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Why Sit Here and Die?
Maria Stewart became the first known black women to speak publicly about abolition and women's rights paving the way for future activists. -
Reconstruction
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments aimed to grant freedom, citizenship, and voting rights to Black Americans but faced resistance. -
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases
Ida B. Wells investigation exposed how lynching was used to oppress Black communities. Her work sparked activism and anti-lynching campaigns. -
Sweat
Zora Neale Hurston- The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement celebrating Black art, literature, and identity. Writers like Hurston used storytelling to highlight issues such as racial and gender oppression. -
Rosa Parks
Parks refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the movement. Her quiet resistance challenged segregation laws and led to a Supreme Court ruling that declared bus segregation unconstitutional. She becomes a symbol of courage and the power of peaceful protest. -
Greensboro sit-ins
Four Black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Their peaceful protest sparked a nationwide sit-in movement, leading to the desegregation of many public spaces. This event demonstrated the power of nonviolent resistance and youth activism in the movement. -
Freedom rides
Activists, both Black and white, rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings banning segregation in public transportation. They faced brutal violence from white mobs and arrests, but their efforts pressured the federal government to enforce desegregation laws. The Freedom Rides highlighted the deep-rooted racism in the South and the courage of civil rights activists. -
Birmingham Children's Crusade
Thousands of Black schoolchildren marched in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest segregation. Police, under the orders of Commissioner Bull Connor, used fire hoses and police dogs against the children, and the shocking images were broadcast nationwide. The event increased support for the Civil Rights Movement and led to President John F. Kennedy pushing for new civil rights legislation. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
He delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for racial equality and justice. His nonviolent approach and leadership in protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma March shaped the movement. His work led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 -
Malcolm X
He was a powerful advocate for Black empowerment and self-defense. His speech urged Black Americans to fight for their rights "by any means necessary" and challenged the slow progress of integration. Though controversial, his ideas influenced later movements like Black power and racial justice activism. -
Fannie Lou Hamer
A sharecropper turned activist, spoke and voter suppression and racial injustice in Mississippi. Her powerful testimony exposed the violence Black voters faced and pressured the Democratic Party to recognize Black representation. She co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and fought for voting rights. -
John Lewis
Lewis was brutally beaten by police white crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The televised violence shocked the nation and pushed lawmakers to pass the voting rights act of 1965. Lewis later became a lifelong advocate for civil rights in Congress. -
Loving v. Virginia Decision
The Supreme Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
The case was brought by Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who had been arrested for their marriage. This landmark decision struck down anti-miscegenation laws and was a major victory for racial equality. -
Poor People's Campaign
Organized by Martin
Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC), this campaign aimed to address economic justice for poor Americans of all races. After King's assassination, the movement continued with the "Resurrection City" protest in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators camped out to demand economic reforms.
Though it did not achieve all its goals, it broadened the civil rights agenda to include poverty and economic justice. -
Formation of the Rainbow Coalition
Led by Fred Hampton, this Coalition United black, Latino, and poor white activists to fight for racial and economic justice, challenging systemic oppression.