1. The Civil rights Movement
Chapter 27

2. Jackie Robinson breaks the color line
Date: 1947
Description: Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers becoming the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues

3. Truman’s desegregation of the military
Date: 1948
Description:
Background: Truman appt. Committee on Civil Rights to investigate race relations; Truman attempted to implement suggestions, but Congress did not support
Truman used executive power to order the desegregation of military

4. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS
Date: 1954
Description: NAACP helped organize case; overturned the “separate but equal” principle established by 1896 Plessey v. Ferguson case; U.S. Supreme Court (Chief Justice Earl Warren) decided segregated public education violated the U.S. Constitution

5. Little Rock, Arkansas Date: 1957
Description: Central High School was to be integrated
Gov. Orval Faubus opposed & called Arkansas National Guard to block 9 African American students entrance
Pres. Eisenhower sent the National Guard to protect them; National Guard stayed rest of the school year

6. Montgomery Bus Boycott
Date:
Description: started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to white passenger, arrested
boycott called on African Americans to not ride the bus system until the company changed segregation policy – lasted more than1year
Martin Luther King led boycott – introduced non-violent protest
Supreme Court ruled law segregating city busses unconstitutional

7. Formation of SCLC Date: 1957
Description: After Montgomery Bus Boycott, King & minister Ralph Abernathy est. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to fight for civil rights
Membership: mostly southern African American ministers
promoted nonviolent resistance

8. Formation of SNCC Date: 1960
Description: Ella Baker, granddaughter of slaves, helped young civil rights activists form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Goal: create grass-roots (community) movement that involved all classes of African Americans in pursuing equality

9. Sit-ins
Date: 1960
Description: 1st sit-in - Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC; 4 college students sat at counter, and stayed until closing time when refused service
sparked similar protests across the U.S.

10. Freedom Rides
Date: 1961
Description: CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) organized “freedom rides” through Deep South to protest segregation on interstate bus lines
Traveled in 2 buses from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans
Alabama – one bus firebombed, 2nd attacked by white mob
Kennedy got state police to protect riders, but more than 300 were arrested for disturbing the peace

11. King’s arrest & Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Date: 1963
Description: King joined protesters in Birmingham and was arrested; from jail he wrote a letter explaining why civil rights activists were tired of waiting for change (pg 1188 – 89)

12. Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Read the excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and answer the following questions:
What have the white clergymen asked King to do? Explain King’s response to them.
What does King say are the effects of segregation?

13. March on Washington & “I Have a Dream” Speech
Date: 1963
Description: organized by NAACP, SCLC, & SNCC; 200,000 demonstrators marched on capital to put pressure on Congress to pass a new civil rights bill
King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial

14. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Date: 1964
Description: signed by Pres. Johnson (Kennedy assassinated Nov. 1963)
banned segregation in public accommodations
gave federal gov’t ability to make state & local boards desegregate their schools
allowed Justice Dept. to prosecute individuals who violated people’s civil rights
outlawed discrimination in employment – est. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

15. Freedom Summer Date: 1964 Description: organized by SNCC
1,000 volunteers (mostly black & white students) went to Mississippi & focused on registering African Americans to vote
also formed Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as an alternative to the all-white regular Democratic Party
3 civil rights workers disappeared (shot & killed)

16. Voting Rights Act of 1965 Date: 1965
Description: banned literacy tests & gave the federal gov’t the power to oversee voting registration & elections in states that had discriminated against minorities

17. Martin Luther King’s assassination
Date: 1968
Description: assassinated in Memphis, TN on April 4th while on the balcony outside his motel room; James Earl Ray, a white ex-convict was charged with the murder

18. Television’s Impact: Civil Rights Movement
Millions watched King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on TV – helped spread message of Civil Rights Movement
TV coverage of police & white violence against civil rights protesters outraged nation (example: campaign in Birmingham, March on Selma, Alabama)