By: Adam S, Allie M, Danielle E, and Neil G. Emmitt Till, was buying candy at a store. He walked out and talked to a white woman. The store clerk saw this and told some men. Later that night, they went to Till's house and took him. They beat him and made him suffer so nobody could tell who he was. Then, they killed him. They threw him into a river with weights tied to him. When others found him, his mother had an open coffin funeral so everyone could see what the whites have done. This started the civil rights movement.
Blacks everywhere were being discriminated, lynched and segregated even more. Their rights reduce by the minute and more of them die. The KKK (Klu Klux Klan) are behind it all. They are the ones who lynch the blacks, bomb their houses, and reduce their rights. Soon people stepped in to fight for these rights that they, like all other whites in America, should have. Leaders like Rosa Parks (below) and Martin Luther King Jr. (left) led this fight for freedom. MLK Jr. was inspired by people like Lincoln and Gandhi. Gandhi's influence, though, played a huge part in the civil rights movement. King used Gandhi's non-violence and fought the Jim Crow Laws. When King led the bus boycott he also used his non-violence rule. He would not lead a violent march, which is what he stated at the march he led in Memphis, Tennessee. That was the last march Martin Luther King Jr. ever led.
Most historians date the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States to December 1, 1955. That was the day when an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This brave woman, Rosa Parks (left), was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere. Rosa Parks was not, however, sitting in a white only seat. She was sitting in the back in the blacks' seats. The driver ordered her to move so a white man could sit there because there was no other place to sit. She refused and the driver said "I'm going to call the police and you will be arrested." Rosa answered with "You may do that." But she would not be moved from her section of the bus. Then, a few weeks later when she got out of jail, the bus boycott was put into action! Blacks went months without riding the bus. They carpooled and they walked. White women usually gave their maids a ride in their car. But they would not take the bus. Thirteen months after Rosa Parks was arrested the supreme court ruled that segregation on Alabama buses was unconstitutional. Martin Luther King, Jr., E. D. Nixon, Ralph Abernathy, all rode the first integrated bus. Nine students that tried to get into Little Rock High School were denied entrance because of their color, Woodrow Mann, the Mayor of Little Rock, asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce integration and protect the nine students. On September 24, the President ordered the 101st Airborne Devision of the United States Army to Little Rock and federalized the entire 10,000 member Arkansas National Guard, taking it out of the hands of Governor Faubus. The 101st took positions immediately, and the nine students successfully entered the school on the next day, Wednesday, September 25, 1957. On September 2, 1957. Faubus decided to dispatch more than 200 National Guards, to surround Little Rock's Central High School. September 3rd was the first day of school, the nine black students could not enroll in the school. The Guard prevented "Little Rock Nine" to enroll until the next day. On their first day, the nine black students wanted to all meet up at one place so that they could deal with the heated up crowd, together. Fifteen- year- old Elizabeth Eckford did not get the message that they were meeting at a different entrance than the one she was approaching. She was alone, and the crowd started to close in on her screaming threats and insults. She walked two blocks through the angry mob that didn't want schools to be integrated.
Civil Rights Events in:
July 26, 1948: Truman signs Executive Order 9981 that 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." Also, the order creates the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services.
May 17, 1954: The Supreme Court agreed that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling makes desegregation be on its way. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that said "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
August 1955: Fourteen-year-old Emmet Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot, and thrown in the Tallahatchie River. This was all for whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and judged by an all-white jury. The case becomes a cause of the civil rights movement.
December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, she then got arrested. Montgomery's black community starts a bus boycott because of her arrest. Martin Luther King Jr. leads this boycott.
January- February, 1957: Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele and Fred L. Shuttlesworth, establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and is based on nonviolence.
September 1957: Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to protect the students, who become known as the " Little Rock Nine."
February 1, 1960: Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. They are refused service. Many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South occur. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.
April, 1960: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University. It provides young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization.
May 4, 1961: Several of the groups of " freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way. It is sponsored by The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white.
October 1, 1962: James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
April 16, 1963: Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham.
May, 1963: During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators.
Aug. 28th 1963: Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream speech"
April 4th 1963: Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
April 11th 1963: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibits discrimination in the sale, renting, and financing of housing.
Jan 24th 1964: The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax.
July 2nd 1964: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin.
Feb. 21st 1965: Malcom X shot to death.
Aug. 10th 1965: Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote.
April 11, 1968 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing
Civil Rights
By: Adam S, Allie M, Danielle E, and Neil G.Blacks everywhere were being discriminated, lynched and segregated even more. Their rights reduce by the minute and more of them die. The KKK (Klu Klux Klan) are behind it all. They are the ones who lynch the blacks, bomb their houses, and reduce their rights. Soon people stepped in to fight for these rights that they, like all other whites in America, should have. Leaders like Rosa Parks (below) and Martin Luther King Jr. (left) led this fight for freedom. MLK Jr. was inspired by people like Lincoln and Gandhi. Gandhi's influence, though, played a huge part in the civil rights movement. King used Gandhi's non-violence and fought the Jim Crow Laws. When King led the bus boycott he also used his non-violence rule. He would not lead a violent march, which is what he stated at the march he led in Memphis, Tennessee. That was the last march Martin Luther King Jr. ever led.
Civil Rights Events in:
July 26, 1948: Truman signs Executive Order 9981 that 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." Also, the order creates the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services.
May 17, 1954: The Supreme Court agreed that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling makes desegregation be on its way. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that said "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
August 1955: Fourteen-year-old Emmet Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot, and thrown in the Tallahatchie River. This was all for whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and judged by an all-white jury. The case becomes a cause of the civil rights movement.
December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, she then got arrested. Montgomery's black community starts a bus boycott because of her arrest. Martin Luther King Jr. leads this boycott.
January- February, 1957: Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele and Fred L. Shuttlesworth, establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and is based on nonviolence.
September 1957: Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to protect the students, who become known as the " Little Rock Nine."
February 1, 1960: Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. They are refused service. Many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South occur. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.
April, 1960: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University. It provides young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization.
May 4, 1961: Several of the groups of " freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way. It is sponsored by The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white.
October 1, 1962: James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
April 16, 1963: Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham.
May, 1963: During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators.
Aug. 28th 1963: Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream speech"
April 4th 1963: Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
April 11th 1963: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibits discrimination in the sale, renting, and financing of housing.
Jan 24th 1964: The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax.
July 2nd 1964: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin.
Feb. 21st 1965: Malcom X shot to death.
Aug. 10th 1965: Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote.
April 11, 1968 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing