Civil RightsThroughout the US history, many

groups have been denied the rights of citizenship. Through varies means,

civil rights have been extended throughout time and in different

ways to different people. One could say the struggle to obtain and maintain rights is an ongoing

struggle, and continues today.

African Americans

• Civil War Amendments• 13th Abolished Slavery• 14th Defined citizenship• 15th Extended voting rights

Plessy v Ferguson

• The 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation was legal as long as facilities were equal— “separate but equal”.

• This brought on segregation in the South for nearly 60 years.

• After the Plessy decision, laws throughout the South, nicknamed Jim Crow laws, spread quickly. The laws segregated buses and trains, schools, restaurants, swimming pools, parks and other public facilities.

Brown v Board of Education

• In 1954 a young girl was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas, because of her race. The all black school was across town from where she lived. The case was taken all the up to the Supreme Court where their ruling overturned Plessy. They ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional.

• Brown v Board of Education• http://youtu.be/TTGHLdr-iak

Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s Doll Test

• The Clarks concluded that "prejudice, discrimination, and segregation" caused black children to develop a sense of inferiority and self-hatred.

Blue eye Brown eye Experiment

• http://youtu.be/YHSmvcOzbjI

1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott• In Alabama it was law that blacks give up their

seats to whites and that blacks sit in the back of the bus. Rosa Parks decided to challenge the law by refusing to give up her seat. She was arrested for her actions.

• The next day a call for a Bus boycott was organized and a young 26 year old pastor of a local church named Martin Luther King Jr. was elected to help organize the event.

Martin Luther King Jr.• King believed the only way to fight hate and

segregation and racism was through nonviolent passive resistance. He practiced the philosophy and techniques of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi who used non violent resistance.

• MLK’s words stirred African Americans through out Montgomery. Instead of riding the buses, AA organized car pools, took taxis or walked to work. For over a year the buses rode nearly empty. The Supreme Court ruled Alabama’s low unconstitutional.

MLK’s Speeches

• Last speech-1968• http://youtu.be/aL4FOvIf7G8• I Have a Dream-1963• http://youtu.be/uBx4vPr27fo

Emmitt Till-1955

• http://youtu.be/G2oTG8IH7IE

Little Rock Crises 1957

• The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus was determined to keep the schools in his state segregated. He called in the National Guard to prevent 9 African Americans from entering Central High School in Little Rock . TV played a huge role in exposing the “south’s little secret”.

African American Civil Rights Law• Civil Rights Act of 1964-Provides criminal

penalties for discrimination in employment or voting and integrates most public facilities.

• 24th Amendment 1964-Banned the poll tax • Voting Rights Act 1965- Banned literacy tests

in counties where over half of eligible voters have been disenfranchised.

• The Civil Rights Movement use a variety of methods to get results. These included practicing non-violence and passive resistance, sit-ins, boycotts, and freedom rides.

• Other leaders included Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers.