The document provides a summary of key events and developments in the American civil rights movement from the 1950s through the 1990s. Some of the major events discussed include: - Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 which ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. - The murder of Emmett Till in 1955 which galvanized the civil rights movement. - The Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest in 1955. - The founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 led by Martin Luther King Jr. - The Little Rock Nine integrating Central High School in 1957 under federal protection. - The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 prohibiting discrimination

1. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
BY Jared Odom

2. 1950’s
14th Amendment
Congress passed this amendment on June 13, 1866 , which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of
treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." This meant that the 14th
amendment granted the citizenship to all of the former slaves and also the indentured slaves. Though Congress passed this law does not truly mean it was
affective, Especially in the Southern areas. For there was prejudice any were denied the opportunities that the law had claimed they now had. Even the right
to vote was restricted, in most cases mainly the slaves whom were educated managed to be able to vote.
Brown vs Board
In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools was the common policy throughout America. This particular case compose of different cases from
Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Several black children sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segregation based on
race. One particular case though was the case in Topeka, Kansas, where a black third-grader by the name of Linda Brown whom had to walk a mile to school
everyday when a white public school was only several blocks away from where she lived. Her father, Oliver Brown, attempted to enroll her in the white
elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. Mr . Brown then went to McKinley Burnett, whom was the head of Topeka's branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and pleaded for their help in there time of need. The NAACP agreed to help mainly for the
reason that they have been waiting for an opportunity to challenge the segregation issues with the public school systems. Their argument was that
segregation of public school was unconstitutional according to the 14th amendment. Segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race
denies to black children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, even though the physical facilities and other may be

3. 1950’s
The Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a young 14 year old boy from the city of Chicago. He was visiting his grandfather and uncle Mose Wright in Money, Mississippi. It was a small
city with a rough population of over 300 citizens. Before leaving for his family in Mississippi his mother had warned him not to speak to whites knowing there
was much prejudice within the South. Yet he, Emmett Till, ignored her warning saying "Bye, baby" to Carolyn Bryant, a white woman working at Bryant's
Grocery and Meat Market after a day of working with his family in the fields. Till and his cousin, Curtis Jones, were threatened to leave the town town. They
did not being immature and unaware of their seriousness. One week later, J. W. Milam and his brother Roy Bryant arrived at Wright's house, and abducted
Emmett Till. Weeks passed and the found his body in the Tallahatchee River . The autopsy shows that Bryant and Miliam beat him to death, gouging out one of
his eyes, and dumped his weighted body into the river. An all-white jury found the two not guilty. His mother, Mamie, insisted on an open-casket funeral
where his beaten, pulpy face was visible to the public, hoping her child did not die in vain. Years passed and the case was reopened when the two brothers sold
their story to a magazine admitting how and why they did what they did. When this case was open publicly it was a warning to all the african american
citizens that they were being attacked.

4. 1950’s
Rosa parks
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded a Montgomery City bus to go home from
work. She in the the middle of the bus, behind the 10 seats only reserved for whites. Time passed and soon the seats began to fill. A white man entered the
bus, so the bus driver asked if the couple of blacks sitting just behind the reserved seats give up their seats so the man could sit. Rosa Parks, who was a
member of the local NAACP, refused to give up her seat. She was then arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation known as the Jim Crow
laws. Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation.
SCLC
January 1957 , leaders of the Montgomery Bus Boycott met in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. They founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). The SCLC was made up of churches and clergy all throughout the South. Its purpose was to plan protests inspired by the success of their bus boycotts.
The elected SCLC was Martin Luther King. His main job was to fundraise through his preaching. Due to this act the FBI watched and harassed King by
attempting to sabotage his public speeches or even through blackmail. In February of 1957 the SCLC sent a message to Eisenhower asking that the White
House should hold a conference focusing on civil rights. It was ignored by Eisenhower, but caught the attention of the mass media. In 1957 King launched
through the SCLC the "Crusade for Citizenship," a program which was intended to help register two million black voters in time for the 1960 presidential
election. This campaign ultimately failed because the SCLC was too over confident. Yet it also allowed the cooperation with other civil right activist groups.

5. 1950’s
Little Rock nine
Governor Orval Faubus had the National Guard block nine black students from entering Central High in Little Rock because he didn’t want to integrate Little
Rock’s schools. President Eisenhower heard of this and sent Federal Troops to protect the nine black students. On Monday, September 23, 1957, the nine
students set off for the high school. They knew there would be violence so they went in the rear entrance. White mobs were there to protest because they
didn’t want any Blacks in their school and the reporters were there in support of the Blacks. White mobs that were waiting for the nine students beat up black
reporters because they didn’t want them near their school. When the mob heard the nine students had entered the school they went crazy. The black students
left out the rear exit right when the mob came in so they wouldn’t get hurt. On Monday, September 23, 1957, the nine students set off for the high school. Only
eight all finished the school year successfully.

6. 1960’s
• NC A&T SIT-IN
Four black Students who attended from North Carolina A&T College began to form a protest for the prejudice they received within their school. They
formed a sit-in at the segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. They are refused service until the were equally treated right and stood at the counter within
moving out the way. This even event triggered many similar protests throughout the South. In result several months had passed and they same students
who protested were served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
• SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed at Shaw University. Its main objective was to provide the young black
students to be involved and informed about the Civil Rights during this Movement. The SNCC later grew into a more radical organization,
under the leadership of re-known Stokely Carmichael, who coined the phrase “ Black Power”.
• James Meredith
James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Due to his enrollment many local citizens and
students became outraged. They questioned the authority of the school and the reasoning of allowing Meredith to attend the institution.
Violence began to break out and riots surrounding the incident cause. President Kennedy then sent 5,000 federal troops to act on this issue.

7. 1960’s
• Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King was arrested and jailed during an anti segregation protest in Birmingham. While in his jail cell he wrote a letter known as the “Letter
from Birmingham Jail” which addressed that individuals have rights to disobey laws that were not reasonable to the people.
• Eugene Connor
During a civil rights protests in Birmingham the Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor used fire hoses and police dogs on the black
demonstrators. Images of brutality, were are televised and published in magazines and newspapers.
• I Have A Dream
200,000 or more people began to march and make there way to Washington D.C.. Where at Lincoln Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I
Have A Dream” speech for the second time.
• Baptist Bombing
Four young girls by the names of Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins were attending their Sunday school as they
typically did every Sunday. When a bomb suddenly explodes and kills them. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.
Reasons as to why this happened was for the fact that the Church was a meeting place for Civil Right activists. The bomb was planted by Robert
Chambliss, who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan He was arrested and charged with murder and possessing a box of 122 sticks of dynamite without a
permit. On 8th October, 1963, Chambliss was found not guilty of murder and received a hundred-dollar fine and a six-month jail sentence for having the
dynamite. The case was reopened in 1977 where they finally found Chambliss guilty.

8. 1960’s
• Civil Right Acts
President Johnson signs a series of Civil Rights Acts. They prohibited 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. It also prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of
housing.
• Death of Malcom X
Malcom Little “X” was a black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, and
member of the Black Muslim Party was shot to death. It is believed that his murder was ordered by
Elijah Muhammad , leader of the Black Muslim Party. They say the reason was because Malcom X left
the faith for an orthodox view.

9. 1960’s
• March To Birmingham
Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are
hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the
catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.
Up to the point at which the March on Birmingham took place, many citizens of the United States considered the 'problem' to be one contained in the
'south'. It was a problem/issue the Southerners had to solve on their own. With the advent of the media - especially television - it became an issue for the
entire nation to deal with. One reason the nation had now to deal with it was because the news reports on television were not broadcast only the the
audiences in the United States but the news had gone worldwide.Not only was this a national issue but the United States found itself openly criticised for
the way people were being mistreated within her own borders.
• Voting Acts of 1965
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This made it much easier for the blacks of the South to register to vote.
•Death of Martin Luther King
Dr. Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room. James Earl Ray was arrested for the crime.

10. 1980’s
The main event for civil rights within this time frame was that congress overrode president Ronald Regan’s veto passed the Civil Rights
Restoration Act, which expanded the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.

11. 1990’s
LA Riots
On November 22 , Rodney King found himself in a highway speed chase on the
210. He finally gave up on the off ramp way of the freeway. He was then confronted
my 4 LAPD officers. As he stepped out of the car he was said to be acting strangely
waving at the helicopter and laughing. He finally followed the cops orders and laid
on the ground. When they hand cuffed him he retaliated and the use of a Taser was
used. He was then beaten with batons violently. The sad part is that the whole
incident was filmed on tape. Then a case was issued where the judge ruled in the
cops favor. When word broke out many citizens were outraged and started riots.