1. Civil Rights Movement, 1954 – 1963

2. May 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
Separate, but equal is unconstitutional
Overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson

3. August 1955 Murder of Emmet Till
14 year old from Chicago visited relatives in Money, Mississippi
“Flirted w/ a 21 year old white woman in a store
Few days later Emmet disappeared
His severely beaten body was found in a river. He had been shot in the head

4. August, 1955 Rob Bryant and half-brother JW Milam arrested and tried
Acquitted by an all white jury
Sold their story to Look Magazine for $4,000. The admitted killing Emmet.

5. December, 1955 – December 1956 Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks boarded a bus December 1st 1955.
Told to move out of her seat to the colored section
Note: she was in the first row of this section, but the whites had no more seats. Blacks had to move to make room by law
Arrested
Triggered a boycott of public transportation.

6. December 1955 – December 1956 Rev. Martin Luther King led the protest
Pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist church
Boycott lasted a year
Ended November 13, 1956
US Supreme Court ruled Montgomery segregation law unconstitutional

7. October, 1957 Central High School, Little Rock Arkansas
To comply w/ Brown v. Board decision
9 black students tried to enroll
National Guard called in to keep them out
President Eisenhower sent Federal Troops to guard the students

8. September, 1962 James Meredith and the University of Mississippi
Meredith sought to enroll as the 1st black student at Univ. of Miss.
Resistance from the University to the Governor.
President Kennedy sent federal marshals in to protect him
Kennedy made a tv speech, during which violence broke out.
During riots, 2 died/300 injured

9. April – May 1963 Birmingham Alabama, Project C
Plan of Dr. King to challenge segregation in Birmingham
C stood for confrontation
Nonviolent protests
Idea: Police chief, Bull Connor, would react w/ violence bringing national attention.
It worked. Conner used dogs and fire hoses

10. King arrested on Good Friday (writes “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”)
White ministers urged King to end protests. He refuses

11. June 11, 1963
George Wallace and the Desegregation of the University of Alabama
Wallace campaign slogan: segregation, now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
Federal court barred any state government from stopping black student enrollment.
Despite ruling, Governor Wallace stood at the door of the Registar, preventing two students from enrolling

12. President Kennedy federalized Alabama National Guard.
They escorted the students to campus and ordered Wallace aside.
They registered. Vivian Malone and James Hood, 1st two black students at the University of Alabama

13. June 11, 1963 Kennedy and the Civil Rights Legislation
Breaks his lukewarm position on civil rights
Bill passes congress in 1964:
Civil Rights Act

14. June 12, 1963 Assassination of Medgar Evers Jackson Mississippi
Violence one day after Kennedy’s speech
Evers was the field secretary of the NAACP.
When Evers arrived home from a protest, he was shot in the back.
Died in his driveway w/ his wife and children there

15. Killer was Byron De La Beckwith, KKK member
Tried and acquitted by an all white jury
Case reopened in 1994, convicted. The film Ghosts of Mississippi depicts the story

16. August 28, 1963 March on Washington
250,000 attended the peaceful demonstration
King gave his “I Have a Dream Speech”
Designed to pressure the quick action of civil rights legislation

17. September 15, 1963 Birmingham bombing A bombing of a church
4 girls killed, 20 injured
4 suspected identified by FBI. All members of KKK
Hoover refused, claiming the civil rights activist set the bomb for publicity.
40 years later, prosecutors reopened the case. 3 living suspects jailed.

18. President Kennedy, assassinated November, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated 1968