Civil Rights Movement 1955 1965 Section of the

Civil Rights Movement 1955 -1965

Section of the country that had Jim Crow Laws.

Segregated movie theatre’s and waiting rooms.

Jackie Robinson • In 1947 he became the first African American to play major league baseball

Brown vs. The Board of Education 1954 • Supreme Court decision that ended segregated schools in America.

Emmett Till- Summer of 1955 • Young man was killed in Mississippi for whistling to a white woman. • The woman’s husband brother in law killed him. • The men were found not guilty. • Emmett’s mother had an open casket so the world could see what happened to her son. • This sparked the Civil Rights Movement.

Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 • Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. • She was arrested. • Dr. Martin Luther King and others organize a boycott (they refuse to ride the bus). • The boycott lasts 381 days and ended with the desegregation of busses.

Rosa Parks being finger printed.

Dr. Martin Luther King

African Americans walked to work.

Little Rock 9 - 1957 • Nine African American students decide to attend the all white Little Rock Central high school. • They are met by angry students and parents. • The police did not let them enter the school.

President Eisenhower steps in. • The President met with Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. • The Governor did not obey the President. • The President then sent in the military to make sure the students were safe. • Each student was given an armed guard to protect them for the entire year.

1960 - Sit-ins College students tried to integrate the lunch counters.

Students were intimidated but did not retaliate.

1961 Freedom Rides College students tried to integrate the buses throughout the South.

Students met violence.

Birmingham Alabama • Nicknamed Bombingham • Governor of Alabama- George Wallace – “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”. – Police Chief- Bull Connor • Used fire hoses and police dogs on student demonstrators.

Bull Connor

Governor George Wallace

Dr. King and others decided to march on Washington to demand Civil Rights.

March on Washington D. C.

• Dr. King organized the march to demand that the government make laws ending segregation in the United States.

Dr. King delivering his “I have a dream” speech.

His dream? That everyone would be judged on their character not their skin color.

16 th Street Baptist Church

Bomb exploded killing 4 and injuring 23.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Outlawed discrimination in hiring and ended segregation in public places.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Ended literacy tests • Allowed Federal officials to register voters in states that had been practicing discrimination.

April 4, 1968 • Dr. King was in Memphis, Tennessee to help with the sanitation workers strike. • He was staying in the Lorraine Motel • James Earl Ray shot and killed him. • Dr. King’s death sparked numerous riots throughout the country. • Ray was finally caught in London and sentenced to life in prison.