Civil Rights Movement1954 - 1968

Timeline of Key Events

1954 Brown v.s. Board of Education: The Supreme Court declared segregation in schools to be unconstitutional

1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott due to the arrest of Rosa Parks 1957 Martin Luther King becomes the president of the SCLC (Southern

Christian Leadership Conference) / Civil Rights Act is passed 1960 First student sit-ins against segregation in the South / SNCC

(Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee formed 1961 Freedom Riders’ movement takes off 1963 NAACP Leader, Medgar Evers, was assassinated / March on

Washington protest / Birmingham church bombing

Timeline of Key Events (Cont’d)

1964 Dr. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize / Congress passes Civil Rights Act, declaring discrimination based on race illegal

1965 Malcolm X was assassinated / Selma Civil Rights March was led by MLK / Voting Rights Act was passed, making it illegal to restrict anyone the right to vote

1966 Black Power was introduced by Stokely Carmichael 1967 State laws forbidding interracial marriage were declared

unconstitutional / Thurgood Marshall became the first Black American to be appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson

1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

The Causes for the Struggle

For decades after the end of slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states and across parts of America still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence.

“Jim Crow” laws at the local and state levels barred them from classrooms and bathrooms, from theaters and train cars, from juries and legislatures.

People were denied basic human dignity as well as rights of full citizenship in the U.S.

The Outcomes of the Struggle

Policies that forced integration and protected the rights of all people

Formation of groups that advocated for the rights of African-Americans

Media coverage of issues surrounding those who were marginalized in the U.S.

Protest culture allowed masses of people to gather to voice their frustrations

A new perspective of what it means to be black and a minority (empowerment)

Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK was a Christian Baptist minister who led non-violent protests throughout the South

Organized black churches through the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

Non-violent approach: believed that love was stronger than cruelty

Wanted to fight through empowering people to vote Wanted an integrated society in which people of all

backgrounds could live together peacefully Hopeful approach to reform

Malcolm X

Malcolm X was an ex-convict who ended up being a leader in the Nation of Islam, a religious group

Wanted to create a separate, economically self-sufficient and racially proud nation of blacks within America

Promoted black nationalism Believed that racism should be fought against by

“any means necessary” Practical approach to reform