10 Events that Propelled the Civil Rights Movement

Achieving Equality In America

The transition of a segregated country to a more integrated society was a hard fought battle. Many people were stubborn and resistant to this great change, stuck in the same traditions of their fathers.  Here is a list of some of the most influential events and people that helped this movement gain acceptance.

Thurgood Marshall

Marshall was the attorney for the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The decision overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal", and paved the way for large-scale desegregation.  Thurgood Marshall would later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice.

Emmett Till

While visiting family in Mississippi fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. After the two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were acquitted by an all-white jury, it intensified already tense race relations in the south.

Rosa Parks

After getting on the bus she refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger. She was then arrested for her disobedience, and in response the Montgomery black community launched a bus boycott, which lasted for more than a year, until the buses were desegregated.

Martin Luther King Jr.

He was an american pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He organized the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom March on Washington, and gave numerous speeches such as the “I have a Dream Speech”. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn but his legacy continues to be incredibly important.

Little Rock Nine

When an all white Central High School began the process of integration, nine black students who were supposed to start attending were blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sent federal troops and the National Guard to Arkansas to intervene on behalf of the students.

Malcolm X

A black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Although he and Martin Luther King differed on the best way to address the racial inequality in the nation. He was later killed, and it is believed the assailants were members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam. 

Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr., and David Richmond

Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a sit-in at the segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. This  triggered other similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later those original protesters were served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would become effective in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.

James Meredith

He became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident caused President Kennedy to send in 5,000 federal troops.

Bloody Sunday

In a protest over voting rights, blacks begin a march to Montgomery but were stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. During the protest Fifty marchers were hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is known as "Bloody Sunday" by the media and became the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.

Watts Riots

Race riots erupt in a black section of Los Angeles after a traffic stop quickly escalated into violence between citizens and the police.