Civil Rights:
African Americans Lead the Way
Background: 1896 - Separate but Equal?
1940s - NAACP Forms
1950s - Brown v. Board, Rosa Parks, Little Rock 9
Martin Luther King Jr.
Sit-In Movement
Students for a Non-
Violence Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)
Freedom Rides
1963 March On
Washington
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Freedom Summer
Voting Rights Act of
1965
Black Power and the
Black Panther Party
1954 - Brown v. Board of
Education desegregates schools
& Little Rock 9 Challenge its
enforcement
Martin Luther King Jr. Becomes a
National Leader
MLK's Last Speech - 3 minutes
Birmingham, Alabama
As a starting point for enforcement
& a national wake up call!
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964 definition: A federal law that authorized
federal action against segregation in public accommodations, public
facilities, and employment. The law was passed during a period of great
strength for the civil rights movement, and President Lyndon Johnson
persuaded many reluctant members of Congress to support the law.
Black Power and the Black
Panther Party MLK and Malcom X Debate
Black Power and the Black
Panther Party
Going forward…
Much of the ground work (ideals, tactics, etc.)
of the African Americans to gain civil rights
was borrowed by all other disadvantaged
groups in later decades.
Today, it’s hard to believe the images and
rhetoric because we have become a much
more equitable society, but many people still
strive to segregate (neo-Nazi groups, white
supremacist groups, etc.)