Civil Rights Movement: Key Figures, Laws, and Events

Thurgood Marshall

The first African American Supreme Court Justice who served as the lead counsel for the NAACP in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

Rosa Parks

An activist whose refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in 1955 sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court decision. Plessy's legal team argued that Louisiana's law violated the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against him, cementing the "separate but equal" doctrine and authorizing legal segregation, or Jim Crow laws, for over 50 years.

Homer Plessy

7/8th White man. He intentionally violated Louisiana's Separate Car Act in 1892 to challenge segregation, he was arrested, jailed, which ultimately led to the legal establishment of the "separate but equal" doctrine.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting, outlawing literacy tests and other barriers to registration.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A landmark law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools and public accommodations.

Brown v. Board of Education

A 1954 Supreme Court case. 3 days of arguements, cheif justice died of heart attack before, clerks tipped off, wifes came.

Warron-former president canadite, his last time in supreme court-ruled seperate but equal nonconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A 13-month protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.

Freedom Rides

Protests in 1961 where civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge the non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings that declared segregated public buses unconstitutional.

Civil Disobedience

The active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government, typically using nonviolent means.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Also known as the Fair Housing Act, this law provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion, or national origin.

Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v. Jackson

Roe v. Wade (1973) established a constitutional right to abortion, while Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) overturned that precedent, ruling that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.

Stonewall Riots

A series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 1969 in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, widely considered the start of the modern gay rights movement.

Stokely Carmichael

A prominent civil rights activist who rose to prominence in the SNCC and later became a key figure in the Black Power movement.

Affirmative Action

Policies that take factors including race, color, religion, sex, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group in areas of employment and education.

Black Power

A political and social movement whose advocates believed in racial pride, self-sufficiency, and equality for all people of Black and African descent.

Sit-Ins

A form of nonviolent protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, such as a lunch counter, and refuse to leave until their demands are met.

Emmett Till

A 14-year-old African American boy whose brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 and the subsequent open-casket funeral galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.

LBJ

Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th U.S. President who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

Nation of Islam

A religious and political organization founded in 1930 that advocated for Black empowerment and self-reliance, with Malcolm X as one of its most famous spokesmen.

Black Panthers

A revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1966 that practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government.

Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program

A set of guidelines and demands created by the Black Panther Party in 1966 outlining their political and social goals for the Black community.

Malcolm X

A human rights activist and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who advocated for Black empowerment and self-defense before later adopting a more inclusive approach to civil rights.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A Baptist minister and social activist who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968, known for his advocacy of nonviolent protest.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

An African American civil rights organization closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., which played a major role in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Uprisings (e.g., Watts, Detroit)

Major urban rebellions in the 1960s sparked by systemic racism, police brutality, and economic inequality in Black neighborhoods.

George Wallace

The Governor of Alabama who was a staunch defender of racial segregation and famously declared 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.' He banned protests (illegal).

March on Washington (1963)

A massive protest march where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech, advocating for civil and economic rights for African Americans.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization founded in 1909 to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons.

Letter From Birmingham Jail

An open letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 defending the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. MLK shows his dissapointment in the white moderate tellings blacks to "wait."

Beyond Vietnam

A speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 that criticized the Vietnam War and linked the struggle for civil rights to the struggle for peace and economic justice.

I've Been to the Mountaintop

The final speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, one day before his assassination, in which he spoke about the future of the Civil Rights Movement.

Little Rock Nine

A group of nine African American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957, requiring federal intervention to integrate the school.

Selma

The site of the 1965 voting rights marches that were met with violent police resistance, leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Bloody Sunday

Civil rights leaders and many blacks marching from Selma to Montgomery Alabama. They have to cross over the Edmund Pettis bridge. March done to bring light to the fact that in the late 1960's only 2% of black men could vote in Alabama. Troopers were waiting at the end of the bridge-dangerous weapons like whips, guns, and gas-police said "this is an unlawfull assembally" because George Wallace banned protests. Said you have 2 minutes (not true), then troppers attacked first with gas then shots so that you could see what cops were doing it. It was televised, many people saw it. John Lewis marched.

2nd March on Selma

Whites, moderates, and clergy participated. Selma-Montgomery. MLK participated. Troppers waiting withdrew, MLK-leader-kneels and prays to give thanks for them withdrawing. Leads to the Voting Rights Act.

Grandfather Clause

If your grandparents couldnt vote, you couldnt. Used to keep Blacks from voting in the late 1960's.

Poll Taxes

required citizens of a state to pay a special tax in order to vote. Used to keep Blacks from voting in the late 1960's.

Watts Riot

1965- Black neighborhood set on fire by blacks, when fire fighters came they were shot at by blacks. It took 14,000 troops to stop the riot. Made people question MLK's authority over the civil rights movement. People started to sway towards Malcolm X and Stockely Carmicheal.