1. CIVIL RIGHTS AMERICA AND THE 1950’S AND 1960’S

2. Beginning of Civil Rights  Era post Civil War: US adopts segregation * Separate but “equal” treatment * Jim Crow Laws- Legal Discrimination Civil Rights Movement- (1950’s-1960’s) efforts to end racial discrimination in the US * Equality under the law for all people regardless of Race

3. Plessy vs Ferguson: Separate but “Equal”  Plessy vs Ferguson (1896) – Separate but equal treatment among races * Legally allowed discrimination * Jim Crow Laws Supreme Court voted in favor of segregation 7 to 1 Separate but “equal” remains the standard of the law until 1954 (Brown vs. Board of Ed)

4. Continuous Struggles for African Americans in US Society  Rural South- extreme danger (KKK) / Segregation legally allowed under the law  Urban North- extreme danger (Racial Violence) / Cities become violent, racial tensions among all ethnic groups * Competition for status (Jobs) * Boston – last MLB team to integrate

5. Civil Rights Timeline: 1954- Brown vs. the Board of Education  Brown vs. the Board of Education- Supreme Court rules that segregation in Public Schools is Unconstitutional * African Americans can go to public school with whites * Separate but equal facilities were considered to be Unequal (therefore Unconstitutional)

6. Civil Rights Timeline- 1955 Emmitt Till  Emmitt Till- Young African American boy brutally beaten and killed in Mississippi  State jury charges two men w/ murder * Charges acquitted (dropped) * Jury was all white

7. Civil Rights Timeline- 1955 Rosa Parks  Rosa Parks- did not give up her seat on the bus (African Americans forced to sit in the back of the bus)  Leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott * African Americans not riding public transportation for more than a year * Hurts the state (AL) financially $$$ * Buses become DEsegregated in 1956

8. Civil Rights Timeline- 1957 and the Little Rock Nine  Little Rock Arkansas- schools were struggling during integration (Public Backlash from Brown vs Board of Ed.)  Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus orders 9 African American students to be BLOCKED from entering Central High School (formerly an all white school)  President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students * Federal Government serious about Civil Rights

9. Civil Rights Timeline: 1960 “Sit Ins”  Four African American college students sit down at a segregated diner in North Carolina * Refused service, but allowed to sit at the diner * Protests from whites 6 months later- same 4 students are served lunch at the same diner * effective “sit ins” all through the rural south

10. Civil Rights Timeline- 1962 James Meredith  James Meredith becomes first African American to attend the University of Mississippi * Riots and on campus violence from students ** JFK sends in 5,000 federal troops to calm the situation ** ESPN 30 for 30 Ghosts of Ole Miss **

11. Civil Rights Timeline- 1963 to 1968 Martin Luther King Jr.  1963- MLK gives his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Whitehouse in Wash DC (200k ppl attend)  During this time, Churches were being bombed in the south, violence between races reaches all time high  1968- MLK assassinated in Memphis TN by James Earl Ray

12. Civil Rights Timeline- 1964 The Civil Rights Act  Civil Rights Act (1964)- prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin.  The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.  Segregation is now illegal * Fight to end racial violence would continue…