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This case was considered a much broader challenge to segregated public education at all grade levels. The NAACP challenged the "separate but equal" principle. The Supreme Court agreed with the NAACP's argument that segregated public education violated the US Constitution.

Sig - The Brown decision was one of the most significant and controversial cases in history. It involved public education so it touched so many Americans and it had a much greater impacts than other cases.
This case also led to a revival of the Klu Klux Klan.

in the same month as the "brown" decision, the supreme court decided on another civil rights case, involving Mexican Americans. In Hernandez v. Texas, the court ended the exclusion of Mexican Americans from trial juries.

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On Dec 1, 1995, Rosa Parks, an African American woman boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and sat down in an empty seat. Several stops later, the bus driver requested that she give up her seat to a white passenger. (Montgomery law required African Americans to give up their seats to whites) Rosa Parks refused and she got arrested. Over the next few days, a core of civil rights activists in Montgomery organized a one-day bus boycott. The Black community was called upon to refuse to ride the buses to express their opposition to Park's arrest.

Sig - the Montgomery bus boycott set the start for a legal challenge. the boycott turned out to be a considerable victory for African Americans in Montgomery and across the nation.
It elevated King's philosophy of nonviolence into a more prominent position within the movement.

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The Little Rock school board had established a plan to gradually desegregate its schools, beginning with central high school. nine young African American students volunteered to enroll. Governor Orval Faubas announced his opposition to the integration of African American students and called out for the National Guard. When the nine students arrived at Central High, the soldiers blocked their way. None of the Little Rock nine gained entrance to the school that day.
President Eisenhower had provided little leadership on the civil rights front up until the little rock crisis. He sent federal troops to Little Rock to protect the students and to enforce the courts decision. For the entire school year, federal troops stayed in Little Rock escorting the nine students

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President Eisenhower signed the bill into law, which established the United States Civil Rights Commission and gave it the power to investigate violations of civil rights. It empowered the US attorney general  to bring lawsuits to address civil rights violations. The law also gave the attorney general greater power to protect the voting rights of African American.
Sig - it had symbolic importance as the first civil rights law passed by Congress since Reconstruction.

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Young African American activists like James Lawson and Elle Baker were influencers in establishing a new civil rights organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. Its goal was to create a grass-roots movement that involved all classes of African Americans in the struggle to defeat white racism and to obtain equality.

Sig- young people and students started to energize the civil rights movement in the 1960s and that is significant.

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In the spring of 1961, CORE staged a "freedom ride" through the deep south. Riders set off in two separate buses from Washington, D.C., bound for New Orleans. They defied segregationist codes. African Americans sat in the front of the bus and used "white" restrooms in bus stations.
Sig- the freedom riders achieved their immediate goals. They compelled a reluctant federal government to act. By refusing to allow violent mobs to deter them, the riders also displayed that intimidation would not defeat the movement.

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In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC targeted Birmingham, Alabama, for a major civil rights campaign. They chose Birmingham because of the reputation as the most segregated city in the South. The campaign began nonviolently with protest marches and sit-ins. On Apr 12, King decided to violate the order of his participation and join the demonstration even though he knew he would get arrested. From his jail cell, King wrote a letter explaining why he and other civil rights activists were tired of waiting for reform. The SCLC gave the letter to the press and it soon appeared in newspapers across the nation.

Sig - the letter provided Americans with a clear explanation of King's philosophy of nonviolence and his use of direct action. It stirred many white moderates to support the civil rights movement.

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The March on Washington's purpose was to put pressure on Congress to pass the new civil rights bill and to improve economic opportunities for blacks so supporters made plans for a massive nonviolent protest. This event brought together the major political organizations promoting civil rights (NAACP, SCLS, and SNCC) and labor unions, and religious groups. Organizers had hoped for 100,000 demonstrators but more than double that number showed up. More than a quarter of the marchers were white.

Sig - the highlight of the day was when Martin Luther King gave his powerful and eloquent speech which came to be known as the " I Have a Dream" speech. The March of Washington was one of the largest political demonstrations in US History. The march increased awareness of the movement and built momentum for the passage of civil rights legislation.

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The 24th amendment, ratified in 1964, banned the poll tax, which had been used to keep poor African Americans from voting.

Sig - it was legislation that laid the groundwork for the voting rights acts.

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President Johnson signed this act in July. The act banned segregation in public accommodations and gave the federal government the ability to compel state and local school boards  to desegregate their schools. The act also allowed the Justice Department to prosecute individuals who violated people's civil rights and outlawed discrimination in employment on account of race, color, sex or national origin.

Sig - It established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is responsible for enforcing these provision and investigating charges of job discrimination.

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SNCC had spent several years organizing voter education projects in Mississippi. It met with little success and a great deal of violent opposition. In 1964, it decided to get more directly involved in the political process. It called for a major campaign, known as the Freedom Summer. About 1000 volunteer were to go to Mississippi to register African Americans to vote. They also formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as an alternative to the all-white regular democratic party, it gave African Americans a voice in state politics.
Before the volunteers had arrived, three civil rights workers had disappeared and were found dead.

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Malcom X was the most well-known African American radical. He adopted the "x" to represent his lost African American name. He landed in prison at 21 from drugs and burglary but converted to the Nation of Islam which set him on the right path. After he got released, he became Islam's most prominent minister. He preached a message of self-reliance and self-protection. He called for black pride and spread the idea of black nationalism, a belief in the separate identity and racial unity of the African American community. In Feb 1965, Malcom X was shot and killed. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of the murder.

Sig - many young African Americans started to see themselves as the heirs of the radical Malcom X. They began to move away from the principle of nonviolence. It caused many to question the goal of integration.

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Early in 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC organized a major campaign in Selma, Alabama, to pressure the federal government to enact voting rights legislation. The protests climaxed in a series of confrontations.

Sig - On March 15, President Johnson went on national television and called for a strong federal voting rights law.

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Spurred by the actions of protestors, lobbying by the Washington bureau of the NAACP, and the words of the President, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act banned literacy tests and empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration and elections in states that had discriminated against minorities.

Sig - in 1975, Congress extended coverage to Hispanic voters in the Southwest

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Martin Luther King was shot on the balcony outside of his motel room. He died at a hospital shortly afterward, at the age of 39. James Earl Ray, a white ex-convict was later charged with King's murder.
Sig- his assassination marked an important turning point. His efforts had increased minority participation the political process and encouraged racial integration. Yet, much racial hostility persisted. After his assassination, Governor Maddox would not allow the civil rights leader's body to lie in state in the Georgia state capitol building.