The Movement Begins
Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to an American in 1955.
She agreed to letting E.D. Nixon use her case, but did not know that her
decision would launch the Civil Rights Movement.
She agreed to letting E.D. Nixon use her case, but did not know that her
decision would launch the Civil Rights Movement.
- In 1896, the supreme court declared segregation constitutional in the Plessy v. Freguson case when it established the "separate but equal" doctrine.
- In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to an American and got arrested. E.D. Nixon, former president of the local chapter of the NAACP, wanted to challenge bus segregation in court and asked Rosa Parks for her permission to use her case.
- Since 1909 NAACP had supported court cases intended to overturn segregation.
- During World War II, African American leaders began to use their new political power to demand more rights and with their effort, it helped end descrimination in factories that held government contracts and increased opportunities for African Americans to be in the military.
- In Chicago, 1942, James Farmer and George Houser founded Congress of Racial Economy (CORE)
- CORE successfully integrated many restaurants, theatres & other public facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Denver & Syracuse.
- Jo Ann Robinson, head of a local organization called the Womans Political Council, called on African Americans to boycott Montgomery's buses on the day Rosa Parks appeared in court.
- Several African leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to run the boycott & negotiate cityleaders for an end to segregation.
- They elected 26 year old,, Martin Luther King Jr. to leade them. He believed the only moral way to end segregation and racism was through nonviolence.
Preview Of Events
1954 - Brown v. Board of Educations of Topeka, Kansas, decision. 1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. 1956 - Group of 101 southern members of congress sign Southern Manifesto. 1957 - Southern Christian Leadership conference formed. |
Main Ideas
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