Study guide: Civil Rights Movement Timeline

📋 Course Outline

1. Legal Beginnings and School Integration
2. Montgomery and Direct Action
3. Federal Protection and Transportation
4. Leaders and Core Vocabulary

📅 Key Dates

1. 1954The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, marking the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
2. December 1, 1955Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested, and triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
3. 1957Nine African American students attempted to attend Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, faced strong opposition, and were protected by federal troops sent by President Eisenhower to ensure school integration.
4. 1957President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights law since Reconstruction, which aimed to protect African Americans’ voting rights.
5. 1960Four African American students sat at a “whites only” lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, refused to leave, and inspired similar peaceful demonstrations across the country.
6. 1961Black and White activists rode interstate buses together through the South as Freedom Riders to challenge segregation, and their actions helped end segregation in interstate transportation despite attacks.
7. 1963Civil rights activists organized the Birmingham Campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, and images of peaceful protesters attacked by police dogs and fire hoses increased national support for the movement.
8. 1963More than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington to demand equality and civil rights, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
9. 1964President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned segregation in public places and prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

📖 1. Legal Beginnings and School Integration

📝 Essential Points

• The Little Rock Nine were nine students who courageously integrated a previously all-white high school in Arkansas.

💡 Memory Hook

Brown’s ruling against segregation → the modern movement begins

📖 2. Montgomery and Direct Action

★ Must-know

• The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted more than a year after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat.

Further detail

• Rosa Parks became known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement” and became a symbol of resistance after refusing to give up her bus seat in 1955.

💡 Memory Hook

Refusal → arrest → boycott

📖 3. Federal Protection and Transportation

📝 Essential Points

• The Freedom Riders were groups of activists who challenged segregation in public transportation across the South.

💡 Memory Hook

Federal protection opposed violent resistance

📖 4. Leaders and Core Vocabulary

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Segregation: the separation of people by race, especially in public institutions and places
• Boycott: a refusal to participate in or use something as a form of protest

★ Must-know

• Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who promoted non-violent protest and became the most famous face of the movement.

Further detail

• The movement’s key vocabulary includes segregation, discrimination, equality, civil rights, activist, boycott, protest, march, freedom, justice, voting rights, and non-violent protest.