Civil Rights

SEPERATE BUT NOT EQUAL In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the idea of separate but equal was constitutional. This allowed for schools to keep different races of people separate. The schools remained separate but they were not equal.

SEGREGATION BECOMES ILLEGAL A lawyer named Thurgood Marshall took on several cases of people who wanted to end school segregation. On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was illegal.

THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT The fight against segregation spread. Rosa Parks, an African American woman boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. She was sitting in a seat when the bus driver ordered her to get up and move so a white passenger could sit there. It was the law at the time.

Rosa refused and she was arrested. In protest, a bus boycott was organized. For nearly a year, protesters stopped riding the bus. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was also illegal.

Several African American college students staged “sit-ins” at restaurants that had sections for white people only. They refused to leave until the were served some food or they were arrested.

FIGHTING FOR CHANGE Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister and was an organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott. He helped to organize many protest against segregation.

MARCH ON WASHINGTON In 1963, Marin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders led 250,000 people in the March on Washington. They wanted job opportunities and a law for their civil rights.

The March on Washington was a great moment for the civil rights movement. Soon afterward, President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to pass a federal civil rights bill. President Kennedy was shot and killed later that year. He did not get to see the bill become a law.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT After President Kennedy died, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became president. He worked to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law made it illegal for employees to discriminate against someone because of race, color, religion, nationality, or gender.

The fight for equality continues on today. Racial tensions in our cities continue to be a problem. It is important to remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. and others believed in. Non-violent and peaceful protests are the best ways to make a change in society.