Freedom Rides 1961
The Freedom Rides were designed to desegregate public transportation throughout the south and to test the Supreme Court decision that declared segregation on
interstate buses unconstitutional. CORE organized interracial bus rides to the south where whites would sit in the back, blacks would sit in the front, and at rest stops the whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice versa. The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks and six whites left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. They intended to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia, which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. In the first few days, the riders were barely harmed, but in the second week they were severely beaten. In Alabama, one of their buses was burned and several dozen whites attacked the riders. CORE did not want to send out the wrong message to the country by ending the trip with violence, so the trip continued. They traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery where they were attacked by a mob of whites. The extreme violence put pressure on President Kennedy to end the violence. Eventually they were able to convince the ICC to declare a ban on segregation in all facilities.
The Freedom Rides were designed to desegregate public transportation throughout the south and to test the Supreme Court decision that declared segregation on
interstate buses unconstitutional. CORE organized interracial bus rides to the south where whites would sit in the back, blacks would sit in the front, and at rest stops the whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice versa. The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks and six whites left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. They intended to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia, which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. In the first few days, the riders were barely harmed, but in the second week they were severely beaten. In Alabama, one of their buses was burned and several dozen whites attacked the riders. CORE did not want to send out the wrong message to the country by ending the trip with violence, so the trip continued. They traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery where they were attacked by a mob of whites. The extreme violence put pressure on President Kennedy to end the violence. Eventually they were able to convince the ICC to declare a ban on segregation in all facilities.
Bombing of the 16th Baptist church 1963
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is located in Birmingham, Alabama. Here several civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, met.
Tensions began to rise and on Sunday, September 15th, 1963 a white male was seen getting out of a white Chevrolet vehicle and placing a box beneath the church steps. The bomb exploded at 10:22 taking the lives of the following: Denis McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14).Civil rights activists soon blamed George Wallace, the governor or Alabama, for such terrible crime. He said earlier that week to New York Times to stop integration and Alabama needed a few “first-class funerals.” Soon a witness then identified Robert Chambliss, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as the white male who placed the bomb. He was charged with murder and the possession of 122 sticks of dynamite without a permit. Later on October 8th, 1963, he was found not guilty for the murder, but he had to do six months in jail and received a hundred-dollar fine for having the dynamite. Bill Baxley was then elected attorney general of Alabama and ordered the FBI to find more evidence towards Chambliss that wasn’t discovered originally to avoid double jeopardy. It was soon decided that the bombing was done by the KKK. Bobby Cherry, a member of the KKK, was charged with the murder and sentenced to a life in prison.
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is located in Birmingham, Alabama. Here several civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, met.
Tensions began to rise and on Sunday, September 15th, 1963 a white male was seen getting out of a white Chevrolet vehicle and placing a box beneath the church steps. The bomb exploded at 10:22 taking the lives of the following: Denis McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14).Civil rights activists soon blamed George Wallace, the governor or Alabama, for such terrible crime. He said earlier that week to New York Times to stop integration and Alabama needed a few “first-class funerals.” Soon a witness then identified Robert Chambliss, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as the white male who placed the bomb. He was charged with murder and the possession of 122 sticks of dynamite without a permit. Later on October 8th, 1963, he was found not guilty for the murder, but he had to do six months in jail and received a hundred-dollar fine for having the dynamite. Bill Baxley was then elected attorney general of Alabama and ordered the FBI to find more evidence towards Chambliss that wasn’t discovered originally to avoid double jeopardy. It was soon decided that the bombing was done by the KKK. Bobby Cherry, a member of the KKK, was charged with the murder and sentenced to a life in prison.
Voting Act of 1963
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 grew out of both public protest and private political negotiation. Starting in 1961, CORE joined SCLC in staging nonviolent
demonstrations in Georgia, and Birmingham. They hoped to attract national media attention and pressure the U.S. government to protect Black's constitutional rights. Newspaper photos and TV broadcasts of Birmingham's racist police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor, and his men violently attacking the protesters with water hoses, police dogs, and nightsticks awakened the consciences of whites. President Lyndon B Johnson made civil rights one of his administration’s top priorities. Johnson gave a televised speech before Congress in which he made the assault of “Bloody Sunday” (group of Alabama state troopers, local sheriff's officers, and unofficial possemen used tear gas and clubs against 600 peaceful marchers) public. Two days later, the Johnson sent the Voting Rights bill to Congress.
Loving v. Virginia 1963
Richard and Mildred were married in 1958 in Washington D.C. because their home state of Virginia still made interracial marriages illegal. After moving to Virginia, they were prosecuted and convicted of violating the state’s antimiscegenation law. After returning back to Washington, they filed for a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law, and won the case. All 16 states which had the law were forced to erase them from their books.
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the nation’s capitol. It pressured the administration of
JFK to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill. This is also where Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Letters from Birmingham Jail 1963
Martin Luther King personally led a march on Good Friday where all protestors were quickly arrested. He spent eight days in his cell and wrote a letter from inside the Birmingham Jail to the clergymen who thought that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts and not in the streets. The clergymen continuously talked poorly about him and he fought back with facts about his non-violent protests.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 grew out of both public protest and private political negotiation. Starting in 1961, CORE joined SCLC in staging nonviolent
demonstrations in Georgia, and Birmingham. They hoped to attract national media attention and pressure the U.S. government to protect Black's constitutional rights. Newspaper photos and TV broadcasts of Birmingham's racist police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor, and his men violently attacking the protesters with water hoses, police dogs, and nightsticks awakened the consciences of whites. President Lyndon B Johnson made civil rights one of his administration’s top priorities. Johnson gave a televised speech before Congress in which he made the assault of “Bloody Sunday” (group of Alabama state troopers, local sheriff's officers, and unofficial possemen used tear gas and clubs against 600 peaceful marchers) public. Two days later, the Johnson sent the Voting Rights bill to Congress.
Loving v. Virginia 1963
Richard and Mildred were married in 1958 in Washington D.C. because their home state of Virginia still made interracial marriages illegal. After moving to Virginia, they were prosecuted and convicted of violating the state’s antimiscegenation law. After returning back to Washington, they filed for a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law, and won the case. All 16 states which had the law were forced to erase them from their books.
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the nation’s capitol. It pressured the administration of
JFK to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill. This is also where Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Letters from Birmingham Jail 1963
Martin Luther King personally led a march on Good Friday where all protestors were quickly arrested. He spent eight days in his cell and wrote a letter from inside the Birmingham Jail to the clergymen who thought that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts and not in the streets. The clergymen continuously talked poorly about him and he fought back with facts about his non-violent protests.
Murder of Medgar Evers 1963
Medgar Evers was an African-American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi. After attending a meeting at the NAACP, Evers was returning home to soon be assassinated by a white male who was a member of the White Citizen's Council, Byron De La Beckwith.
Medgar Evers was an African-American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi. After attending a meeting at the NAACP, Evers was returning home to soon be assassinated by a white male who was a member of the White Citizen's Council, Byron De La Beckwith.
"Bull" Connor and Birmingham Alabama protests 1963/1964
Heophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. He has responsible for the Birmingham Fire Department and the Birmingham Police Department, which had their own chiefs.
Through his actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens, especially during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Birmingham Campaign of 1963, Connor became an international symbol of big racial hatred. Connor infamously directed the use of fire
hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children. His aggressive tactics backfired when the mob of the brutality being broadcast on national television served as one of the major social and legal change in the South. He assured the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
24th Amendment 1964
The 24th amendment ended mandatory poll taxes. These poll taxes prevented African Americans in the south from having any political power because they could not pay the tax.
Murder of James Chaney 1964
On June 21, 1964 three young civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. They had been registered black voters during the Freedom Summer and had gone to investigate the burning of a church. They were arrested for several hours by cops on trumped-up charges and were later than released only to be murdered by the KKK.
Freedom Summer 1964
During the summer of 1964, hundreds of Northern college students traveled to Mississippi to help register black voters and encourage participation in the Civil Rights movement. Under the direction of the Council of Federated Organizations, the predominantly white students organized health clinics, established "freedom schools" to educate black school children, and sponsored voter registration drives throughout the state. Also, student volunteers helped to establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which attempted to unseat the state's all-white regular delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.
Heophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. He has responsible for the Birmingham Fire Department and the Birmingham Police Department, which had their own chiefs.
Through his actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens, especially during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Birmingham Campaign of 1963, Connor became an international symbol of big racial hatred. Connor infamously directed the use of fire
hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children. His aggressive tactics backfired when the mob of the brutality being broadcast on national television served as one of the major social and legal change in the South. He assured the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
24th Amendment 1964
The 24th amendment ended mandatory poll taxes. These poll taxes prevented African Americans in the south from having any political power because they could not pay the tax.
Murder of James Chaney 1964
On June 21, 1964 three young civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. They had been registered black voters during the Freedom Summer and had gone to investigate the burning of a church. They were arrested for several hours by cops on trumped-up charges and were later than released only to be murdered by the KKK.
Freedom Summer 1964
During the summer of 1964, hundreds of Northern college students traveled to Mississippi to help register black voters and encourage participation in the Civil Rights movement. Under the direction of the Council of Federated Organizations, the predominantly white students organized health clinics, established "freedom schools" to educate black school children, and sponsored voter registration drives throughout the state. Also, student volunteers helped to establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which attempted to unseat the state's all-white regular delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.