Answers to Civil Rights Movement Worksheet

Plessy v. FergusonLouisiana 1890. Supreme Court Decision – over Plessy who was a black man who tried to ride on the “whites only” car of a train.Court decision ruled that separate cars for whites and blacks were legal. This ruling created the “separate but equal clause” and allowed segregation to take place. Conditions could be separated as long as they were equal equal”.Allowed segregation to take place in the South and became an issue during the Civil Rights Movement.

Brown v. Board of Education

May 17, 1954 Topeka, Kansas

Marshall Brown filed a case against the Board of Education in Topeka Kansas after his children were forced to walk miles to a school across town because they were not allowed to attend the white school across the street.

Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional for schools to be segregated. They stated that “separate but equal” is always unequal. This ruling overturns the “Separate but Equal” clause and ends segregation.

After this case, schools across the nation begin to integrate whites and blacks causing a lot of protests.

Little Rock Incident 1957Sept. 2nd 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas

9 Students (known as the “Little Rock 9” who are integrating a school in Arkansas are treated very poorly by whites who are trying to prevent them from entering the school because they wanted segregation.

Students are spit on and items are thrown at them. The National Guard is called in to escort the students safely to school.

Showed that schools would be integrated no matter what.

Montgomery Bus Boycott1950’s Montgomery, AlabamaAfrican Americans decide to boycott the buses in Montgomery unless they end the regulation that African Americans have to sit in the back. This protest was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and others as a peaceful way for Blacks to come together and fight for their rights through protesting. The bus boycott begins after Rosa Parks was arrested.

March on Washington

August 28, 1963 Washington DCMLK, 250,000 African Americans and some whites, Civil Rights LeadersProtesters assembled in Washington DC to listen to speakers and advocate for expanding their rights. Example of how serious they were about expanding rights. Location of MLK’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech”.

Rosa Parks

1955 She sat in the “white” section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Told to move back and she did not. She was arrested for insubordination (not following instructions of the police).

Started the Montgomery Bus Boycott and formed the Montgomery Improvement Association led by MLK jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Minister who was a chosen leader. Ability to give passionate speeches and appeal to the people allows him to quickly become powerful.

Advocated for non-violent means of protest.

Served the needs of African-American groups to help with the expansion of civil rights from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.

Thurgood Marshall

Worked as a NAACP (National Association

for the Advancement of Colored People) lawyer and won 29 or 32 civil rights cases!Worked his way up the system and becomes the first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1967.Represented the judicial fight for equality that African Americans went through.

Malcolm X

Civil rights leader who fought for the expansion of rights even if through violent methods. He wanted to preserve Black culture and did not want to assimilate to white culture. Believed that Blacks were superior to whites. Served the black community from his release from prison in 1952 until his assassination in 1965.

Black Panthers

Group started in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. They formed to fight police brutality against African-Americans. Dressed in all black with sunglasses.

Wanted to be exempt from military service.

Worked to get childcare, food, clinics, and other services for African-Americans in the ghettos.