African-American Civil Rights Movement Timeline & Notes
Watch the entire “A Time for Justice” video (in 3 chunks linked below) & use the video and/or readings linked to summarize the important events in
each box. Then answer the big questions on the final page. You can also watch the entire video here. Pay attention to page numbers!
Theme: Grassroots actions (by ordinary people) caused Federal intervention (by the national government). (Ex: “...my objective was to force the
federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to
enforce my rights as a citizen.” -James Meredith) Please type in a different color.
Date Location Resource Events to Summarize
Video #1 Brown v. Board of Education:
0:00 - - Set of cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington
2:45 D.C.
May 1954 Washington, DC - Class-action lawsuit
Johannes Reading - Argued by Thurgood Marshall who was the NAACP’s lead attorney
(p. - Major impacts: removed segregation in schools and other public places
574-575) - Warren Court
- Activism on civil rights
- Free Speech
- Brown II
- Pushes against resistance in Southern change
- Due to events like Black Monday
Video #1 Murder of Emmett Till:
Summer 1955 Money, MS 2:45 - - Brought wide attention to racial violence
Johannes 5:03 - Body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River
- Brought many African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement
- Motivated to make a change
- Wanted the perpetrator to be punished
- Three months later, the MOntgomery bus boycott began
Video #1 Montgomery Bus Boycott:
5:04 - - Caused by a multitude of racial discrimination events
8:54 - Segregated public buses in Montgomery were segregated
- Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused her seat and got arrest
December 1955 Montgomery, AL Reading - People would build upon this case to fight for more change
Johannes (p. - A sign posted on December 5 encouraged African Americans to not right
578-579) the bus for freedom.
Video #1 Little Rock Central High School Integration:
8:54 - - Nine African American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, attempted to
11:13 integrate Central High School.
September 1957 Little Rock, AK - They were met with violent resistance from white segregationists.
Nova Reading - Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to block the
(p. students.
580-581) - President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by sending federal troops to enforce
desegregation and protect the students.
Video #1 Sit-Ins:
11:13 - - Greensboro, North Carolina
Winter 1960 Greensboro, NC 13:09 - Four African American college students from North Carolina A&T University
Nova staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter.
Reading - They were denied service but remained seated peacefully.
(p. 582) - This sparked a wave of sit-ins across the country, with thousands of students
participating.
Video #1 Freedom Rides:
13:09 - - Southern states
End - Black and white civil rights activists, known as the Freedom Riders, rode interstate
buses to challenge segregation in bus terminals.
Video #2 - They aimed to test the Supreme Court ruling that prohibited segregation in
May, 1961 Southern states 0:00 - interstate travel facilities.
Nova 0:24 - Riders faced severe violence from white mobs, especially in Alabama.
- The brutality caught national attention and forced the federal government to
Reading intervene which led to stricter enforcement of desegregation laws.
(p. 583)
Video #2 Marches & Protests:
0:24 -
3:27 MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail:
April-August 1963 Birmingham, AL
Abby Reading 16th Street Baptist Church bombing:
(p.
584-585)
Reading March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom:
(p. 586)
April-August 1963 Washington, DC
Abby
Reading Civil Rights Act of 1964:
(p. Was signed on July 2, 1964. It banned discrimination based on Race, Sex, Religion, or
June/July 1964 Washington, DC 586-587) origin of nationality. This would take away discrimination with stuff like voting, public
Briana accommodations/ facilities, schools, labor unions, and employment. Also dismantled
segregation laws in the South.
Video #2 Freedom Summer:
3:27 - Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner:
June/July 1964 MS Backroads 14:15 Murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson:
Briana
Reading
(p. 588)
Video #2 March from Selma to Montgomery/Bloody Sunday:
14:15 -
End
Video #3
March 1965 Selma, AL 0:00 -
Briana 3:30
Reading
(p.
588-589)
Reading Voting Rights Act of 1965:
July 1965 Washington, DC (p. 589) - After eight days of Martin Luther King Jr.’s peaceful civil rights march in Selma,
Daniela Alabama, the president (Lyndon B. Johnson) advocated his voice of passing voting
rights to people, regardless of race and ethnicity
- After years of violence, murders, abuse, and advocacy of Black people getting the
right to vote, they finally did
- Many Whites in the South were against the rights of Black people to vote
- Literacy tests were banned from the Voting Right Acts along with racial
discrimination
Reading Civil Rights Act of 1968 & Housing:
April 1968 Washington, DC - Expanded on previously occurring Acts, and was built on them
Daniela - The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prevented discrimination concerning the rental, sale,
and financing of housing through real estate
- No race, religion, national origin, etc. could enable someone to purchase a form of
housing
- Also known as the Fair Housing Act ; signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson
- It was difficult path to do as many white real estators would NOT allow any other
race than Whites to purchase housing
Big questions that you should answer when done (at least 3 sentences each):
1. How did the Civil Rights Movement use grassroots actions (organization by ordinary people and organizations, not formal political parties or
groups) to gain national attention and cause Federal intervention (by the national government). (Daniela)
The Civil Rights Movement used grassroot actions to gain national attention and cause Federal intervention because it shows the mass determination
people have in creating equal rights for all, no matter. People would join together to protest and fight for rights of all, and sometimes it was shown on
television. People of color, like Blacks and Whites, would hold hands together in a peaceful manner to show that they weren’t doing anything bad,
and just wanted equality.
2. What sorts of opposition did the Civil Rights Movement face? (Daniela)
The sorts of opposition the Civil Rights Movement faced was mainly from Southern states that held Jim Crow laws in the past, along with the
infamous Klu Klux Klan that endangered the lives of innocent Black people through the form of lynching. Activists were often subjected to mass
arrests in peaceful protests, threats, beatings, bombings, and murders as they continued to fight for equal rights for all races, and not just a single one.
Even governmental officials were open about being against the order of desegregation, and called it “unnecessary” to do.
3. How did the Civil Rights Movement achieve some of its goals of equality? (Daniela)
The Civil Rights Movement achieved some of its goals of equality by providing rights and privileges (such as public facilities) to different
races than just Whites only. Specifically in the South, which was at an all-time discrimination against Blacks during this time, with constant
unfair treatment. Therefore, this Civil Rights Movement provided people of ALL races rights to voting, and the ability to be in the same
facilities of Whites without segregation.
4. Why did debates among civil rights activists increase after 1965? What were the causes and effects of these debates? (Look into SNCC,
CORE, Black Power, and the SCLC; Stokeley Carmichael, Huey Newton &/or Bobby Seale) (Nova) After 1965, debates among civil rights
activists increased due to a growing frustration with the slow pace of change and the persistence of systemic racism, despite their being major
legal victories. While groups like the SCLC remained committed to nonviolent resistance, organizations such as SNCC and CORE began
embracing Black Power and advocated for self-defense and racial pride. The emergence of militant groups like the Black Panther Party would
emphasize the movement's growing radicalism, but the internal divisions weakened its overall unity.
