What do you think are the three most imporant events and people in American history when it comes to Civil Rights and why?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: The Civil Rights movement in America helped to shape it into what it is today. People all fighting for equal and fair treatment. The biggest events during the Civil Rights movement are: 1. 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education
- This case was brought before the Supreme Court and is one of the most significant trials in U.S. History.
- Monroe and Summer elementary schools are the two schools that played a major role in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.
- On May 17, 1954, the Court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This decision also took apart the racial segregation in public schools and the Jim Crow Laws. The decision forced public schools in 21 states to be desegregate.
2. 1955 - Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Martin Luther King Jr. was the face of the Civil rights movement and helped to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- Rosa Parks was a key factor in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She is considered the "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement."
- The movement started because Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus she was riding in to a white man, and was subsequently arrested for it.
- On December 2, 1955, the women of Montgomery called for the boycott to take place on Monday December 5th.
- They made, copied, and distrubting flyers that read "Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down. It is the second time since the Claudette Colvin case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing. This has to be stopped. Negroes have rights, too, for if Negroes did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negroes, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother. This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday. You can afford to stay out of school for one day id you have no other way to go except by bus, You can afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all Monday. Please stay off all buses Monday."
3. 1957 - Desegregation at Little Rock
- September 25, 1957, under escort by the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
- Three weeks prior to this, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus would have the National Guard surround the school to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would federalize the Arkansas National Guard and sent over 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the order.
4. 1960 - Sit-in Campaign
- February 1, 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina, four African American college students refused to leave a Woolworth's "whites only" lunch counter without being served.
- Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil took the inspiration for the non-violent protest from Gandhi. These sit-ins would spark similar "sit-ins" throughout the city and in other states.
5. 1961 - Freedom Rides
- Throughout 1961, black activists along with white activists would take bus rides throughout the South protesting segregated bus terminals and attempted to use "whites-only" restrooms and lunch counters.
- These rides were marked by horrific violence from white protesters, causing huge international attention to this cause.
6. 1963 - March on Washington
- August 28, 1963, 250,000 people March on Washington for jobs and Freedom with Martin Luther King Jr.
- On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial steps, Martin Luther King Jr. would deliver his famous "I have a Dream" speech. With the stirring lines that stated, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its cred: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'"
Some of the important people during the Civil Rights movement were:
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rosa Parks
- Harriet Tubman
- Frederick Douglas
- Richard Loving
- Nelson Mandela
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