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Brown v. Board of Education (1954) | Separate Is NOT Equal

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The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 Explained | This Day Forward | msnbc

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Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott | Civil Rights Movement | PBS LearningMedia

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Discover how Rosa Parks played a pivotal role igniting the modern civil rights movement. In December 1955, Parks, a Black seamstress and civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white patron. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Movement, a yearlong protest that ultimately bankrupted the Montgomery bus company and led to the Supreme Court ruling that public transportation and accommodations could not be racially segregated.

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Montgomery Bus Boycott |American Freedom Stories | Biography | History

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On August 28, 2020, Martin Luther King III stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as part of a demonstration to fight for changes in the ways that police interact with citizens, especially Black people.

Exactly 57 years ago, his father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood in the same spot and gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech during one of the most important civil rights demonstrations in U.S. history: the 1963 March on Washington. That day, over 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall to demand that people be treated equally, no matter their race.

A FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

The March on Washington took place during a nationwide civil rights movement in which Black Americans were fighting to receive the same treatment as white Americans.

Although slavery was made illegal in the United States in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation, Black people continued to be treated unfairly. For example, beginning in the 1890s, southern states passed what were called "Jim Crow" laws that discriminated against Black people and segregated (or separated) them from white people. The laws varied by state, but they often forced Black people to use different bathrooms from white people, ride in different train cars, or attend different schools. These "separate" facilities were often in poor condition. Many southern states also created tests to prevent Black people from voting.

Black people were also not being hired for jobs they were qualified for-especially government jobs or defense jobs like building warplanes-just because of their race. In 1941, civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph organized a march to protest that. But six days before the event, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed an executive order that banned discrimination in the defense industry and created a group to enforce the order. Randolph called off the march, but five years later, Congress stopped funding the enforcement group, and many companies went back to discriminating against Black people.

By the 1960s, many Black people were still unemployed or had low-paying jobs, and much of the country was still segregated by race. Civil rights leaders, including King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, joined with Randolph to organize another change-making demonstration: the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the official name of the march.

The goal of the march was to urge President John F. Kennedy to pass a civil rights bill that would end segregation in public places like schools, ensure easier access to voting, train and place unemployed workers, and end the practice of not hiring people because of their race. The March on Washington was scheduled on the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

"I HAVE A DREAM"

The day of the march was sunny and hot. Marchers arrived at the National Mall on buses and greeted each other with handshakes and hugs. Then they began their peaceful one-mile walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. The organizers estimated that perhaps 100,000 people would attend, but that day about 190,000 Black people and 60,000 white people came to the demonstration. Not a patch of grass could be seen as the marchers squeezed together to hear the speeches in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

For three hours, they heard inspiring messages from the civil rights leaders about keeping up hope in the fight for equality and a better life. John Lewis, who would go on to serve 33 years in Congress, said, "Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete."

King spoke last. One hundred years after emancipation, Black Americans, he said, were still not free. He said the marchers were there to fulfill the promise of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which guarantees all citizens the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He said that Black people wouldn't be free until they have the freedom to visit all public spaces, freedom to enter businesses, freedom to vote, and freedom from police brutality.

Just when it seemed King was ending his speech, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted, "Tell them about the dream!" That's when he gave the most remembered line of the day: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

ACHIEVEMENTS

From the Lincoln Memorial, the leaders walked to the White House, where they met with Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to demand support for a national civil rights bill. A year later, their demand was granted. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin. It also ended segregation in all public places and made voter registration easier for everyone.

Then the next year, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It allowed the federal government to overturn state laws that had made it harder for Black people to vote.

THE FIGHT ISN'T OVER

Although the 1963 March on Washington brought important changes to the United States, the fight for equality between Black and white people isn't over. A 2013 Supreme Court decision struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required some states (especially those with a history of making it hard for Black people to vote) to get permission from the federal government to change their voting laws. Since the decision, those states have created new voting rules, such as ones that decrease the amount of time for early voting and throw out ballots cast at the wrong polling station. Some say this is making voting more difficult.

Other issues also demonstrate inequality between races. For instance, according to a Harvard University study, Black Americans are over three times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. After George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer on May 25, 2020, about 15 million people across the country have protested in support of Black lives.

As A. Philip Randolph said at the 1963 March on Washington, "The March on Washington is not a climax of our struggle, but a new beginning, not only for the negro but for all Americans who thirst for freedom and a better life."

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A historic demonstration gained freedoms for Black Americans

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The March on Washington was a political demonstration in Washington, D.C. Its full name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized by civil rights leaders who wanted to bring people together to protest racial discrimination and to encourage the passage of civil rights legislation. The leaders included A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

On August 28, 1963, some 250,000 people from all over the country gathered in Washington D.C. They marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. Prominent civil rights leaders made speeches, religious leaders led prayers, and singers gave musical performances. King gave what became known as his "I Have a Dream" speech. The speech called for equality and freedom and became one of the defining moments of the civil rights movement. It is one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history.

The march greatly influenced public opinion. It resulted in President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law banned discrimination in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. One year later Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act as well.

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The March on Washington was a political demonstration in Washington, D.C. Its full name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized by civil rights leaders who wanted to bring people together to protest racial discrimination and to encourage the passage of civil rights legislation.

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Kids learn about the history of the March on Washington including Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech, the Big Six planners, and the results such as Civil Rights Act in 1964.

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On August 28, 1963, people poured into Washington, D.C. Many held signs: "We March for Schools Now!" and "We Demand Jobs for All Now!"

The event was called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It drew about 250,000 people. They were calling on the United States government to pass laws guaranteeing equal rights for all Americans. At the Lincoln Memorial, they heard Martin Luther King Jr. give one of the most important speeches in our nation's history.

PAUL SCHUTZER-THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

The Life of a Leader

King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. He became a minister and moved to Montgomery, Alabama. He preached often about his dream of equality for all. But in the 1950s, segregation was a fact of life in many parts of the country, especially in the South.

In 1955, an African-American teenager named Claudette Colvin was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama. She had refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Rosa Parks was arrested soon after for a similar act of protest. This led to a yearlong of public buses in Montgomery. It also led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned segregated seating on buses.

In April 1963, King helped lead a protest in Birmingham, Alabama. He was arrested and jailed. That only motivated him. A few months later, he joined other civil rights leaders for the March on Washington. It was organized by Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph. Many leaders spoke before King. His speech lasted 18 minutes.

"I have a dream," he said, "that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its : 'We hold these truths to be , that all men are created equal,'" King said toward the end. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their ."

"He was preaching from his heart," says John Lewis. He is now a U.S. congressman in Georgia.

BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES

The Dream Lives On

The March on Washington showed Americans the power of peaceful protest. The following year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It banned .

Maxine Allen Johnson Wood took part in the March on Washington. She had just graduated from college. She says King's dream is still important today. "The image that he gave was [of] a future. And it wasn't beyond our reality to think that [it] could happen."

King's words continue to inspire people around the world. "Of all the gifts [he gave us], the greatest has been the belief in society's ability to change and the power each of us has to effect that change," Lewis says.

JEFF HUTCHENS-GETTY IMAGES; GREGORY SMITH-AP PHOTO; THOS ROBINSON-GETTY IMAGES; RICH FURY-GETTY IMAGES

"I Was There"

What was it like to attend the March on Washington? TIME magazine spoke with people who were there. They remember how King led the crowd in raising a voice for equality.
Joan Baez, Singer
"I'd never seen anything like it. I remember the electricity in the air."
Rachel Robinson, The Jackie Robinson Foundation
"We were looking for leadership, and he was offering it."
Nan Orrock, State Senator
"I resolved at that moment . . . I was going to be a part of changing the country."
John Lewis, Congressman
"There was so much hope, so much optimism after the March on Washington."

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On August 28, 1963, people poured into Washington, D.C. Many held signs: "We March for Integrated Schools Now!" and "We Demand Jobs for All Now!" The event was called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It drew about...

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Randolph, Rustin, & the Origins of the March on Washington: Crash Course Black American History #32

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The Brown case overturned an earlier decision by the Supreme Court. In 1896 the court had decided that it was legal to make African Americans and whites use separate public facilities. Throughout the South nearly all public places, including parks, restaurants, movie theaters, and drinking fountains, were separate. It was illegal for an African American to use a facility reserved for whites.

For years African Americans and others worked to change the segregation laws. One group that was very active in those efforts was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the late 1940s the NAACP supported several African American children who had applied to all-white schools. The children were not accepted into the schools. The NAACP then brought lawsuits against the school boards. The law at the time said that schools could be kept separate if they were equal. The court cases argued that the Black schools were not equal to the white schools. Eventually five of the cases were combined and brought before the Supreme Court.

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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a court case about segregation in United States public schools. Segregation means keeping Blacks and whites separate. In 1954 the...

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Brown v. Board of Education

Argued December 9-11, 1952
Reargued December 7-9, 1953
Decided May 17, 1954

Full case name
Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al.

Citations

347 U.S. 483 ( more)

Subsequent history

Parties were ordered to return to determine how the ruling should be applied in Brown II, 349 U.S. 294 (1955)

Holding

Separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities is inherently unequal, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Court membership

Case opinions

Majority

Warren, joined by all other Justices

Laws applied

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) (in part)

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (full name Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas) was a Landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1950 in Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grade girl named Linda Brown had to walk more than a mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her segregated school for black children. However, there was an elementary school for white children less than seven blocks away. At that time, many schools in the United States were segregated. Black children and white children were not allowed to go to the same schools.

Her father, Oliver Brown, tried to get Linda into the white school, but the principal of the school refused. The two schools were supposed to be " separate but equal." However, they were not.

In 1951, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped the parents file a class action lawsuit. There were five lawsuits in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the district of Colombia about having black students going to legally segregated schools. In 1896, the Supreme Court had ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was legal, as long as separate places for blacks and whites were "separate but equal." The NAACP's lawyers argued that the white and black schools in Topeka were not "separate but equal."

Kenneth Clark is a Psychologist that gave young African American children black and white dolls to see how they felt about segregation and integration. The children liked the white dolls. After the doll test Clark also gave the black children drawings of a kid and asked them to color it like themselves, some of those kids colored themselves white or yellow crayon which they also used in the case.

The case eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court. After years of work, in 1954, Thurgood Marshall and a team of other NAACP lawyers won the case. It was named "Brown" because she was alphabetically the first name on the list of plaintiffs. After the lawsuit many of the plaintiffs lost their jobs and respect in society.

The Supreme Court has nine justices. The vote on Brown v. Board of Education was unanimous, meaning that all nine justices voted the same way. One of the judges, Robert Jackson, had recently had a heart attack and was not supposed to come back to court until the next month. However, he came to the court when the judges read their decision, possibly to show that every one of the judges agreed.

The ruling in the case was written by Earl Warren, who was Chief Justice. He said "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This decision made the racial segregation of schools against the law in every US state.

Some states did not obey this court decision at first. The supreme Court ruled the schools had up to 5 years to desegregate. It was not until the early 1970s that all United States public schools were integrated (the opposite of segregated). Integrating America's schools required many state and Supreme Court decisions to force schools to integrate.

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Brown v. Board of Education Facts for Kids

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Brown v. Board of Education Argued December 9-11, 1952 Reargued December 7-9, 1953 Decided May 17, 1954 Full case name Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al. Citations 347 U.S. 483 ( more) Subsequent history Parties were ordered to return to determine how the ruling should be applied in Brown II, 349 U.S.

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On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

Subjects

Social Studies, U.S. History

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The ruling, ending the five-year case of Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, was a unanimous decision. Brown, actually a collection of five individual cases arguing against school segregation, overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine outlined in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. Brown ruled that racial segregation itself was unconstitutional. In particular, such segregation violated the so-called "equal protection clause" of the United States Constitution's 14th Amendment: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Brown decision had an enormous impact on public schools in the U.S. In Topeka, elementary schools desegregated within two years. (Middle and high schools had already been integrated.) However, not all states accepted the Supreme Court's decision. In the state of Virginia, for instance, a campaign called "Massive Resistance" opposed desegregation. Many public schools in Virginia closed down rather than accepting integration. Virginia did not entirely integrate its public schools until the 1970s.

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August 9, 2022

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On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Social Studies, U.S. History On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The ruling, ending the five-year case of Oliver Brown v.

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School Segregation and Brown v Board: Crash Course Black American History #33

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The Montgomery bus boycott was one of the defining actions of the civil rights movement in the United States. The boycott was a mass protest against the segregation of the...

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Kids learn about the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., African-Americans stopped riding the buses for over a year.

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Discover how this remarkable woman helped change the lives of millions of African Americans and the history of her country in our Rosa Parks facts...
All people should be treated equally, right? Regardless of where you come from, what religion you follow, where you work, what language you speak or whether you're a boy or a girl. Well, sadly, this isn't always the case, and many groups of people around the world still suffer as a result of prejudices and discrimination.

Thankfully, there are some amazing people who have done incredible things to fight for equality. One such person was a civil rights activist called Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks facts

Who was Rosa Parks?

Full name: Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
Born: 4 February 1913
Hometown: Tuskegee, Alabama, USA
Occupation: Civil rights activist
Died: 24 October 2005
Best known for: The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Rosa was born in the town of Tuskegee in Alabama, a state in southern USA. Her mother was a teacher and her father a carpenter, and she had a little brother called Sylvester. After her parents separated when she was just a little girl, Rosa and Sylvester moved with their mother to Alabama's capital city, Montgomery.

Rosa loved to learn and studied hard at high school. But, sadly, she had to leave school at 16 to care for her dying grandmother and, shortly after, her very sick mother. When she was 19 years old, Rosa married a barber called Raymond Parks, who encouraged her to return to high school to earn her diploma (an education certificate). And that's just what she did, before beginning work as a seamstress in Montgomery.

Racial segregation

Life for African Americans like Rosa was hard. At the time, the Southern United States operated under the ' Jim Crow laws' - a set of laws introduced in the late 19th century that claimed to give African Americans " separate but equal " status and treatment. But, in truth, there was no 'equality' whatsoever.

Created by white authorities who thought black people's lives didn't matter as much as theirs, these laws enforced racial segregation and allowed for discrimination against African Americans - referred to at that time as "colored" people.

The Jim Crow laws were introduced in different ways from state to state, but there was one common goal - to make sure black citizens and white citizens led very separate lives.

Among other things, they had separate schools, churches, libraries, restaurants, toilets, drinking fountains and waiting rooms. In some areas, there were laws banning black people from sports events and even forbidding them to work in the same office as a white person.

African Americans had far fewer rights, too. Racist laws known as ' Black Codes ' restricted them to low-paying jobs and made it incredibly difficult for them to vote. These laws also meant black people could be arrested for small things.

What did Rosa Parks do?

In the face of such racism, Rosa decided to make a stand for what was right. Together with her husband Raymond, she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), working towards putting an end to discrimination and segregation.

But it was on the 1 December 1955 that Rosa truly sparked change. After a long day at work, Rosa boarded the bus home and took a seat. At that time in Montgomery, seats at the front of buses were reserved for white passengers, and the seats at the back for black passengers.

The bus quickly filled up and when a white man boarded, the driver told the African American passengers to give up their seats for him. Whilst the other black passengers obeyed, Rosa did not. The result? Rosa was arrested by the police and fined for breaking segregation laws! But Rosa refused to pay, and argued that it was the law that was wrong, not her behaviour.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

On news of Rosa's arrest, the black citizens of Montgomery came together and agreed to boycott the city's buses in protest. This meant that from 5 December 1955 (the date of Rosa's trial), African Americans refused to travel on buses. The boycott was managed by an organisation called the Montgomery Improvement Association, for which Dr Martin Luther King Jr was elected as leader.

The protest proved super effective, with more black people participating than had been expected. And since African Americans made up around 70% of bus users, the city's transport services made far less money and began to struggle. But it wasn't an easy protest for the black citizens. Many of them didn't own cars, and so they had to carpool together or walk long distances to get where they needed to go. What's more, the boycott was received with anger by members of the white population, who responded with aggressive and dangerous acts of violence.

Nevertheless, the protesters stuck together and fought for their cause - and on 13 November 1956 their efforts were finally rewarded. After 381 days of boycotting the buses, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's racial segregation laws were 'unconstitutional' - meaning they weren't valid and should not be recognised. In light of such a wonderful victory, Rosa became known as "the mother of the civil rights movement".

Rosa Parks' legacy

Sadly, despite the victory, life wasn't easy for Rosa and her fellow activists after the boycott. Faced with continued violence and threats by angry white groups, Rosa and Raymond moved to Detroit (a city in the northern US state of Michigan), to live with Rosa's brother.

There she continued to promote civil rights and help those suffering from discrimination and injustice. She continued to support the NAACP and many civil rights events, and in 1987 she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development to provide career training for young people in Detroit.

Rosa received numerous awards for her strength, courage and her incredible work for civil rights - including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

When did Rosa Parks die?

Rosa died of natural causes on 24 October 2005 at the age of 92. But she continues to be recognised all over the world as a symbol of freedom and equality. Today, commemorative statues stand (or 'sit' we should say!) in her honour, to remind us of her remarkable achievements that should never be forgotten.

What do you think of our Rosa Parks facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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Rosa Parks facts for kids | National Geographic Kids

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Learn all about the African American civil rights activist who fought for equality and freedom in the USA in our Rosa Parks facts...

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Underwood Archives/UIG/REX/Shutterstock.com

The Montgomery bus boycott was a mass protest against segregation on the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama. Civil rights activists and their supporters began the protest in 1955, and it lasted for 381 days. It led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery's segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional. The bus boycott also brought the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., into the spotlight. He became one of the most important leaders of the American civil rights movement.

Everett Collection Inc./AGE fotostock

The boycott began shortly after seamstress Rosa Parks, a Black passenger, refused to give her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus on December 1, 1955. Local laws stated that African American passengers had to sit at the back of the bus while whites sat in front. If the white section became full, African Americans had to give up their seats in the back. When Parks refused to give her seat to a white rider, she was taken to jail. She was later bailed out by a local civil rights leader.

Many of Montgomery's African American residents were politically organized long before Parks was arrested. For example, the Women's Political Council (WPC) was founded in 1946. It had been lobbying the city for improved conditions on the buses for a decade before the bus boycott began. In addition, Montgomery had an active branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where Parks also worked as a secretary.

Parks was not the first resident of Montgomery to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger. Claudette Colvin, a Black teenager, was arrested in March 1955 for refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white person. However, local civil rights leaders chose Parks's arrest to challenge local segregation laws. The WPC printed and distributed leaflets describing Parks's arrest. They set December 5-Parks's court date-as the day to boycott the city buses. Civil rights leaders believed that the boycott could be effective because African Americans made up about 75 percent of the bus riders in Montgomery. Some 90 percent of the African American residents stayed off the buses on December 5.

The boycott was so successful that local civil rights leaders decided to extend it indefinitely. A group of local ministers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to sustain the boycott and the legal challenge to the segregation laws. King, pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, was elected president of the MIA. A powerful orator, he was new to the area and had few enemies. Local leaders believed he could rally the various factions of the African American community to the cause.

The bus companies and Montgomery officials refused to meet the protesters' demands. Retaliation against the African American community was common. King's home was bombed, and many boycotters were threatened or fired from their jobs. Several times the police arrested protesters and took them to jail. Still, the boycott continued for more than a year. The MIA filed a federal suit against bus segregation. On June 5, 1956, a federal district court declared segregated seating on buses to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling in mid-November. The decision went into effect on December 20, 1956.

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The Montgomery bus boycott was a mass protest against segregation on the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama. Civil rights activists and their supporters began the protest in 1955, and it lasted for 381 days. It led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that Montgomery's segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional.

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Crash Course Black American History #35

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On August 28, 1963, about 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. The march helped convince Congress to pass important civil rights laws.

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In March 1965, civil rights leader John Lewis helped lead a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to fight for voting rights. On 'Bloody Sunday,' peaceful protesters were attacked by police. This shocking event convinced many Americans to support voting rights. I've found an excellent EPIC book about John Lewis's incredible journey.

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John R. Lewis Elementary School holds symbolic Selma to Montgomery march

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When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955, she helped start the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For 381 days, African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses to protest segregation. This peaceful protest led to a Supreme Court decision that made bus segregation illegal.

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Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Montgomery Bus Boycott for Kids | Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King

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In 1957, nine brave African American students (known as the Little Rock Nine) faced angry crowds to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Eisenhower had to send soldiers to protect them. Their courage helped make school integration possible. Here's an age-appropriate article about their experience.

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On February 1, 1960, four college students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Though they were refused service and asked to leave, they sat quietly and did their homework. Their peaceful protest sparked similar sit-ins across the country. Watch this student-friendly video about their brave actions!

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Reflections on the Greensboro Lunch Counter

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Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier

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Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier

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In 1947, Jackie Robinson made history by becoming the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. His courage and skill helped break down racial barriers in sports and inspired others to fight for equality. Watch this kid-friendly video about his remarkable journey!

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Who was Jackie Robinson - Black American World Changers - Made for kids, by kids

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On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision that changed American education forever. They ruled that separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. This case helped end segregation in schools across America. Check out this article written just for students your age!

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Jim Crow laws were unfair rules that separated black and white people in schools, restaurants, buses, and other public places. These laws were mostly used in the Southern United States from the 1870s until 1965. I've found a great EPIC book that explains this difficult topic in a way that's perfect for 5th graders.

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Instantly access 35,000 high-quality books for kids

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Learn about the Jim Crow laws that segregated public schools, public places, transportation, and even drinking fountains.

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Kids learn about the history of Jim Crow Laws including segregation in the South, example laws, grandfather clauses, black codes, and how they got the name Jim Crow.

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Jim Crow laws were an official effort to keep African Americans separate from whites in the southern United States for many years. The laws were in place from the late 1870s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950s.

The name Jim Crow comes from a once popular stage performance that began in 1828. This type of show, called a minstrel show, involved lively entertainment that encouraged a negative view of Blacks. The term Jim Crow became an unfavorable name for Blacks as well as a term for their segregation, or separation, from whites.

Beginning in the late 1870s, Southern state lawmakers passed laws that required whites and Blacks to attend separate schools and to sit in different areas on public transportation. The laws extended to parks, cemeteries, theaters, and restaurants. Blacks and whites had to use different drinking fountains, waiting rooms, housing, and shops. The laws kept Black and white people from relating to one another as equals. The laws limited freedom and opportunity for African American people.

Each state had its own set of Jim Crow laws. Segregation spread beyond the South to other states in the country as well. Signs were used to show where "people of color" were not allowed to go. In addition to African American people, Jim Crow law limited many racial and ethnic groups in the United States who were not seen as white.

In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, or against the country's set of rules. This decision was the beginning of the end for Jim Crow law. The legal argument to end racial segregation was extended to other public areas. Soon Jim Crow law was removed completely.

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Jim Crow laws were an official effort to keep African Americans separate from whites in the southern United States for many years. The laws were in place from the late 1870s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950s. The name Jim Crow comes from a once popular stage performance that began in 1828.

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Introduction
Esther Bubley/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (file no. LC-USW3-037939-E)

For many years, some states in the United States had laws to enforce racial segregation-the separation of white and Black people-especially in the South. The laws, called Jim Crow laws, were in place from the late 1870s until after the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950s.

The name Jim Crow came from a once popular stage performance, called a minstrel show. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, a white actor, first presented such a show in 1828. The title of his performance was "Jump, Jim Crow." He painted his face black and presented a ridiculously exaggerated act mocking the singing and dancing of enslaved Black people. His act was intended to be comic entertainment for white people. Other performers soon copied his style. The term Jim Crow came to be a derogatory (belittling) name for Black people and a designation for their segregated life.

Background
American Civil War
Prior to the American Civil War (1861-65), many white people looked upon enslaved African Americans as inferior. These white people believed that both races could work side by side as long as the enslaved people recognized that they were subordinate, or lower in their status or position. The idea among white people that they were superior also occurred in cities in the North, where free Black people often worked under harsh restrictions.

Beginning in the early 19th century, the North had a growing industrialized economy. The South had large plantations producing commercial crops such as cotton. Plantation owners relied on enslaved people as the main labor force. The extension of slavery into new territories and states had been debated for years, leaving proslavery and antislavery forces at odds. By the 1850s many Northerners believed that slavery needed to end. White Southerners feared that limiting the expansion of slavery into new territories would be harmful to the institution in their own states.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the antislavery Republican Party, won the presidential election. Shortly afterward, several Southern states seceded (withdrew) from the Union. They formed a new government called the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. The North and South began fighting in the American Civil War just a few months later.

At the beginning of the war, Lincoln concentrated on saving the Union, but his focus soon turned to the issue of slavery. In 1862 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It promised freedom for enslaved people held in any of the Confederate states that did not return to the Union by the end of the year. The proclamation became effective on January 1, 1863. The war continued until April 1865, when the South surrendered.

Reconstruction
The Reconstruction period occurred immediately following the American Civil War. At that time attempts were made to remedy some of the effects of slavery, which had left most Southern Black people uneducated and in poverty. The government also tried to solve the problems arising from the readmission to the Union of the states that had seceded. Politicians had differing ideas on how to accomplish those goals.

In December 1865 the U.S. Congress ratified (or officially approved) the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally ended slavery. The next year Congress passed several bills to aid African Americans. The Southern Homestead Act helped some formerly enslaved people gain their own land. The Freedmen's Bureau, which was established to aid formerly enslaved people, was extended. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 defined all persons born in the United States as national citizens and made them equal before the law.

In 1867 the Radical Republicans gained control in Congress. They wanted the federal government to guarantee the freed people's civil and political rights. They passed a series of acts that were more restrictive to white Southerners. One act imposed military rule in the South until state legislators wrote new constitutions. Another disenfranchised (barred from voting) white Southerners who had participated in the rebellion. Black people, white Southerners who had not joined the rebellion, and white Northerners who moved to the South were allowed to vote and assumed political leadership in the Southern states.

In 1868 Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, granting citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans. Two years later Congress ratified the Fifteenth Amendment, prohibiting states from restricting the right to vote because of race. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 affirmed the "equality of all men before the law." It prohibited racial discrimination in public places and facilities, such as restaurants and public transportation.

Reconstruction gradually came to an end in 1877. Northern political and business leaders were more concerned about new economic opportunities than about tackling the problems of the formerly enslaved people. That allowed terrorist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to prosper. One of their main objectives was to frighten and kill African Americans to keep them from voting or running for office. At the same time, President Rutherford B. Hayes removed U.S. Army troops that were on peacekeeping missions in the South.

As a result of those events, white Southerners who had supported the Confederacy took back control of governments in the South. They enacted a number of laws called Jim Crow laws. These laws were intended to ensure that white supremacy-the system keeping white people in the top position politically, economically, and socially-would continue. Among the laws were ones to keep African Americans from voting and to reverse any political and social gains Black people had made during Reconstruction.

Jim Crow Laws
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ppmsc-00199)

Arthur S. Siegel, FSA/OWI, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-fsa-8d29162)

The Jim Crow laws enacted in the late 1870s focused on segregation as a way to maintain the economic advantages and superior social status of white people in the South. Southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of white people from "persons of color" in public transportation and schools. Generally, anyone of known or strongly suspected Black ancestry in any degree was for this purpose a "person of color." In addition, local and state governments were free to impose their own set of laws, with various restrictions.

From public transportation and schools, the segregation principle was extended to parks, cemeteries, theaters, and restaurants in an effort to prevent any contact between Black people and white people as equals. Black people also could not use drinking fountains, waiting rooms, shops, and swimming pools intended for white people. And the places and facilities provided for Black people were not as good.

Challenge to the Law
In 1892 members of the Black community in New Orleans, Louisiana, hired lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of racial segregation laws. The lawyers began by challenging the state's Separate Car Act. The law required that railroads in the state have "equal but separate accommodations" for white and Black passengers. Passengers were only allowed to sit in railcars designated for their race.

In order to test the law, the lawyers had Homer Plessy purchase a ticket and sit in a railcar for white passengers. Plessy, who had a light complexion, was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American. When the train conductor asked Plessy if he was a "colored man," Plessy said yes. The train conductor then told Plessy to move to a car for African Americans. Plessy refused and was arrested.

A U.S. District Court found Plessy guilty, and a state supreme court upheld the verdict. The case was then taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. Plessy's lawyers argued that the Separate Car Act was unconstitutional because it violated both the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. In 1896 the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy, in effect upholding the doctrine of "separate but equal." The decision helped to solidify the establishment of the Jim Crow era, which continued for more than 50 years.

Legal End of Jim Crow
In 1954 the Supreme Court reversed the Plessy ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. It declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. By extension, this ruling was applied to other public facilities. In the years following, other court decisions struck down similar kinds of Jim Crow legislation. Despite the end of these laws, however, undoing segregation in schools and especially housing was often a long and slow process. In addition, the effects of segregation were long-lasting, and discrimination against Black people continued. ( See also civil rights movement; discrimination; racism.)

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For many years, some states in the United States had laws to enforce racial segregation-the separation of white and Black people-especially in the South. The laws, called Jim...

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Kids learn about the history of the Little Rock Nine, African-American students who fought to end segregation by attending an all-white high school.

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The Little Rock Nine was a group of African American high-school students who challenged racial segregation in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas. They became the…

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Discover the legacy of the Little Rock Nine in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn about who the Little Rock Nine were, including member names, and important landmarks.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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In 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal. The case, Brown v. The Board of Education, has become iconic for Americans because it marked the formal beginning of the end of segregation.

But the gears of change grind slowly. It wasn't until September 1957 when nine teens would become symbols, much like the landmark decision we know as Brown v. The Board of Education, of all that was in store for our nation in the years to come.

The "Little Rock Nine," as the nine teens came to be known, were to be the first African American students to enter Little Rock's Central High School. Three years earlier, following the Supreme Court ruling, the Little Rock school board pledged to voluntarily desegregate its schools. This idea was explosive for the community and, like much of the South, it was fraught with anger and bitterness.

On September 2, 1957 the night prior to what was to be the teens' first day in Central High classrooms, Arkansas governor Orval Faubus ordered the state's National Guard to block their entrance. Faubus said it was for the safety of the nine students.

On September 4, just 24 hours after a federal judge ordered the Little Rock Nine to begin attending Central High immediately, a belligerent mob, along with the National Guard, again prevented the teens from entering the school.

Sixteen days later a federal judge ordered the National Guard removed. Once again on September 23, the Little Rock Nine attempted to enter the school. Though escorted by Little Rock police into a side door, another angry crowd gathered and tried to rush into Central High. Fearing for the lives of the nine students, school officials sent the teens home. They did, however, manage to attend classes for about three hours.

Finally, 52 years ago today, on September 25, 1957, following a plea from Little Rock's mayor, Woodrow Mann, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and sent U.S. Army troops to the scene. Personally guarded by soldiers from the National Guard soldiers and the Army's 101st Airborne, the Little Rock Nine began regular class attendance at Central High.

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The "Little Rock Nine," as the nine teens came to be known, were to be the first African American students to enter Little Rock's Central High School. Three years earlier, following the Supreme Court ruling, the Little Rock school board pledged to voluntarily desegregate its schools.

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How the Little Rock 9 Impacted the Civil Rights Movement | The American Presidency w/ Bill Clinton

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Civil Rights Movement: The Little Rock Nine | GCSE History

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On February 1, 1960, four college freshmen in Greensboro, North Carolina, stunned the world by a simple act. Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond sat down at a "whites only" lunch counter at the local Woolworth's. The young black men politely asked for coffee. When told that they would not be served, the friends sat peacefully until the store closed.

This quiet act of rebellion sparked a series of sit-ins across the South to end racial segregation. "It became what we call a 'spark' that was created here, and it spread like wildfire across North Carolina," says Cassandra Williams, a guide at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which is in the same building that once housed the Woolworth's.

From February 1 until July 25, 1960, the "Greensboro Four," as they became known, staged a series of sit-ins. They were joined by tens of thousands of students, both black and white. Even people in the North, where Woolworth's lunch counters were not segregated, wanted to support the movement.

"People boycotted the stores in the North," Williams says, "telling others not to eat there."
LIVING HISTORY
On July 25, 1960, the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro was finally integrated. People of all races could sit together to eat. But it would take a few more years for every business in Greensboro to take down the "whites only" signs for good.

Today, the old Woolworth's lunch counter serves as a museum where people can learn about civil rights history. Visitors can see where McCain, McNeil, Blair, and Richmond actually sat down in 1960. "I love meeting all the new people," says museum guide La'Tonya Wiley. "I like being able to give them information to add to their knowledge."

The Greensboro Four sat down not just for themselves. They wanted to create a better world for everyone. Such acts of courage still inspire us today.

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On February 1, 1960, four college freshmen in Greensboro, North Carolina, stunned the world by a simple act. Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond sat down at a "whites only" lunch counter at the local Woolworth's. The young black men politely asked for coffee.

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The Greensboro sit-in was an act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1, 1960, four African American men sat at the counter, which was designated as "whites only." When the staff refused to serve them, the men remained seated to peacefully protest racial segregation. The success of that sit-in led to a wider movement that spread throughout the South.

Ezell Blair, Jr. (later Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond organized the sit-in. They were all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. The students came to be called the Greensboro Four. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. They also used the Journey of Reconciliation ( see Freedom Rides) of 1947 as a guide. During the Journey of Reconciliation, Black and white people rode buses together through the South. They were protesting ongoing segregation in interstate bus travel, which the U.S. Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.

On the afternoon of February 1, 1960, the Greensboro Four entered a Woolworth's general store that had a dining area. The men bought small items at the store before sitting down at the store's lunch counter. Although Black people could enter the dining area, they had to use a standing snack bar because the lunch counter was designated for "whites only." The Greensboro Four politely requested service at the counter, remaining seated when the staff refused to take their orders. The lunch counter manager contacted the police. The police arrived, but they did nothing because the four men were paying customers of the store. Meanwhile, the Greensboro Four had prearranged for Ralph Johns, a local white businessman who was sympathetic to their cause, to alert the local media. A photo of the Greensboro Four soon appeared in local newspapers.

The following day the Greensboro Four returned to the Woolworth's lunch counter. They had some 20 other Black university students with them. The staff again refused to serve them. By February 4 some 100 protesters filled the store and lunch counter. Media coverage expanded, spreading the story throughout the United States. Within weeks, protesters were holding sit-ins in cities across the country. Soon many owners were integrating dining facilities across the South. The Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro opened to Black patrons in July 1960. The Greensboro sit-in marked an early success for the civil rights movement.

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The Greensboro sit-in was an act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1, 1960, four African American men sat at...

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Website design and web development by Mango Web Design http://mangowebdesign.com

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Greensboro Sit-In - North Carolina History Project

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On February 1, 1960, four African-American students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a white-only lunch counter inside a Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth’s store. While sit-ins had been held elsewhere in the United States, the Greensboro sit-in catalyzed a wav…

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Greensboro, North Carolina

The sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth's department store in Greensboro on February 1, 1960, was the impetus for the larger sit-in movement that spread across the country. Four Black students from Agricultural & Technical College of North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State University) - Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond - sat down at the lunch counter inside the store and were refused service when they each asked for a cup of coffee. Even though they were not served, the four men stayed at the counter until the store closed that night.

The next day, the sit-in grew to include more than 20 participants, including women from neighboring Bennett College. The students were harassed and heckled by white patrons, but they remained at the counter and did not fight back. The following day, more than 60 people joined the sit-in, and local newspapers and news stations came to Woolworth's to report on the event. On February 4, more than 300 students participated in the sit-in, which expanded to the lunch counter at Kress, a nearby store.

Students in other North Carolina cities, including Winston-Salem, Durham, Raleigh and Charlotte, also organized their own sit-ins at segregated businesses, and the movement spread to other states, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Mississippi. In locations where sit-ins were taking place, segregated businesses were losing money. Woolworth's in Greensboro lost a reported $200,000 due to boycotts, and on July 25, 1960, store manager Charles Harris decided to desegregate the store. He requested that four of his Black employees change out of their uniforms and order at the counter. That day, the four employees became the first Black customers to be served at any Woolworth's lunch counter.

The seats and counter remain in the original building in Greensboro, which is now part of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.

Orangeburg, South Carolina

Sit-ins were also taking root in South Carolina in 1960. Students organized a sit-in at the segregated lunch counter of S.H. Kress & Co. in Orangeburg's business district. This action sparked multiple boycotts of segregated businesses in the town. A group of 1,000 students gathered to protest segregation in Orangeburg businesses, and when they refused to disperse upon the police chief's order, police officers and firemen attacked them with fire hoses and tear gas. Protestors continued to act peacefully, but they were pinned against walls and pushed to the ground.

For breaching the peace, 388 students were arrested and 341 were eventually convicted and fined $50 each, though none of them ended up paying this fine because all appealed. Their defense lawyer, NAACP attorney Matthew Perry, was briefly jailed for his defense of the students. South Carolina State University President Benner C. Turner threatened expulsion from the school for any students who continued demonstrating against segregation, but sit-ins continued at Kress.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the 1960s, and in 1968, the hostility boiled over into violence after several incidents at All Star Bowling Lanes, whose owner refused to desegregate. When 200 students gathered on the South Carolina State University campus to protest unequal treatment at the bowling alley, the South Carolina Highway Patrol fired into the crowd of demonstrators, killing three students and injuring 27 people.

Today, you can visit the South Carolina State College Historic District and the site of Orangeburg Massacre. There are active academic buildings from the Civil Rights Movement period, as well as statues memorializing the three Black students who lost their lives in the massacre. Though All Star Bowling Lanes is vacant, National Park Service rangers offer tours of the interior of the building at specified times.

Rock Hill, South Carolina

On January 31, 1961, nine students from Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill walked into McCrory's five-and-dime store, sat at the lunch counter and ordered food and drinks. They were refused service and instructed to leave, but they did not get up. All nine students were arrested.

Following the arrests, 10 people were convicted of breaching the peace and trespassing and given a choice between spending 30 days in jail or paying a $100 fine. All but one chose jail time, which started the "jail, not bail" approach that spread to demonstrations in other cities. Through the next several months, sit-ins and marches continued in Rock Hill.

In 2015, Judge John C. Hayes III overturned the convictions of the nine men who were punished for the McCrory's sit-in, saying, "We cannot rewrite history, but we can right history."

The McCrory's building still houses an active restaurant, and the original counter where the sit-in occurred is engraved with the names of the Friendship Nine. You can visit the building free of charge, and you can even grab breakfast, lunch or dinner at the famous site.

Charleston, South Carolina

On April 1, 1960, students from Burke High School congregated at the S.H. Kress & Co. lunch counter to stage a sit-in. Twenty-four students arrived around 11 a.m. They were refused service, but they remained seated and continued to behave respectfully, sometimes humming songs and praying together. Just before 5 p.m., the store closed, and police arrested the protestors. NAACP Branch President J. Arthur Brown paid the students' bail, which was set at $10 each. The one-day sit-in was not as eventful as some of the other longer-term sit-ins around the country, but these students changed the tide in Charleston and opened the door for residents to acknowledge the poor treatment of African-Americans in their city.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The activism that began in Greensboro, North Carolina, spread to Louisiana. Seven students from Southern University in Baton Rouge staged a sit-in at the Kress lunch counter there on March 28, 1960. All seven were arrested for breaching the peace, and their bail was set at $1,500 each. The Rev. T.J. Jemison, a civil rights leader in Baton Rouge, raised the money for their bail, and the students returned to school.

On March 29, seven more students were arrested for a sit-in at the Sitman's Drug Store lunch counter. Two were arrested for a sit-in at the Greyhound Bus Station. On March 30, angry students walked out of their classes at Southern University and marched to the Louisiana State Capitol in protest. Southern University President Felton Clark suspended all 16 arrested students for an indefinite period. Despite some classroom boycotts the following day, the sit-in campaign eventually lost steam, with 15 of the 16 arrested students asking for re-admittance to the school.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned all 16 convictions in 1960, and Baton Rouge lunch counters were desegregated in 1963. Tours of both the Louisiana State Capitol Building and the campus of Southern University are available.

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The Sit-In Movement Takes a Stand - US Civil Rights Trail

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The sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth's department store in Greensboro on February 1, 1960, was the impetus for the larger sit-in movement that spread across the country. Four Black students from Agricultural & Technical College of North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State University) - Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr.

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In late 1959, the Greensboro Four participated in NAACP meetings at Bennett College, where they collaborated with the women students known as the Bennett Belles on a plan. The Belles resolved to serve as look-outs when the four men took their seats at the lunch counter on the first day.

"They had a strong Black community in Greensboro that was steeped in the struggle and willing to support young people by way of moral and financial support," says Prairie View A&M University History Professor Will Guzmán.

Another critical part of the protest was looping in the media. Multiple lunch counter sit-ins had taken place in the Midwest, East Coast and South in the 1940s and 1950s, but these demonstrations didn't garner national attention. The Greensboro Four wanted their protest to get recognition, so before heading to Woolworth's on February 1, they arranged for Ralph Johns, a white businessman and activist, to alert the press about their plans.

"This is the real beginnings of TV media; people can see the sit-in and imagine how they would do it themselves," said Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.

Word quickly spread about the Greensboro sit-in, and both North Carolina A&T and Bennett College students took part in the sit-in the next day. As the week unfolded, dozens of young people, including students from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, flocked to lunch counters and asked to be served.

"We even had people who saw the sit-ins that were taking place at the lunch counter drive from other states to come down here," Swaine says.

The sit-ins not only attracted new protesters, they also drew counter-protesters who showed up to harass, insult and assault them. But the acts of intimidation didn't stop the movement from building. After nearly a week of protests, approximately 1,400 students showed up to the Greensboro Woolworth to demonstrate.

As demonstrations spread to 13 states, the focus of the sit-ins expanded, with students not only protesting segregated lunch counters but also segregated hotels, beaches and libraries.

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How the Greensboro Four Sit-In Sparked a Movement | HISTORY

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When four Black students refused to move from a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960, nation-wide student activism gained momentum.

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The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, their actions made an immediate and lasting impact, forcing Woolworth's and other establishments to change their segregationist policies.

Greensboro Four

The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. All four were students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College.

They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques practiced by Mohandas Gandhi, as well as the Freedom Rides organized by the Congress for Racial Equality ( CORE) in 1947, in which interracial activists rode across the South in buses to test a recent Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate bus travel.

The Greensboro Four, as they became known, had also been spurred to action by the brutal murder in 1955 of a young Black boy, Emmett Till, who had allegedly whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi store.

Did you know? The former Woolworth's in Greensboro now houses the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which features a restored version of the lunch counter where the Greensboro Four sat. Part of the original counter is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Sit-In Begins

Blair, Richmond, McCain and McNeil planned their protest carefully, and enlisted the help of a local white businessman, Ralph Johns, to put their plan into action.

On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats.

Police arrived on the scene but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. By that time, Johns had already alerted the local media, who had arrived in full force to cover the events on television. The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges.

Sit-Ins Spread Nationwide

By February 5, some 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworth's, paralyzing the lunch counter and other local businesses. Heavy television coverage of the Greensboro sit-ins sparked a sit-in movement that quickly spread to college towns throughout the South and into the North, as young Black and white people joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in libraries, beaches, hotels and other establishments.

Some of the first sit-ins during the civil rights movement were organized by history teacher Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma City in 1958. By the end of March 1960, the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Though many were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, national media coverage of the sit-ins brought increasing attention to the civil rights movement.

In response to the success of the sit-in movement, dining facilities across the South were being integrated by the summer of 1960. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworth's quietly integrated its lunch counter. Four Black Woolworth's employees-Geneva Tisdale, Susie Morrison, Anetha Jones and Charles Best-were the first to be served.

SNCC

To capitalize on the momentum of the sit-in movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 1960.

Over the next few years, SNCC served as one of the leading forces in the civil rights movement, organizing Freedom Rides through the South in 1961 and the historic March on Washington in 1963, at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his seminal " I Have a Dream " speech.

SNCC worked alongside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to push passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and would later mount an organized resistance to the Vietnam War.

As its members faced increased violence, however, SNCC became more militant, and by the late 1960s it was advocating the "Black Power" philosophy of Stokely Carmichael (SNCC's chairman from 1966-67) and his successor, H. Rap Brown. By the early 1970s, SNCC had lost much of its mainstream support and was effectively disbanded.

Greensboro Sit-In Impact

The Greensboro Sit-In was a critical turning point in Black history and American history, bringing the fight for civil rights to the national stage. Its use of nonviolence inspired the Freedom Riders and others to take up the cause of integration in the South, furthering the cause of equal rights in the United States.

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Greensboro Sit-In - Facts, Date & Definition | HISTORY

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The Greensboro Sit-in was a major civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young Black students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service.

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This book talks about sit ins that occurred in Oklahoma City, but may help you understand how they worked for change!

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Read Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins on Epic

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Read Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins on Epic

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Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

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Greensboro Four (Black History) Educational Videos for Students (Cartoon Network for Kids) Bully

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The Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Montgomery Bus Boycott for Kids | Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King

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Twinkl Teaching Resources - United States

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The Civil Rights Movement for Kids | What is Segregation? | Black History Month | Twinkl USA

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Civil Rights Act of 1964: In Pursuit of Equality - Civil Rights in the U.S. Series | Academy 4 S...

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African Americans have faced discrimination throughout the history of the United States. They were enslaved for more than 200 years. After that they faced segregation and other forms of unequal treatment. Segregation means that they were kept separate from the white population. That began to change in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1948 President Harry S. Truman ordered that the armed forces be integrated. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that schools could not longer be segregated.

During this period the U.S. Congress began to consider passing a civil rights act. It did that in 1957 and in 1960. Those laws were not effective, but the 1957 act established the Commission on Civil Rights to look into civil rights issues. The commission sent President John F. Kennedy a report, and, as a result, Kennedy proposed a new civil rights bill in 1963. It was a controversial issue. There were still many people, especially in the South, who did not want African Americans to have equal rights. Kennedy was unable to pass the bill before his assassination in November of that year. However, the next president, Lyndon B. Johnson supported a stronger version of the bill. After one of the longest debates in Senate history, Congress finally approved the bill in July 1964. Johnson signed the bill into law on July 2. The backlash from white groups opposed to integration with African Americans was significant. There were protests, racial violence, and increased support for pro-segregation politicians.

Some whites did not think the Civil Rights Act was constitutional (that it agreed with the U.S. Constitution), so the law was challenged in court. In the case, the white owner of a motel refused to accept Black customers. He claimed that Title II of the Civil Rights Act was not legal according to the Constitution. In the end, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title II was constitutional. In the decades since the Civil Rights Act was passed, there have been a number of other Supreme Court cases that have involved the law.

The 50th anniversary of the act was celebrated in April 2014 with an event at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Speakers included U.S. President Barack Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The U.S. Congress marked the anniversary by posthumously awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King.

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African Americans have faced discrimination throughout the history of the United States. They were enslaved for more than 200 years. After that they faced segregation and other forms of unequal treatment. Segregation means that they were kept separate from the white population. That began to change in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

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Kids learn about the history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 including the background and work by leaders such as President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum; photograph, Cecil Stoughton

In 1964 the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which was intended to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction (1865-77). Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation involved in interstate commerce, such as hotels, restaurants, and places of entertainment. Title VII bans discrimination by trade unions, schools, or employers involved in interstate commerce or doing business with the federal government. The latter section also applies to discrimination on the basis of sex and established a government agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to enforce these provisions. The act also calls for the desegregation of public schools (Title IV), broadens the duties of the Civil Rights Commission (Title V), and assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs (Title VI).

The Civil Rights Act was a highly controversial issue in the United States as soon as it was proposed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Kennedy was unable to secure passage of the bill in Congress. However, a stronger version was eventually passed with the urging of his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson. He signed the bill into law on July 2, 1964, following one of the longest debates in Senate history. White groups opposed to integration with blacks responded to the act with a significant backlash that took the form of protests, increased support for pro-segregation candidates for public office, and some racial violence. The constitutionality of the act was immediately challenged by the U.S. Supreme Court case Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964). The court upheld the act, ruling that Title II of the act was constitutional. The Civil Rights Act gave federal law enforcement agencies the power to prevent racial discrimination in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities. ( See also civil rights movement.)

In 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in the case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, concerning Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The court ruled that Title VII's ban on discrimination "because of sex" applies to discrimination on basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Thus, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the workplace. ( See also gay rights movement.)

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In 1964 the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which was intended to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction (1865-77). Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged.

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In 1964, the United States passed a law to end segregation in public places and not let employers discriminate against someone because of their race or color.

This law went by the name of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

President John F. Kennedy proposed it, but it became law thanks to Lyndon B. Johnson, who became President after Kennedy died.

Congress has passed other laws that are related to this one since then too, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Causes

After the Civil War, three new amendments were put in place.

One made slaves free (the 13th Amendment).

One let them become citizens (14th Amendment).

One let all men have the right to vote no matter their race or color.

But many states, especially in the South, used a poll tax and a literacy test to keep African American people from voting. They also enforced laws that separated people by white and black.

For a while after the Civil War, there were not any new civil rights laws. Finally, in 1957 Congress passed a law about civil rights. This law had two parts:

One part was the Justice Department's Civil Rights section

One part was the Commission on Civil Rights to investigate discriminatory conditions.

In 1890, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which gave judges the ability to assist black people in voting without being harassed. To go through Congress, it was diluted with southern opposition.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments made it illegal for slavery. They also said that people are treated fairly under the law. The Supreme Court found it acceptable to have separate facilities if they were equal. This helped discrimination stay legal way into the 20th century.

The Jim Crow Laws

The Jim Crow laws were a set of state and local rules that legalized segregation. The laws were around for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968.

These laws stopped African Americans from voting, getting jobs, going to school, etc. Anyone who did not follow the Jim Crow laws often faced jail time or violence.

Jim Crow laws began in 1865. Black Codes were strict laws that told freed slaves when and where they could work and for how much money. The black codes appeared throughout the south to take voting rights away and control where freed slaves lived. If they had children, their children would be taken from them to work for white people.

The legal system was not fair for black people because white people who were Confederate soldiers worked as police and judges. This meant that African Americans struggled to win court cases and were subject to Black Codes.

These codes went with the labor camps where prisoners were treated like they were slaves. Because of the hard work, most blacks did not live until their entire sentence was over.

The Reconstruction era was a hard time for Black Americans. The violence was getting worse, and they were attacked, tortured, and lynched by white people who wanted them to stop living in the South.

Some terrible laws prevented them from moving on with their lives. One law said that black schools were not as good as white schools, and another said that black people could not live on land owned by whites.

The Ku Klux Klan was a group that was dangerous during the Jim Crow era. It started when Confederate veterans met in Pulaski, Tennessee.

They were a club for veterans. A secret society that terrorized black communities and spread through white Southern culture. Members of the group come from all levels in government and crime.

The Sixties

In the 1960s, people who knew about "equal protection of the laws" thought that the government should protect all Americans. They wanted equal protection for everyone. To create social justice and benefits, they did not want to use racial or gender criteria.

But after some time, we saw that many different areas of life included these types of questions.

When John F. Kennedy started in the White House, he did not support new anti-discrimination measures. But with protests springing up throughout the South (including one in Birmingham), he decided to act.

President John F. Kennedy asked African American leaders to use caution in these demonstrations because new violence might scare away potential supporters. The President also submitted a bill to Congress about civil rights (H.R. 7152).

In June, he proposed a significant civil rights legislation, which has been the best till today. He said that the United States would not be entirely free until all of its citizens were free.

Then, President Kennedy was killed. This happened in November in Dallas. The new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, took up the cause right away.

Signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964

In his first State of the Union address, President Johnson said, "let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for civil rights than the last hundred sessions combined." During debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, southerners argued about other things, too, like that this bill was unconstitutional because it would take away some liberties and states' rights.

Some people in Virginia wanted to stop the bill, so they made a change that would make it illegal for companies not to hire women. That amendment passed, and the other one did not. The House approved the bill by voting 290-130.

The bill then moved to the U.S. Senate, where Southern and Border State Democrats spoke a lot for a long time. Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia spoke for 14 hours.

Some people helped supporters of the bill. They got enough votes to end the debate. One of those supporters was a senator from California, but he was too sick to speak. He said "aye" by pointing to his eye.

The Senate voted 73-27 to let the bill pass. Johnson told his aide, "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come."

President Johnson signed this civil rights act with about 75 pens. He gave these to people who helped him or were important, like Hubert Humphrey and Everett Dirksen. And he also gave them to some civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Roy Wilkins.

What Is the Civil Rights Act?

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation was not allowed at all places of public accommodation. This includes courthouses, parks, restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, and hotels. You couldn't be denied service based on your skin color anymore because this law wouldn't allow it.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stands for "equal employment opportunity." This law prevents discrimination against people because of their religion, race, gender, and country. One crucial part of this law is that it created an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This commission can file lawsuits on behalf of workers who are discriminated against.

The Act said that the government could not use federal funds for any unfair program. It also gave more power to the Office of Education (now called the Department of Education). The Act also said that people should not be treated differently when it comes to voting requirements.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes eleven different sections. Some are about discrimination in public places (Title II), money for schools, colleges, hospitals, and other organizations (Title VI), or jobs at companies (Title VII). These sections have been used in the courts many times.

Importance of the Civil Rights Act

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was like another emancipation for African Americans. The Act has expanded to include disabled people, the elderly, and women in college athletics.

The Act didn't end discrimination, but it opened the door for more progress to come in the future. This law helped stop racist voting practices, like literacy tests. It also stopped discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of a property. People would now be able to vote because they were not discriminated against. But there was still more work to do.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 expanded rights to voting and housing. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and President Johnson's War on Poverty attacked economic inequalities that had been with racial discrimination. People who fought for the 1964 act were successful in the end. They wanted to make sure that other groups, like older people, people with disabilities, and pregnant women, could also do things like go to school or work.

Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has helped, there is still a struggle for equality. The Act helped stop discrimination. Some people want to end it, but it is difficult because it has been around for a while. People will continue to fight about what equality means and how to achieve it. They will do this by lobbying, protesting, and through the courts.
Read more about the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Sources

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Civil Rights Act of 1964 Causes, Impact, History for Kids

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In 1964, the United States passed a law to end segregation in public places and not let employers discriminate against someone because of their race or color. This law went by the name of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President John F. Kennedy proposed it, but it became law thanks to Lyndon B.

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Civil Rights Act of 1964 - History for kids

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The years leading up to the 1960’s were filled with unrest, violence and unhappiness as the Black Americans faces continual discrimination in almost all aspects of their lives. The Civil Rights Movement brought attention to their situation and in all parts of the country, people began to realize the…

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1964: “The Importance of the Civil Rights Act” | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn about the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, often considered one of the most influential laws in U.S. history, in this video from American Experience: “1964.” It not only ended segregation in public places, it altered the “southern way of life” and created a new America. Although Lyndon…

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Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to join baseball's major league in 1947 as a prominent member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson's belief in equality gave him the chance to bring the message to America and the world that race should not be a consideration for anything.

It's hard to believe that American sports of the past only allowed white players. Robinson grew up in a poor family in California, but his family always verified that they should have pride and honor in everything they do in life. California didn't have the same extreme level of prejudice that many of the other states had during that time. Robinson was inspired by his older brother who won a Silver Medal in the Olympics held in Hitler's Germany, and yet when he returned to the U.S. he could not get any job except as a garbage collector.

Robinson was not used to segregation when he entered the military service and refused to move to the 'black section' that the military required of him. He began fighting the system of inequality even during the early areas of his life. When he was going to be court martialed for his actions, the news spread across the country in the NAACP publications and the charges were dropped.

Robinson had always been involved in athletics in high school and then later in college. In 1944 he joined one of the African American baseball leagues, called the "Negro Leagues". There was a movement within baseball to attempt to integrate the sport and the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, was looking for a potential team member that had honor and integrity and had an excellent background. In 1946 he became a member of the all-white team called the Montreal Royals, which was a branch of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was a moment in history, as he was the first African American baseball player on a white team.

As a member of the team, Robinson experienced all forms of racial discrimination and even potential violence. People yelled and screamed names at him and threw things at him, but he had made a promise to Rickey to not fight back. The worst situation that occurred was during a Philadelphia Phillies game when the opposing team refused to play with a Black American and even his own team objected. At the time, Leo Durocher, the Dodgers manager told his team that he would rather trade them all than lose Robinson. This set the tone for future baseball games.

Robinson wasn't just a baseball player, he was an incredibly talented player. The first year with the Dodgers, he hit 12 home runs and the Dodgers won the National League pennant. The same year, Robinson was chosen as the Rookie of the Year and he elevated his playing ability by having a .342 batting average during the season of 1949, was a leader in the most stolen bases and earned the National League's Most Valuable Player Award. He went on his career to have the Dodgers team win the National Pennant quite a few times and the World Series in 1955.

At the root of all of Robinson's efforts was his continued pursuit to see equality in sports and all facets of American life. Each time Robinson achieved an award or recognition, he included comments about his passion for equality. As his popularity grew, the resistance to having African American players lowered as well. He testified in 1949 before the House Un-American Activities on the topic of discrimination and in 1952 he publicly announced that the Yankees team was a racist organization for not having broken the all-white team with people of color as the Dodgers had five years earlier.

Jackie Robinson retired from baseball in 1957 and continued as a businessman, supporting the Freedom Bank, which was the first African American controlled bank and participated in the NAACP as a board member. In 1962, Robinson was the first Black American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Dodgers retired his number 42 uniform in 1972; the number never to be assigned to anyone else.

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Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to join baseball's major league in 1947 as a prominent member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson's belief in equality gave him the chance to bring the message to America and the world that race should not be a consideration for anything.

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Introduction
(1919-72). "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives," reads the tombstone of Jackie Robinson, the first African American athlete to play in baseball 's major leagues in the 20th century. By breaking the color barrier in 1947, Robinson made great strides not only for Black athletes but also for all concerned with racial justice.

Early Years
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, but grew up in Pasadena, California. Demonstrating exceptional athletic ability during high school and junior college, he excelled at baseball, football, basketball, and track at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He became the first student at the school to earn four letters (for playing on the varsity team in four different sports) in one year.

Robinson left UCLA in 1941 and briefly played professional football before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He wanted to become an officer, but at the time the army's officer training schools admitted very few African Americans. Robinson eventually got accepted to an officer candidate school, and he became a second lieutenant in 1943. During his service, a bus driver ordered him to move to the back of a military bus because he was Black. Robinson refused. He was arrested and court-martialed (tried in a military court). Some of the charges against him were dropped, and he was ultimately cleared of the others at trial. Robinson was given an honorable discharge in 1944.

Major League Career
In 1945 Robinson began playing baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro National League. He caught the eye of a scout for the Brooklyn (now Los Angeles) Dodgers and was brought to the attention of team president Branch Rickey. Major League Baseball was closed to Black players at the time. Rickey thought that this practice was wrong, and he was looking for the right player to help him change it. He thought that white fans and players would be more likely to accept a Black player in the major leagues if that player were exceptional in playing abilities, background, and character. That player would also have to be able to withstand racist treatment. Rickey met with Robinson and was impressed with his courage as well as his skills on the field. Rickey signed him on October 23, 1945, to play for the Dodgers' AAA team in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. During the 1946 season Robinson batted .349 with the farm club and led the team to victory in the Little World Series.

Robinson made his major league debut for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He was immediately successful as a player, but he faced continual racial slurs from the crowds and other ballplayers, including some of his own teammates. Robinson wanted to respond to the racist taunts, but he had promised Rickey that he would remain silent. Rickey thought that if Robinson were to respond in anger to the abuse, white people would be less likely to accept Black players in the major leagues. Robinson did not break his promise, though pitchers sometimes deliberately threw the ball at him, and hotels at away games often would not let him stay there. He and his family received death threats. Instead of responding with words, Robinson let his actions do the talking by batting .297 and leading the National League (NL) in stolen bases. He was chosen rookie of the year at season's end.

When later describing this period, Robinson said,

Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.

Robinson's .342 average made him the NL's batting champion and most valuable player in 1949. During his career, which he spent primarily as a second baseman, Robinson helped the Dodgers capture six National League pennants and one World Series title. He retired in 1956 with a .311 lifetime batting average and 197 total stolen bases. The Dodgers later retired his number 42 jersey (an honor meaning that no one else on the team could wear that number). When Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 he was the first Black player to be so honored.

Later Years and Honors
After he left baseball Robinson pursued business interests while continuing to work on behalf of civil rights. He was a spokesperson for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and made appearances with Martin Luther King, Jr. Robinson's autobiography, I Never Had It Made, was published in 1972.

Diabetes and heart problems plagued Robinson's later life, and he died on October 24, 1972, in Stamford, Connecticut. His wife, Rachel Robinson, established the Jackie Robinson Foundation the following year to provide scholarships to minority students. In 1984 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor for an American civilian.

In 1997 Major League Baseball held a season-long celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Robinson's historic debut. As part of the celebration, it retired Robinson's jersey number, 42, for all baseball teams in the major leagues. It was the first time a player's number was retired for all the professional teams within a sport. In 2004 Major League Baseball announced that each April 15 would be celebrated as Jackie Robinson Day. Five years later, the organization decided that all players, coaches, and umpires should wear number 42 each year in games on April 15.

Additional Reading
Burgan, Michael. Daring Play: How a Courageous Jackie Robinson Transformed Baseball (Capstone Press, 2016). Doeden, Matt. More than a Game: Race, Gender, and Politics in Sports (Millbrook Press, 2020). Herman, Gail, and O'Brien, John. Who Was Jackie Robinson? (Grosset & Dunlap, 2011). Pinkney, Andrea Davis, and Pinkney, Brian. Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America (Jump at the Sun Books, 2013). Rappaport, Doreen. 42 Is Not Just a Number: The Odyssey of Jackie Robinson, American Hero (Candlewick Press, 2019). Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (Scholastic, 2005).

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(1919-72). "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives," reads the tombstone of Jackie Robinson, the first African American athlete to play in...

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Kids learn about the biography of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. He was a Hall of Fame player for the Brooklyn Dodgers who wore number 42.

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Student & Family Resources | The Jackie Robinson Museum

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Jackie Robinson was a multifaceted person who was very involved in the world around him, in addition to his career as a Major League Baseball player. He was a natural leader and was kind to others. He also had a strong physical presence.

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Breaking the Color Line: 1940 to 1946 | Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie Robinson | Articles and Essays | By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

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By the 1940s, organized baseball had been racially segregated for many years. The black press and some of their white colleagues had long campaigned for the integration of baseball. Wendell Smith of The Pittsburgh Courier was especially vocal. World War II experiences prompted more people to question segregation practices.

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Jackie Robinson Day | MLB Together | MLB.com

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Jackie Robinson  | History for Kids | Seed of Melanin Kids!

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The Fair Housing Act became a law on April 11, 1968. Also called Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, it protects people when renting or buying a home. The law makes...

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Promises Still to Keep: The Fair Housing Act Fifty Years Later | Cardozo Law Review

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It has been fifty years since Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act (the Act).1 The law, the third in a trilogy of groundbreaking civil rights laws enacted in the 1960s,2 aimed to undo the shameful legacy of de jure and de facto race-based housing discrimination that excluded Blacks from white communities. Laws and policies that persisted for much of the twentieth century segregated neighborhoods and whole regions into Black and white districts, denied home-owning opportunities to African Americans, and relegated available affordable housing to low-income neighborhoods. The result was “two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.”3 The Act was intended by its drafters to right that wrong by both ending racial discrimination and eradicating systemic segregation in housing.4

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Kids learn about the history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 including the background and work by leaders such as President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Selma March was a political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery. It is also called the Selma to Montgomery March. Civil rights activist Martin…

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For 100 years after African Americans were granted the right to vote, that right was steadily taken away. In March 1965, thousands of people held a series of marches in the U.S. state of Alabama in an effort to get that right back. Their march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital, was a success, leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

African Americans first earned their right to vote in 1870, just five years after the United States ended the Civil War. That year, Congress adopted the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right to vote to Black men of voting age. (Black women, like all other women, were not allowed to vote until 1920.)

The 15th Amendment was successful in getting Black men to the polls. Selma elected its first Black congressman, Benjamin Sterling Turner, the year the amendment passed. Citizens of Selma then elected Black city councilmen and a criminal court judge.

However, in 1876, the U.S. Supreme Court and many state courts narrowed the scope of the 15th Amendment. They said it did not always guarantee the right to vote. Soon, Black men began to lose their voting rights, especially in the South. This region of the United States had supported the Confederacy during the Civil War and had relied on enslaved people for much labor before their emancipation, or freedom.

Black voters were disenfranchised. To be disenfranchised means that a person or group of people loses the right to vote. Disenfranchisement happened in many ways.

Disenfranchisement

People who register a person to vote are called voter registrars or voting registrars. In the South, voter registrars were given broad powers to prevent Black people from registering to vote any way they could.

Black people wanting to register to vote were given what were called "literacy tests." Literacy is the ability to read and is not a requirement to vote in the United States. However, these literacy tests did not even test reading ability.

Registrars could ask people any kind of question about local, state, and federal government. If a potential voter did not answer correctly, the registrar did not allow that person to vote. Questions could be ridiculously difficult. A sample question asked on a literacy test was, "Name one area of authority over state militia reserved exclusively to the states." (Answer: The appointment of officers.) White people were not given literacy tests.

If Black voters passed a literacy test, they were often forced to pay a poll tax. A poll tax was a fee that a voter had to pay in order to vote. The amount of the poll tax varied-usually between $1 and $2. This seems like a small amount. However, the yearly income of a person in the 1880s could be as low as $70 or $80.

Civil rights leader Rosa Parks wrote about the poll tax in her autobiography, My Story. "You had to pay the poll tax back to the time you were twenty-one," she remembered. "I got registered in 1945 when I was thirty-two years old, so I had to pay $1.50 for each of the eleven years between the time I was twenty-one and the time I was thirty-two. At that time $16.50 was a lot of money."

Finally, after the tests had been passed and the poll tax paid, Black people had to find a registered voter willing to say they were good people and would make fine voters. Most voters in the South were white and would not do this.

As a result, very few Black people were able to vote. They were fired from their jobs and received death threats just for trying to register. By 1965, there were counties in Alabama where not a single Black person had voted for more than 50 years. In Selma, about half the voting-age population was Black, but only 14 blacks had been added to the voting rolls between 1954 and 1961.

But things were starting to change. In 1963, Bernard Lafayette, a member of a civil rights group called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "snick"), came to Selma's Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. It was the first mass meeting for voter rights in the South. For the next two years, SNCC and the Dallas County Voters League registered 200 new voters. (Selma is in Dallas County, Alabama.) This was progress, but it was barely 1 percent of the 15,000 eligible Black voters in Dallas County.

Amelia Boynton of the voters league wrote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.- already the most famous civil rights leader in the United States-and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and asked them to help with their voting rights campaign.

Alabama was the center of the civil rights movement, which defined itself on nonviolence and political action. King helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which led to a Supreme Court decision that said segregated busing was unconstitutional. In 1963, King wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail," where he was confined after taking part in a protest of segregation in Birmingham, Alabama.

Selma itself had a history of political activism. The town's Black citizens were committed to helping people register to vote. But they were challenged by Sheriff Jim Clark, the Dallas County law enforcement leader. Clark was a vicious racist and was often violent. Civil rights activists believed that if people from across the United States knew how badly Clark treated the citizens of Selma, they would be moved to help.

On January 2, 1965, King held a mass meeting in Selma, declaring: "We are going to bring a voting bill into the streets of Selma, Alabama." Demonstrators would walk from Brown Chapel AME, the church were King delivered the speech, and end up at the Dallas County courthouse. There, they would register to vote. Civil Rights Movement

Clark met the protesters with violence. The front pages of national newspapers carried photos of him treating the demonstrators very badly. He shoved Amelia Boynton half a block down to a patrol car and beat hotel manager Annie Lee Cooper in the head with his billy club. (A billy club, also called a baton or truncheon, is the stick that law enforcement officers often carry.) Clark hit the Rev. C.T. Vivian so hard that he broke a finger. On February 10, Clark and his men rounded up a group of children in front of the courthouse and forced them to run five miles to a prison camp outside of town.

Clark's actions strengthened the determination of the marchers, and drew the attention of the rest of the nation.

The marches and demonstrations in Selma were not the only ones happening in Alabama. To the west, in neighboring Perry County, a night march was held to protest the jailing of activist the Rev. James Orange. Police and racist whites beat the marchers. Army veteran Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot in the stomach by a state trooper as he rushed to protect his mother from attack. Jackson died in Selma's Good Samaritan Hospital eight days later. It was Jackson's death that sparked the idea of a march from Selma to Montgomery to demand equal voting rights.

The idea of expanding the march from the courthouse of Dallas County to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, 87 kilometers (54 miles) away, showed how much the movement had grown. Marchers wanted to pressure Alabama Gov. George Wallace to guarantee Black people the right to vote in his state.

First March: Bloody Sunday

The first march took place on March 7, 1965. Marchers filed out of Brown Chapel AME and tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, heading west out of Selma and toward Montgomery.

Sheyann Webb was 8 years old. She was the youngest marcher that day. She describes getting to the high part of the bridge and seeing Clark and his men on the other side. "They were in a line-they looked like a blue picket fence-stretched across the highway."

Clark's group included law enforcement officers, state troopers, and local citizens recruited as a "posse." Gov. Wallace and Clark called the march a threat to public safety and were determined to stop it.

As about 525 marchers made their way across the bridge, officers asked them to stop the march and disperse, or scatter. The leaders of the march, John Lewis of SNCC and the Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the march was a peaceful protest. The marchers did not disperse.

All local and state police were armed. Many of the sheriff's posse had their own weapons. After Lewis and Williams refused to disperse the marchers, troopers threw canisters of tear gas at them. Police on foot and on horseback beat marchers with billy clubs. They shot water from fire hoses with enough pressure to knock down and bruise the marchers. Members of the posse attacked the marchers with crude weapons made of rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire.

Marchers fled back across the bridge to Brown Chapel and the surrounding neighborhood. Physicians at Good Samaritan Hospital reported that wounds ranged from broken teeth and severe head gashes to fractured ribs and wrists. John Lewis suffered a fractured skull and Amelia Boynton was beaten unconscious. About 70 to 80 people were treated, and 17 of the most seriously injured were sent to the hospital overnight.

This first march to Montgomery is known as Bloody Sunday.

Second March: Turnaround Tuesday

Photographs and television footage of the events of Bloody Sunday were national news. Americans were forced to recognize the violent racism in their own borders. Millions of Americans were horrified by the acts of Clark and Wallace, and became supporters of civil rights.

King encouraged these new supporters to come to Selma for a second march to Montgomery. Specifically, King sent a telegram to religious leaders across the country asking them to join him in Selma. Many people of all races and spiritual backgrounds responded to him.

On Tuesday, March 9, just two days after the events of Bloody Sunday, King led a second march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This time, there were about 1,500 marchers. Again, they were met by troopers and other law enforcement officers. However, as the officers approached King to ask him to disperse the crowd, King knelt in prayer.

Marchers prayed and turned back to Brown Chapel, deciding not to risk another day of violence. This second march is sometimes called Turnaround Tuesday for this reason.

Tuesday evening, three ministers in town for the march were brutally attacked in Selma. One, the Rev. James Reeb, died from his wounds.

President Lyndon Johnson called the violence that was happening in Alabama "an American tragedy." A week after Reeb's death, Johnson's voting rights proposals reached Congress.

Third March: Success

The third march to Montgomery started on March 21, 1965. During the next four days, peaceful protesters from all over the country marched for civil rights. This time, marchers were protected by members of the National Guard, ordered there by President Johnson.

Between 3,000 and 8,000 people marched from Brown Chapel on March 21. However, only 300 were allowed to march on the two-lane highway to Montgomery.

Marchers walked an average of 12 miles per day and slept in farmers' fields. The weather was unusually cold. Temperatures dropped below freezing, and it rained almost every day. Food was supplied by local churches and other organizations that supported civil rights. The final "campsite" of the march was on land owned by the City of St. Jude, a Catholic charity that had supported the Black community outside Montgomery for years.

Marchers were joined at the City of St. Jude by celebrities. Some, like actor and musician Harry Belafonte, had marched from Brown Chapel days earlier. Others, such as entertainers Sammy Davis Jr., Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, joined for the final walk to Montgomery.

Twenty-five thousand peaceful protesters made their way to the Alabama State Capitol on March 25. Gov. Wallace refused to meet King. King's speech, given on the steps of the capitol, encouraged civil rights supporters not to give up hope.

"I know some of you are asking today, 'How long will it take?' I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to the earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long, because you will reap what you sow. How long? Not long, because the arm of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, in the same room where President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The law stopped literacy tests in 26 states, including Alabama. It replaced local voter registrars with examiners from the federal government. It allowed the attorney general of the United States to prosecute state and local authorities that still charged a poll tax.

The law had immediate effect. Thirty-two thousand Black people registered to vote by the end of August in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana. By October, that number rose to 110,000. From 1964 to 1966, the number of registered voters in Alabama went from 23 percent to 51 percent. In Mississippi, the number went from 6.7 percent to 33 percent; in 1968, the number rose to 59 percent.

Candidates quickly realized they could not appeal to racist whites and still get elected. One of those candidates was Clark. He lost to Wilson Baker in the 1966 sheriff's race.

Black voters helped elect Black candidates and moderate whites to public office. By 1970, 711 blacks held elected positions in the South, nearly 10 times more than they had just a decade earlier.

In 2006, Congress voted to extend the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years.

John Lewis, the SNCC leader who was involved with the Selma to Montgomery marches from the beginning, is now a Georgia congressman. Lewis has returned to Selma many times for marches on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

On the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis said, "President Johnson signed that Act, but it was written by the people of Selma."

Fast Fact

Different Views
Some organizers say Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not initially support the idea of a march from Selma to Montgomery. King was meeting with President Lyndon Johnson, and may have believed greater progress could be made on voting rights by negotiating with leaders from the government.

After that first march ended in the violence of Bloody Sunday, however, King immediately went to Selma to show his support for the effort and lead a second march two days later. He also encouraged other Americans to join him in Selma for a major march weeks later. More than 3,000 people responded.

Fast Fact

Be a Poll Worker
Becoming a poll worker is a great way to get involved in elections if you are not old enough to vote. Poll workers are important for fair and efficient elections. Go to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's website to find out how to volunteer on Election Day in your area.

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Editors

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Producer

National Geographic Society

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Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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Article on how civil rights activists marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and helped the Voting Rights Act of 1965 pass.

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Growing up in the South during a time when Black people did not have the same rights as white people, John Lewis faced racial discrimination-and he did not like it. He fought for equality during the civil rights movement, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., against oppression and risking his life for justice. Through grit and determination, he went from sitting on bus seats as an act of civil disobedience during the Freedom Rides to sitting in the halls of Congress as a champion for civil liberties.

Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, in rural Alabama. His parents were sharecroppers who worked on a farm picking cotton for landowners. As a young boy, Lewis also picked cotton and did other farm duties with his family. It was hard work, but he enjoyed being with the chickens. Lewis wanted to be a pastor, so he would preach to his feathered flock in the chicken coop while tending to the hens and counting their eggs. His inspiration was King, whose words Lewis listened to on the radio.

Lewis studied at the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville and helped organize lunch sit-ins against segregated restaurants, where Black and white people could not eat together, Sometimes he'd be arrested for his actions, but Lewis accepted being thrown in jail for fighting for what is right, or "good trouble," as he'd later call it. For instance, he was one of 13 original Freedom Riders, who travelled by bus to test laws that were supposed to protect Black people. But he was beaten and jailed several times on his journey.

Lewis's most memorable act of "good trouble" occurred on March 7, 1965, when he led a group of 600 people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on what would be known as "Bloody Sunday."

Lewis, who was then only 25 years old, marched across the bridge in the fight for equal voting rights for Black people. In his bag he carried just a toothbrush, toothpaste, two books, an orange, and an apple. But he and the other peaceful protesters were met by police officers carrying batons. The police fired tear gas onto the crowd and attacked them, leaving many bloody and wounded. Lewis was knocked unconscious.

The events of Bloody Sunday were caught on camera and televised to the country. They attracted more protests. King joined Lewis and thousands of other protesters to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Their efforts eventually led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed the discriminatory practices that prevented many Black Americans from voting.

Lewis eventually became a congressman from Georgia in 1987, serving until his death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80 on July 17, 2020. During his time in Congress he continued his work for civil rights and encouraged young people do the hard work necessary to change the country by getting into "good trouble."

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How this congressman used 'good trouble' to fight for civil rights

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Lewis attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He became active in the civil rights movement and organized sit-ins at lunch counters and other segregated public places. He also participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides, when whites and blacks rode buses together into the South to protest segregation. In 1963 he was elected chairman of SNCC. That year Lewis helped organize and spoke at the historic March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Although Lewis was still only in his early 20s, he was recognized as one of the Big Six leaders of the civil rights movement.

In 1965 Lewis led more than 600 peaceful protestors across a bridge in Selma, Alabama, in response to local violence against civil rights activists. The protestors were attacked by law officers, and more than 50 people, including Lewis, were hospitalized. The day became known as "Bloody Sunday." The event helped pass the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed the many ways used to prevent African Americans from voting.

After leaving SNCC in 1966, Lewis remained active in the civil rights movement. He became director of the Voter Education Project. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter put Lewis in charge of a federal volunteer agency that included the Peace Corps. In 1981 Lewis was elected to the Atlanta city council. Five years later he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time.

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Lewis attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He became active in the civil rights movement and organized sit-ins at lunch counters and other segregated public places. He also participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides, when whites and blacks rode buses together into the South to protest segregation.

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(1940–2020). American civil rights leader and politician John Lewis was known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He led the 1965…

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The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957.

The Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education brought the issue of school desegregation to the fore of public attention, as Southern Democratic leaders began a campaign of " massive resistance" against desegregation. In the midst of this campaign, President Eisenhower proposed the bill to provide federal protection for African American voting rights; most African Americans in the Southern United States had been disenfranchised by state and local laws. Though the bill passed Congress, opponents of the act were able, in the Senate, to remove stringent voting protection clauses via the Anderson-Aiken amendment and the O'Mahoney jury trial amendment, significantly watering down its immediate impact. During the debate over the law, Senator Strom Thurmond conducted the second longest one-person filibuster in Senate history. Under the direction of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, the Senate passed the watered-down version of the House bill.

Despite having a limited impact on African American voter participation, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 did establish the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Congress would later pass far more effective civil rights laws in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown, which eventually led to the integration of public schools, Southern whites began a campaign of " Massive Resistance". Violence against black people rose; in Little Rock, Arkansas, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered U.S. paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division to protect nine black teenagers integrating into a public school, the first time federal troops were deployed in the South to settle civil rights issues since the Reconstruction Era. There had been continued physical assaults against suspected activists and bombings of schools and churches in the South. Partly in an effort to defuse calls for more far-reaching reforms, President Eisenhower proposed the bill to increase the protection of African American voting rights.

By 1957, only about 20% of black people were registered to vote. Despite being the majority in numerous counties and congressional districts in the South, most black people had been effectively disfranchised by discriminatory voter registration rules and laws in those states since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era that were heavily instituted and propagated by Southern Democrats. Civil rights organizations had collected evidence of discriminatory practices, such as the administration of literacy and comprehension tests and poll taxes. While the states had the right to establish rules for voter registration and elections, the federal government found an oversight role in ensuring that citizens could exercise the constitutional right to vote for federal officers: electors for president and vice president and members of the US Congress.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signing the Civil Rights Act of 1957 on September 9, 1957

The Democratic Senate majority leader, Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who would play a vital role in the bill's passage in the Senate, realized that the bill and its journey through Congress could tear apart his party, as southern Democrats vehemently opposed civil rights, and its northern members were strongly in favor of them. Southern Democratic senators occupied chairs of numerous important committees because of their long seniority. As, in the near-century between the end of Reconstruction and the 1960s, white Southerners voted solidly as a bloc for the Democrats, Southern Democrats in Congress rarely lost their seats in elections, ensuring that they had more seniority than Democratic members of Congress from other parts of the country. Johnson sent the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Democratic Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, who drastically altered the bill. Democratic Senator Richard Russell Jr., of Georgia had denounced the bill as an example of the federal government seeking to impose its laws on states. Johnson sought recognition from civil rights advocates for passing the bill as well as recognition from the anti-civil rights Democrats for weakening the bill so much as to make it toothless.

As well as a general if vague support for civil rights as the party of Lincoln, Republicans saw that this could be an effective way to increase the number of Black Republican voters as the blocking of the Bill by the Democrats in the Southern Caucus would become obvious. They, like Johnson, also saw the potential for dividing the Democratic party's Northern and Southern wings. This meant that the (on this issue) liberal but hardball Republican operators like the Vice President, Richard Nixon, who had a constitutional right to chair the Senate took a great interest in the Bill. Conservative Republican Senators who were sympathetic to Southern arguments on States rights were more likely to vote on a party basis. On the other hand, the Republicans were willing to quietly allow Democratic Southern obstruction if this meant that African-American and liberal voters would be more likely to see the culprits as Democrats.

A bipartisan group of Senators realized that Southerners would not allow passage of the act with Title III, which authorized the US Attorney General to seek preventive relief in civil rights cases. Majority Leader Johnson convinced Senator Clinton Anderson (D-NM) to introduce an amendment to strip out the enforcement provisions of Title III. Anderson's initial hesitancy to be associated with the anti-civil rights bloc was met with Johnson's urging to introduce the amendment along with a Republican colleague. Anderson approached George Aiken (R-VT), who agreed to co-sponsor the amendment.

A crucial cause of the weakening of support for Title III was a speech given by the unofficial leader of the Southern Caucus the Georgian Democrat, Richard Russell, who pointed out that Title III was not a new law but an amendment of Section 1985 of Title 42 of the United States Code. It seems that this had not been understood previously by either the opponents or the supporters of the Civil Rights Act, including Douglas or Brownell. In his speech Russell drew out the implications of this, including the invocation of Section 1993 of Title 42 of the United States Code, a Reconstruction era law which wasn't mentioned in the bill and which authorized the President to enforce judicial decisions - which would include Brown v Board. This specter of military involvement in domestic politics became a worry not just for moderate previous supporters of the bill such as Bourke Hickenlooper (R-IA) - who after Russell's speech referred to Title III as a "violation of the civil rights of the white race." - but also strong supporters such as Douglas. Later President Eisenhower in answer to a direct question on Russell's charges distanced himself from the "exact language" of Title III.

President Eisenhower did not express enthusiasm for the provisions in Title III. In a press conference, he referred to it as going "too far too fast in laws", and instead placed an emphasis on the voting rights provisions in Title IV. This diminished the already-waning support for the title among Republicans, many of whom opposed its expansion of federal power on conservative grounds in spite of their sympathy towards civil rights causes.

The Anderson-Aiken amendment passed by a 52-38 vote. The vote on the amendment did not split purely along partisan or ideological lines; it was opposed by conservative William Knowland (R-CA) and supported by liberal Frank Church (D-ID).

Jury trial amendment

Majority Leader Johnson, who was intent on passing a fully weakened act in contrast to overseeing a legislative graveyard[clarification needed ] at the hands of a Southern filibuster, moved to effectively weaken the voting rights-related provisions in Title IV. Alleged violators of civil rights injunctions are normally entitled to jury trials, with the exception of civil contempt actions. A jury trial amendment that included the guarantee of jury trials in civil contempt actions would, in the South, result in perpetrators of voter suppression being acquitted by an all-white jury, thus ensuring no resulted accomplishment to enfranchise blacks.

The jury trial amendment was not introduced by a Southern Democrat, instead being spearheaded by Wyoming senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney. The motivation for Western liberal Democrats to spearhead the cause of weakening the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was attributed to their traditional populist disdain for the perceived disproportionate power wielded by judges to quell labor causes in the Western United States, thus contributing to a resonance with the expansion of jury trial rights, although Lyndon Johnson's biographer Robert Caro also claims that Johnson had facilitated a bargain that Western liberal Democrats would vote with the South in important votes on Civil Rights in return for Southern support for public involvement in the building of the Hells Canyon Dam.

There was also support from some unions, particularly the Railroad brotherhoods and the United Mine Workers of America who agreed that this would also stop injunctions in union cases. Their support was seen as a major reason why Senators in mining states such as West Virginia and mid western Republican senators where the railroads were strong became less hostile to the amendment.

On August 2, 1957, the Senate passed the jury trial amendment with majority support from Democratic members, both Northern and Southern. Following the vote, many Republicans were visible in their bitterness, having failed in an opportunity to spearhead the cause of civil rights against a deceitful, partisan Democratic effort. According to Johnson biographer Robert A. Caro:

In the wake of the vote, emotions spilled over. Richard Nixon could not contain his frustration and rage. When, as he was leaving the Chamber, reporters asked his reaction, the Vice President said, "This is one of the saddest days in the history of the Senate. It was a vote against the right to vote." Clarence Mitchell went to [William Knowland]'s office to discuss what to do now, and could hardly believe what he saw there. "That big, strong, brusque Knowland actually broke down and cried," Mitchell was to recall.

Several conservative Republican senators who voted for the Anderson-Aiken amendment on small-government grounds opposed the jury trial amendment for its intent of weakening civil rights efforts. Idaho senator Henry Dworshak decried that it "practically scuttled any hope of getting an effective civil rights bill."

Filibuster

Then-Democratic Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, an ardent segregationist, sustained the longest one-person filibuster in history in an attempt to keep the bill from becoming law. His one-man filibuster lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes; he began with readings of every US state's election laws in alphabetical order. He later read from the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and George Washington's Farewell Address.

To prevent a quorum call that could have relieved the filibuster by allowing the Senate to adjourn, cots were brought in from a nearby hotel for the legislators to sleep on while Thurmond discussed increasingly irrelevant and obscure topics. Other members of the Southern caucus, who had agreed as part of a compromise not to filibuster this bill, were upset with Thurmond. They believed his defiance made them look incompetent to their constituents. Other constituents were upset with their senators because they were seen as not helping Thurmond.

Thurmond pointed out that there was already a federal statute that prosecuted citizens who denied or intimidated voters at voting booths under a fine and/or imprisonment but that the bill then under consideration could legally deny trial by jury to those that continued to do so.

Democratic Representative Charles A. Boyle of Illinois, a member of the powerful Appropriations Subcommittee of Defense, pushed the bill through the House of Representatives.

Final passage

The bill passed 285-126 in the House of Representatives with a majority of both parties' support (Republicans 167-19, Democrats 118-107). It then passed 72-18 in the Senate, again with a majority of both parties (Republicans 43-0, Democrats 29-18). Despite large opposition from Southern Democrats, the Democratic U.S. Senators from Tennessee and Texas would support the law. President Eisenhower signed the bill on September 9, 1957.

The act established both the Commission on Civil Rights and the office of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Subsequently, on December 9, 1957, the Civil Rights Division was established within the Justice Department by order of US Attorney General William P. Rogers, giving the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights a distinct division to command. Previously, civil rights lawyers had enforced Reconstruction-era civil rights laws from within the Department's Criminal Division.

Part I, consisting of sections 101-106, establishes a six-member Civil Rights Commission in the executive branch to gather information on citizens' deprivation of voting rights based on color, race, religion, or national origin; in addition the legal background, the laws, and the policies of the federal government relating to voting rights. It delineates the procedures, powers, and responsibilities of the commission. The commission was to take testimony or written complaints from individuals on the difficulties in voting registration and denial of voting rights. Required of the commission were periodic reports to congress and the president, as well as a final report within two years, after which it would be disbanded.

Part II, Section 111 establishes one additional Assistant Attorney General to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate.

Part III, Section 121 amends title 28, section 1343 of the United States Code to include language about civil rights. Section 122 repeals Section 1989 of 42 U.S.C. 1993.

This article Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the is missing information about this section. talk page.

Part IV, Section 131 banned intimidating, coercing or otherwise interfering with the rights of persons to vote for electors for president and members of Congress. The United States attorney general was allowed to institute actions, including injunctions and charges of contempt of court, with fines not to exceed $1,000 and six months imprisonment. Extensive safeguards for the rights of accused were provided by the statute. United States federal judges were allowed to hear cases related to the Act with or without juries.

Not being able to vote in most of the South, blacks were then excluded from state juries there. Federal jury selection had been tied to state jury selection rules, thus in some instances excluding both blacks and women as federal jurors. Section 161 freed federal courts from state jury rules and specified qualifications for jurors in federal courts. "Any citizen" 21 years or older, literate in English, who had resided in the judicial district for a year, excluding convicts and persons with mental or physical infirmities severe enough to make them unable to serve, was eligible. Since neither race nor sex was listed among the qualifications, the provision allowed both blacks and women to serve on juries in trials in federal courts.

Part V consists of sections 151, 152, and 161. Section 151 describes the punitive measures to be taken when a person is found to be in contempt of the committee. Section 152 established federal qualifications for exclusion from a jury, those being: conviction of a crime with in State or Federal court with incarceration over 1 year; inability to read, write, speak, or understand the English language; or incapable through mental or physical disability. Section 161 establishes that the legislation may be cited as the "Civil Rights Act of 1957".

The act established both the Commission on Civil Rights and the office of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Subsequently, on December 9, 1957, the Civil Rights Division was established within the Justice Department by order of US Attorney General William P. Rogers, giving the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights a distinct division to command. Previously, civil rights lawyers had enforced Reconstruction-era civil rights laws from within the Department's Criminal Division.

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 addressed some of the shortcomings of the 1957 Act by expanding the authority of federal judges to protect voting rights and by requiring local authorities to maintain comprehensive voting records so that the government could determine if there were patterns of discrimination against certain populations.

The Civil Rights Movement continued to expand, with protesters leading nonviolent demonstrations for their cause. President John F. Kennedy called for a new bill in his televised Civil Rights Address of June 11, 1963, asking for legislation "giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public-hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments" as well as "greater protection for the right to vote". Kennedy delivered the speech after a series of civil rights protests like the Birmingham campaign, which concluded in May 1963.

In the summer of 1963, parts of the civil rights movement collaborated on voter education and voter registration drives in Mississippi. During the 1964 Freedom Summer, hundreds of students from the North and West participated in voter drives and community organizing. Media coverage, especially of the violent backlash over the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner near Philadelphia, Mississippi, contributed to national support for civil rights legislation.

After the Kennedy assassination, President Lyndon Johnson helped secure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made racial discrimination and segregation illegal, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 24th amendment, which abolished poll taxes and other means of keeping blacks and the poor from registering to vote or from voting, established record-keeping and oversight, and provided for federal enforcement in areas with documented patterns of discrimination or low voter turnout.

Although the Act's passage seemed to indicate a growing federal commitment to the cause of civil rights, its effect was limited. Alterations to the bill made the Act difficult to enforce; by 1960, black voting had increased by only 3%. Its passage showed varying degrees of willingness to support civil rights. The Act restricted itself to protecting participation in federal elections.

Martin Luther King Jr., then 28, was a developing leader in the Civil Rights Movement and spoke out against white supremacists. Segregationists had burned black churches, which were centers of education and organizing for voter registration, and physically attacked black activists. King sent a telegram to Eisenhower to make a speech to the South and asked him to use "the weight of your great office to point out to the people of the South the moral nature of the problem". Eisenhower responded, "I don't know what another speech would do about the thing right now."

Disappointed, King sent another telegram to Eisenhower stating that the president's comments were "a profound disappointment to the millions of Americans of goodwill, north and south, who earnestly are looking to you for leadership and guidance in this period of inevitable social change". He tried to set up a meeting with the president but was given a two-hour meeting with Vice President Richard Nixon. It was reported that Nixon was impressed with King and told Eisenhower that he might enjoy meeting King later.

Civil Rights Act of 1957 (PDF/details) as amended in the GPO Statute Compilations collection

Civil Rights Act of 1957 Text

Senate filibuster history

Documents regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Archived May 25, 2019, at the Wayback Machine

Civil Rights Act of 1957, Civil Rights Digital Library.

103 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 103, Part 7 (June 7, 1957 to June 20, 1957), Congressional Record House June 18 vote roll call p. 9518

103 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 103, Part 10 (July 26, 1957 to August 8, 1957), Congressional Record Senate August 7 vote roll call p. 13900

103 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 103, Part 12 (August 22, 1957 to August 30, 1957), Congressional Record House August 27 amendment vote roll call pp. 16112-16113

103 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 103, Part 12 (August 22, 1957 to August 30, 1957), Congressional Record Senate August 29 amendment vote roll call p. 16478

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The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1957, Pub.L. 85-315, 71 Stat. 634, enacted September 9, 1957, was a law in the United States. It was primarily a voting rights bill. It was the first civil rights law made by the United States Congress since Reconstruction following the American Civil War.

This act stated that all Americans had the right to vote, even African Americans.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, Pub.L. 85-315, 71 Stat. 634, enacted September 9, 1957, was a law in the United States. It was primarily a voting rights bill. It was the first civil rights law made by the United States Congress since Reconstruction following the American Civil War.