USA 1955-1965 Civil Rights timline

• Challenged segregation on buses
• Planned by the NAACP, SCLC and the MIA
• Boycotters used taxis, car pools and walked instead of using buses
• They demanded the bus company to employ black people, equal treatment of black and white people on the buses and a desegregated seating plan
• Lasted until the Supreme Court gave a ruling in the Browder vs Gayle case, in which they ruled in favour of desegregation
• Gained attention from the media
• Considered a mass movement
• De Jure change (Browder vs Gayle)
• MLK started to appear, with the MIA

• Faubus used the National Gaurd to prevent 9 African American students from atending Little Rock High School
• The Federal Court ordered them to leave, but Faubus didn't budge
• An angry mob of white people then formed, and started attacking innocent African Americans on the streets
• Eisenhower eventually sent in 1,100 paratroopers to establish law and order
• Eisenhower was hesitant to enforce the ruling of Brown vs Board of Education, as he feared opposition from people in the South
• Gained media and Federal attention
• Minimal De Facto change

• 4 Students from a local agriculture college in North Carolina were refused service at a lunch counter in a Woolworths store
• They staged a sit-in in which they just refused to move
• The sit-in grew to over 80 people in 3 days
• The store had to close because of the amount of people
• These sit-ins were replicated in over 100 different cities, and a total of nearly 50,000 people took part
• Gained media coverage as it was such a huge, national movement
• No De jure change, but there was De facto change, as Woolworths and other stores desegregated their lunch counters
• MLK joined forces with the SNCC

• Organised by CORE, with help from the SNCC
• Activists went on an interstate bus across 4 states to test the Boyton vs Virginia ruling
• They were met with violence in Anniston, Montgomery and Birmingham and the local police forces did not do anything to help the activists
• Becasue of such terrible violence, RFK ad to enforce desegregation in interstate bus travel
• De jure (Boyton vs Virginia)
• Shown Civil rights was near the top of the new Kennedy administrations agenda

• MLK, the SNCC and the SCLC mobilized peaceful protests to fight segregation in Albany
• Police chief Laurie Pritchett reponded with mass arrests, and refrained from using brutality which would attract negative publicity
• In July 1962, King and three other protesters were standing trial for their involvement in previous demonstrations
• They were found guilty and given the choice of spending a night in jail, or paying $178
• They chose to spend the night in jail
• Pritchett then informed King and one other protester their bail had been paid which led to their release
• No de jure or de facto change
• Little media and federal attention
• Considered a mass movement

• Meredith attempted to enrol in the University of Mississippi, but Ross Barnett refused his application of the grounds of his race
• Barnett also refused to protect Meredith when an angry mob broke out, who killed two bystanders
• The Supreme Court and RFK tried to put pressure on Barnett, but in the end had to send Federal troops to protect Meredith
• Meredith graduated in 1964
• No significant de jure or de facto change

• MLK, the SCLC, the SNCC, CORE and the NAACP all took part in the peaceful protests
• 'Bull' Connor used vicious brutality against the young protesters, and set the police dogs on them
• One particular image caught the eye of the goverment, the media and the rest of America which shocked everyone
• The image sparked JFK to start writing up new civil rights legislation (The 1964 civil rights act, passed by Lydon Johnson after JFKs assasination)
• MLK was jailed for a short time, but it's thought that JFK got him released

• MLK, the SCLC, the SNCC, CORE, the NAACP and the Nation of Islam were all present
• Consisted of 250,000 people marching up to the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C., then speeches from the likes of MLK, James Farmer and other influential civil rights activists
• The march was the start of the SNCCs new violent appeals, in which they questioned the usefulness of non-violent tactics
• Mass media coverage broadcast it all over the country
• The event is said to have led to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

tbc