African American History1950-1999

By: Caitlin, Kathryn, and Ian

Introduction:What: Emmett Till murder trial, Montgomery

Bus Boycott, the Civil Rights Movement, and Malcolm X Events.

Why: All of these events involved African Americans fighting for their rights or whites trying to keep segregation alive.

Emmett Till Murder TrialKathryn Cushman

The Emmett Till Murder Trial In a small town in Mississippi, during the

year of 1955, a fourteen year old boy made a flirting remark to a female clerk at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market.

The flirting comment that Emmett made was wolf whistle

Emmett Till was staying with his great uncle and great aunt while this event happened, because Emmett was visiting them since he is from Chicago.

The Tragedy Three days later, on August 28th, 1955,

during the middle of the night, two white men knocked on Emmett’s great uncle’s door.

They had loaded pistols in their hand, and demanded to see Emmett.

His uncle woke Emmett up, and the two men dragged Emmett out of the house.

Emmett’s aunt and uncle begged them not to take them, that they would give them all of the money they had, but they would not give in.

The Finding A few days after Emmett’s kidnapping, the

police found Emmett’s mangled body in the nearby river.

They only knew that it was him, because he had a ring on his finger that he always wore.

His mother, Mamie Till Mobley demanded that the body would be shipped back to Chicago

His mother insisted that his coffin would be open to the world to see his mangled body, even though the court did not want her to do it.

The Funeral Emmett’s funeral had thousands of Chicago

residents filling through the church to see Emmett’s body.

During the case of Emmett’s trial, the ALL-WHITE jury found the two white men, who killed Emmett, innocent

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery BoycottCaitlin Giron

The Montgomery Bus BoycottRosa Parks and her husband were the leaders

of the chapter, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

She studied political action and nonviolent resistance.

On December 1st, 1955, she put her teachings into action.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottIn the 1950s, if you were an African American

you had to sit in the back of the bus and give up your seat to whites who didn’t have a seat.

On the evening of December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and was arrested.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottThe African American community in

Montgomery, Alabama backed her up.

They organized a boycott at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church that was planned to be on the day of Parks’ trial.

There they formed an organization called the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to look over the boycott.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottReverend Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen

as the first leader of the MIA and encouraged people to remain peaceful and dignified.

The Women’s Political Council distributed more than 50, 000 fliers announcing the boycott.

On December 5th, the day of the boycott, 90% of Montgomery’s African American citizens stayed off the buses.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottThe evening the boycott started, the MIA

voted to continue the boycott.

The buses moved around almost empty, while African Americans walked carpooled, bicycled, or took taxis.

Soon, the city started to penalize taxi drivers for aiding the boycotters.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottThe MIA grouped together a carpool.

More than 150 people lent their cars to the carpool.

The carpool involved and intricate system of about 300 cars.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottLater, the MIA took the bus system to court.

A district judge ordered the buses desegregated.

The city refused to cooperate and the MIA took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the judge’s decision.

The Montgomery Bus BoycottNow, with the buses desegregated, the

African American community returned to riding the city buses more than a year later on December 26th 1956.

ApartheidIan Bahn

ApartheidApartheid was a legal racial segregation

enforced by the National Party government of South Africa.

During Apartheid the minority whites controlled most of the government.

Apartheid Due to segregation blacks had many

disadvantages.

Conclusion