Civil Rights for African Americans
Aimed to get rid of racial, color, religion, or national orgin discrimination in public and employment places and keep voting rights in Southern States. (1955-1968). Led by: W.E.B. Du Bols, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks.
Civil Rights for Women
Gave women freedom: right to vote, fair wages/equal pay, own property, parental and religious rights, and serve in the military.
Civil Rights for Latin
Americans/Native Americans – Native Americans said in their American Indian Movement that they wanted treaty rights to keep their native land. Latin’s could stay in the country to better lives for their children and got some benefits.
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: oldest and most influential civil rights organization of America. Its purpose is to eliminate racial discrimination and to ensure political, social, educational and economic equality of all persons. Set up on February 12, 1909.
Martin Luther King Jr.
He was a prominent leader in the African American civil rights, an activist, and an American clergyman. He received the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. He also gave his “I Have a Dream” famous speech in 1963. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Malcolm X
Became a campaigner for black rights. He was a US political activist and an African American Muslim minister. He was a courageous advocate for rights of African Americans. Became a member of Nation of Islam while in prison in 1952. He was assassinated in New York while giving a speech.
Jackie Robinson – He was the first African American to play in the major leagues. Born in 1919.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Took out the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1869 which allowed states-sponsored segregation. On May 17 1954, the Warren Court decided that “separated educational facilities are inherently unequal”.
De-segregating the US Military
During WW2, most black troops only served as truck drivers and stevedores. This made it possible for African American’s to actually fight in the wars.
Little Rock 9
In 1957, a group of nine African Americans were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School. They were initially prevented from going into racially segregated schools. Troops from Arkansas National Guard wouldn’t let them go into the school on their first day. They were followed by threatening lynching mobs.
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott – In 1955, it was rule for African American riders had to sit in the back of the bus. They were also expected to give up their seat if a white rider wanted to sit. But Mrs. Rosa Parks was too tired and did not want to surrender her seat. So police were called and Mrs. Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955. She was secretary to the president of the NAACP. Dr. King said the only way they could fight back against this was to boycott the bus company.
Greensboro sitins
A series of nonviolent protests by four African Americans in a whites only Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina. They went in to order coffee, and the staff refused to serve them, following store policy. They ended up staying till the store closed. The next day, more than 20 black students came to the store to join the sit in. The staff still refused to serve them. The store finally became desegregated, serving both blacks and whites.
Freedom Rides
When civil right activists would ride on buses to segregated southern towns to test the US Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia of 1960 – outlawed racial segregation in restaurants and waiting rooms in terminal buses that crossed state lines. The Freedom riders rode public transportation systems in the South to challenge local laws that enforced segregation. The Freedom riders were arrested for violating Jim Crow laws and state.
Birmingham, Alabama 1963
“Project Confrontation” was the name given by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to challenge the Jim Crow System in Birmingham, Alabama. They led an attack, and over the next two months protests were organized. Over 3,000 people were arrested. The whole thing was chaotic and four young girls died in a Baptist Church by a bomb.
Mississippi Summer Project( Freedom Summer project)
Program launched in June to register as many African voters as possible in Mississippi in 1964. It was also set up a lot of Freedom Schools and Houses in small towns to help the black people.
Selma, Alabama 1965
Public faculties were very segregated, having “white-only” lunch counters and having “white” sections of movie theaters. Over half of the city’s population was black. The blacks were tired of not being able to vote, so they walked 12 miles per day for four days to Montgomery. The group started off with 3,200 African Americans and ended up with 25,000.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The act prohibits states from discriminating black voters.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ended racial segregation, and major discrimination against women and blacks.
Stokely Carmichael
was a Trinidadian American black activist. He was the priminister of the Black Panther Party. He made the term “Black Power” popular.
Black Panthers
Active in the US from 1966 to 1982. It was an African American revolutionary organization involved with the Black power movement.
Affirmative action
Its purpose is to promote equal opportunity, ensuring young people that they are included in all programs in government and educational settings.
Jesse Jackson
is an American civil rights activist and a Baptist Minister. He participated in the Selma Montgomery marches in 1965. He was also a Democratic president candidate in 1984 and 1988
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