the civil rights movement

In the South, Jim Crow Laws allowed for the legalized segregation or separation of the races.  These types of laws are known as _ . 

de jure segregation

______ __ ___________ — “separate but equal”

Plessy v. Ferguson

In the North, African-Americans also faced segregation.  This type was known as ___________ – where segregation was an unwritten or custom of tradition. 

de facto segregation

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Major League Baseball was desegregated with the appearance of _____ ________ playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  April 15, 1947; “Breaking the Color Barrier”; #42

Jackie Robinson

Another major event in the civil rights movement was the desegregation of the United States Military in 1948.  President Truman used his executive power to enforce _______ among blacks and whites.

integration

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) sought to use the ______ ______ _______ to combat some of the inequities of segregation and discrimination.  They sought to use the “rule of law” to fight segregation. 

federal court system

The American Education System was in desperate need of reform, particularly in terms of desegregation.  _________ _______, an African-American lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland, was chosen to lead the NAACP legal team to help in the effort to desegregate U.S. schools.

thurgood marshall

_______ __ _______ __ ________ – (of Topeka, Kansas) was the legendary Supreme Court Case that led to the ending of segregation in American Public Schools.  It overturned the idea of “separate but equal”.

Brown v. Board of Education

_______ ____ was a 14 year old boy from the city of Chicago who was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta while on summer vacation in 1955.  He had gone into a country store to buy some candy.  Till had spoken to a white woman (flirting and whistling).  In the Jim Crow South, this act violated the status-quo and racist segregationists will react with horrific brutality.

Emmett Till

Till was kidnapped at gun point by two white men. He was beat and mutilated beyond recognition.  They later will shoot him in the head and tie a cotton gin fan to his neck.  They threw his body into the _______ ____. 3 days later his bloated body was recovered.

Tallahatchie River

Till’s body was returned to Chicago where his mother had an _____ ________ _______.  Jet Magazine published photos of the boy mutilated body.  This event will draw national attention and solidify support for civil rights in America.

open casket funeral

One of the most significant events of the civil rights movement  in dealing with segregation took place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.  It was known as the _________ ____ _______ – a protest by African-Americans who boycotted the city bus transit system in order to end racial segregation.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

____ ______, an African-American seamstress, played a key role in starting this boycott.  She refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus for a white passenger.  The colored section of the bus was located in the back or rear of the bus.  Subsequently, she was arrested.  NAACP

Rosa Parks

__ _____ _______ _____ __, a Baptist minister, emerged as a civil rights leader during this boycott.  He gave an inspiration speech and became the voice of the movement for African-American rights.  The boycott lasted a year and was a success.                                                                                                SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership Conference      

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The most famous battle over school desegregation took place in _____ ____, Arkansas in 1957.   Central High School in _____ _____ would become the epicenter of civil rights movement in the late Fifties. 

Little Rock

_____ ______-_______ students enrolled at Central High for the fall semester.  They attempted to attend classes amongst a racial uproar that garnered national news coverage.  White students and parents blocked their entrance into the school.  The State Government of Arkansas refused their integration.  Little Rock Nine – Elizabeth Eckford

Nine African American

Federal troops were called in by ________ ________ to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School.  The troops escorted the students for a year. Federal vs. State Powers; the Civil Rights Act of 1957     

President Eisenhower

In February of 1960, four African-Americans were refused food and service at a lunch counter in Woolworth’s in _________ ______ ________.  Restaurants in the South were traditionally segregated.  To protest this segregation and discrimination, the black students decided to conduct a sit-in, a form of protest where participants sit and refuse to move. Doctrine of Nonviolent Activism; Spreads throughout the Country

Greensboro, North Carolina

Young activist founded the _______ _______ ________ _______.  Its goal was to create a grass-roots movement to defeat white racism and to obtain equality.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

In the spring of 1961, activist conducted a “______ ____”.  This protest saw student activists ride buses through Southern states to test their compliance with the ban on segregation on interstate buses.  These activists became known as “freedom riders”.

freedom ride

While in Alabama, the riders encountered a wave of violence and many of their lives were placed in danger.  One of the buses was firebombed by white racists.  In addition, a white mob assaulted and attacked several of the freedom riders.  _________ ______ __ _______ took immediate action to protect the student activists.  Violence vs. Nonviolence

President John F. Kennedy

In 1962 and 1963, protests intensified across the country to bring an end to segregation.  _______ ________, a black student, attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi, an all white institution, in September of 1962.  With the support of the NAACP and civil rights activist ______ ____, “Ole Miss” became integrated.

James Meredith, Medgar Evers

Martin Luther King Jr. and SCLC began to target the city of _________, _______ as the next target in the Civil Rights Movement.  It was the most segregated city in the American South.  Violence immediately erupted with police dogs attacking protesters and fire hoses turned on demonstrators. King arrested; “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Birmingham, Alabama

To put pressure on Congress to act on passing a new civil rights bill, activists and supporters organized a ______ __ _______.  The march was scheduled to take place on August 28, 1963.

March on Washington

Close to 200,000 demonstrators made their way to the nation’s capital.  They were a diverse group of people who were both black and white.  The main rally took place on the Washington Mall where speakers organized on the steps of the _______ _________.

Lincoln Memorial

Violence continued throughout the duration of the Civil Rights Movement.  Just eighteen days after the March on Washington, a ______ _____ was bombed in Birmingham killing four African-American girls.

black church

In addition, on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  The killing of this pro civil rights President was a tremendous blow to the Movement.  However, his successor and former vice president, ______ ________ would continue the good fight.

Lyndon Johnson

The ____ ______ ___ __ _____was passed by Congress, although it was to be filibustered by the Senate.  It outlawed discrimination in public places and employment based on race, religion, or national origin.  EEOC 

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Early in 1965, MLK Jr. organized a major campaign in ______, __ to put pressure on federal government to enact voting rights legislation.  The protest reached its climax at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma as people marched towards Montgomery.  Bloody Sunday

Selma, Alabama

The _______ ____ ___ __ _____ – was a bill that banned literacy tests and empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration.  Also, the passage of the Twenty-fourth Amendment banned poll taxes.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The ________ __________ – was a group set up to investigate the causes of race riots in American cities in the 1960s.  Their recommendations talked of the eliminating black and urban ghettos. Poverty Issues

Kerner Commission

Many African-American became radicalized during the late 1960s, especially after witnessing the race riots in American cities.  One of the most well-known radicals was _______ __. Violence; Nation of Islam; Assassination

Malcolm X

Young African-American leaders called for the adoption of “Black Power” as a means for attaining equality in America.  This idea lead to the formation of a militant group called the _______ _______.  They organized armed patrols, donned black leather jackets and berets, and had violent confrontations with police.

Black Panthers

The greatest tragedy of the Civil Rights Movement occurred in 1968 with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  While in _______, _________, supporting black sanitation workers, he was fatally shot by James Earl Ray.

Memphis, Tennessee