Civil Rights

Segregation

• De Jure Segregation – Racial segregation enforced by law (e.g., Jim Crow laws).

• De Facto Segregation – Racial segregation by custom, tradition, or economic conditions, not law.

Key Events & Laws

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – Supreme Court case declaring school segregation unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (“separate but equal”).

• Civil Rights Act of 1957 – First federal civil rights law since Reconstruction; aimed to increase Black voter registration, but weak enforcement.

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) – Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest; led to Supreme Court ruling bus segregation unconstitutional.

• Sit-In Movement (1960) – Nonviolent protests at segregated lunch counters; led to wider desegregation efforts.

• SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) – Youth-led civil rights group focused on direct action and voter registration.

• Freedom Rides (1961) – Interracial bus rides to test desegregation of interstate travel; met with violent resistance.

• Filibuster – Tactic used by segregationist senators to block civil rights legislation.

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Banned segregation in public places and employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

• Voting Rights Act (1965) – Outlawed literacy tests and other voter suppression tactics, ensuring Black Americans’ right to vote.

• Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) – Abolished poll taxes in federal elections, removing a barrier for Black voters.

• Freedom Summer (1964) – Campaign to register Black voters in Mississippi; faced extreme violence.

• Black Power – Movement emphasizing racial pride, economic empowerment, and self-defense (led by figures like Stokely Carmichael).

• Black Panthers (1966) – Militant group advocating for self-defense, community programs, and resistance to police brutality.

• Kerner Commission (1968) – Government report concluding that systemic racism caused urban riots and advocating for reforms.

Key Figures

• Thurgood Marshall – NAACP lawyer who won Brown v. Board of Education; later became the first Black Supreme Court Justice.

• Earl Warren – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; led key rulings like Brown v. Board, expanding civil rights.

• Rosa Parks – Civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery sparked the bus boycott.

• Martin Luther King Jr. – Leader of the civil rights movement; promoted nonviolent protest and delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech.

• James Meredith – First Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in 1962, facing violent resistance.

• Ross Barnett – Segregationist governor of Mississippi who attempted to block James Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss.

• Medgar Evers – NAACP field secretary in Mississippi; led voter registration efforts before being assassinated in 1963.

• Malcolm X – Leader in the Nation of Islam; later shifted toward racial unity but was assassinated in 1965.

• Stokely Carmichael – Civil rights activist and SNCC leader; popularized the term “Black Power” and later joined the Black Panther Party.

Key Places

• March on Washington (1963) – Massive civil rights demonstration where MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, advocating for racial equality and civil rights legislation.

• Freedom Summer Murders (1964) – Three civil rights workers (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner) were murdered by the KKK in Mississippi while helping Black people register to vote.

• Bleeding Birmingham (1963) – Refers to the violent police response, led by Bull Connor, against civil rights protests, including the use of attack dogs and fire hoses.

• March on Selma (1965) – Series of marches from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights; the first march, known as “Bloody Sunday,” was violently attacked by police. The movement led to the Voting Rights Act.

• Little Rock Nine (1957) – Nine Black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, facing violent opposition; President Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation.