which aimed to exclude black communities because they didn't have levels of education like Whites did to pass the test. Additionally, whites often threatened Black voters which the act prevented by ending officials to suppressed areas. -
Black Power Movement
After the Civil Rights Act was passed, people still had unrest as racial inequality still found its way into Black communities. Some reasoned that the American system was so inherently racist that guaranteeing civil rights for Blacks wouldn't just be enough for true equality where Blacks had equal social and economic opportunities. Black Power was the philosophy that these black communities had to be independent and separate themselves from White society to do so.