Civil Rights 1950’s

1947 April 15 1947- Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in Major League Baseball- plays for the Brooklyn Dodgers

Segregation in schools 1896- Plessey v Ferguson- separate but equal schools 1952 Brown v BOE Topeka Kansas Thurgood Marshall- lawyer for the NAACP argued for Brown Court ruled in 1954- racial segregation illegal in public schools 1955- Supreme Court issued ruling instructing federal courts to end school segregation “with all deliberate speed”

Linda Brown

1957 Little Rock 9 African Americans (Little Rock 9) went to an all white Central High School Eisenhower orders the 101 Airborne (1,000+ soldiers) to protect State National Guard ordered by governor to not go.

Montgomery Bus Boycott Dec. 1, 1955- Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up her seat on bus to a white man. To protest her arrest, @50,000 African Americans boycotted bus system. Boycott led by 26 year old Martin Luther King Jr. Boycott worked Nov. 1956- Supreme Court ruled segregation laws unconstitutional

Civil Rights Act of 1957 Made it a federal crime to prevent qualified persons from voting. Set up Civil Rights Commission 1960 strengthened courts power to protect voting rights of African Americans

1960’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Nonviolent resistance or passive resistance (like Gandhi in India) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Sit-ins at lunch counters

Freedom Rides Supported by JFK Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Freedom riders took bus trips through the South to draw attention to Civil Rights law violations Busses were attack and fire bombed

1962- University of Mississippi James Meredith- 1st African American admitted to Ole Miss Governor Ross Barnett refused to allow Meredith in (was there in person to block the door) JFK federal marshals, Meredith enrolled

1963 Medger Evers- NAACP Field Secretary assassinated A 1961 protest in Albany Georgia was nonviolent on both sides- protesters and police. Birmingham 1963-much different Nonviolent protesters Police turned fire hoses on the protesters MLK arrested, writes famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

1963 August 28, 1963- March on Washington MLK gives “I have a dream” speech http://youtu.be/HJ 6frC7hboc

1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 JFK wanted a Civil Rights bill to pass, LBJ got it passed June 1964- Voter Registration Drives in Mississippi: Freedom Summer 3 college students disappeared: Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney Bodies were found 6 weeks later Story became subject of movie Mississippi

1965 Selma Alabama Protest march from Selma to Montgomery (March 1965) Governor George Wallace banned protest Police attack marchers More came to join march Shocked by violence- LBJ presses for a speedy passage of a voting rights act in a joint session of Congress Voting Rights Act of 1965 passes in August

Nation of Islam Malcolm X (aka Malcolm Little, son of a Baptist Minister) Supported separatism & freedom to be brought about “by any means necessary” Assassinated in February 1965

Black Power Called for black separatism David Dennis-June 1964- tired of nonviolent approach “I’m sick and tired of going to the funerals of black men who have been murdered by white men…. I’ve got vengeance in my heart tonight” Stokley Carmichael would become associated with Black Power movement

The Black Panthers Liked Black Power message Organized by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland California “Black people will not be free until we are free to determine our own destiny.” Called for: Land Bread Housing Education Clothing Justice Peace

Bobby Seale Panthers today in Philadelphia on election day 2012 http://youtu.be/CfRINLuy_4A Panthers today in Philadelphia on election day 2012

Created black defense groups dedicated to defending their communities. Appeared in public carried firearms. (illegal in California at the time) Often made national headlines

1968 Poor People’s Campaign– Ralph Abernathy Marched to Capitol Hill to protest misuse of government spending April 4, 1968- MLK assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray. King was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike.-gave a speech at a dinner the night before