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Thomas Balton Jr, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Chambliss were convicted 37 years after the bombing. These men were part of the Ku Klux Klan which bombed the most popular black church in Birmingham Alabama. Four girls were killed and 20 others were injured.
Birmingham - 1963 baptist church bombings, Martian Luther King,KKK Selma - Selma to Montgomery march Montgomery- bus boycotts (12-1-1955)
The 1961 group called the Radical Republicans created the emancipation which means free from power. They did not support Lincoln, however, did accept Andrew Johnson as the next president. Johnson broke the Radicals power because they were trying to get racial justice.
On May fourth, 1961, seven african-americans and six whites left Washington DC on two public busses going to the South. During the second week of the trip, the riders were severely beaten. One of their busses was burned, and several groups of whites attacked them. The trip ended when a group of 1,000 whites attacked the Riders.
1866- “All citizens born in the US, no matter what race, have the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, convey real and personal property, to full and equal benefit of all laws...as is enjoyed by white persons.” 1957- Established the Civil Rights section of the justice department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against the right to vote. 1960- introduced penalties to be levied against anybody who abstracted someones attempt to register to vote or to actually vote. Eisenhower was criticized about wether he should have made any reference to the voting but most were happy that he noticed there was a problem.
In the summer of 1957, Little Rock, Arkansas made plans to desegregate its public high school. The town had already desegregated its buses, zoo, library, and parks. The night before school started, Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas told the National Guard to surround the school and prevent any black students from entering. A federal judge ordered the state to withdraw the troops.The next school day, the school was surrounded by Little Rock policemen who escorted the nine black kids. A mob of townspeople were threatening the police outside the school, so the police made the african americans leave. The mayor of Little Rock, Woodrow Mann, asked the president to send 1,000 of the army to escort the kids through school.
After the major event of Rosa Parks not giving up her bus seat to a white man and violated the city's segregation laws and being sent to jail. This event led to the Boycott of buses where several people whom were against this harsh law restrained from riding public transportation even if it meant walking several miles. This went on for a year and a few weeks.
In summer of 1955, african american Emmett Till took a bus from the North to visit his relatives in the South. One day, he and his cousins were playing in the street by a local grocery store. Emmett bragged to his cousins about a white girlfriend that he claimed to have in the North. His cousins taunted and dared him to go talk to the white cashier in the store. Afterwards, she claimed that Emmett whistled and made a sexual comment to her. Word spread around the small town, and soon Emmett’s uncle and aunt warned him that he should go back north. Before he could heed their advice, two men took Emmett from his cousin’s house and dragged him away. They beat him and after shooting him in the head, they threw his body into the Tallahatchie River.
This was a case that was based on the 14th amendment and how racial segregation was in violation to this amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren said that seperation of black and white children gave the white children and unfair advantage. The case focused specifically on a young black girl who had to walk further then the white children because her school was not in town.
Lonnie E. Smith was denied the right to vote in the democratic primary which was against the 15th amendment which all white southerners were against. Eventually the NAACP stepped in and took this case all the way to the Supreme Court and won.
The world record breaker, Jesse Owens broke the record for long jump, and also being the first African American to do so. In college he won three championship games in Cleavland, Ohio.
On March 25, 1931, a fight broke out between african-american and white hobos on a train. The conductor of the train threw the white hobos off at the next stop. The group reported what had happened to the station master who had officials stop the train at the next station. Armed men rounded up nine black kids and took them to jail. Two white women dressed as boys were also found on the train. The women had sexual relations with the whites who were thrown off of the train and agreed to testify against the black boys if they weren’t prosecuted. The nine boys were all found guilty in Alabama, and all but the youngest were sentenced to death. The north and the NAACP protested the outcome of the case and eventually after many cases and trials, only one member of the original group survived.
A preacher who from the start focused mainly on non-violence. Years went by and segregation became an unbearable idea for him. Not only was Martin Luther King preaching non-violence, now he was fighting large populations of people on one of the most difficult topics of the time.
The Red Summer riot of 1919 caused the court case Moore vs. Dempsey in 1923. A total of 700 black men were arrested, it eventually simmered down to the twelve who were tried in less than eight minutes of argument per man with an all white jury. There was a mob outside the court room who were threatening to lynch the men if they were not sentenced to death. The men were unfortunately sentenced to death and the case was considered closed.
The “Red Summer riot” took place in both the North and South. It was an unpopular riot that created more breakouts after the riot was supposedly done. In the end, twenty three blacks and fifteen whites were dead. Five hundred thirty-seven people injured and 1,000 black families were left homeless.
Rosa Parks, a highly respected lady who was seen as the most influential person in the Civil Rights time period. Refusing to give up her bus seat was just the start, after fingerprints and jail time, she and Martin Luther King boycotted the buses for a full year. As she became more popular, more and more people refused to ride on public transportation which caused the shutting down of the main station. After a year, the segregation had ceased, just long enough for the transportation to become used at a more often rate. Rosa Park died in 2005 creating tons of historical hype through the nation.
The still active organization called the National Association for the advancement of colored people or shortened to the NAACP was established in 1909. They expanded in 1918 with 165 branches. That year they had a total of 43,994 members, some of which were african americans who had secretly joined the organization. The NAACP challenged segregation in court and campaigned anti-lynching unsuccessfully. However, this establishment played a huge part in the events of the civil rights movement.
The Brownsville Affair was a shooting incident on August 13th 1906 in Brownsville, Texas where a white bartender was murdered and a white policemen injured. It was considered a huge racial incident where a group of African Americans were supposedly seen firing. The evidence was found against the whites statement, (the gun shells were found to be placed) however, the statements were accepted and the men were accused of a white mans murder.
During and after Reconstruction, seven southern states adopted the Grandfather Clause. The Grandfather Clause was designed to negate the fifteenth amendment. It stated that all men, and descendants of men who were voters before 1867, didn’t have to meet the existing voting requirements. All officials that worked in voting offices had the right to choose who had to read a part of the constitution and explain it. This basically denied all blacks the right to vote.
The Mississippi government wanted to pass a law that stated an illiterate or black person could not vote, which would require a test to be taken that would challenge the ability of citizens to understand all parts of the constitution.
Homer Plessy a thirty year old shoemaker was put in jail after sitting in a "white car" on the train. It turns out Plessy was only 1/8 black, but after this case being taken all the way to the Supreme Court, Homer Plessy was found guilty.
Jim Crow is not a person but a law. The closest thing to real Jim Crow has experienced is being a character on a minstrel show. These laws took place from the 1880’s to the 1960’s. Many U.S states supported these laws in fact several states enforced them. Some of these laws preventing the contact of the white race and black race, inter racial marriages and sitting near a person of a different race in public places.
Beginning in 1870, Congress started passing enforcement acts. Enforcement acts were criminal codes that protected black’s right to vote, hold office, serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws. The codes were first invented to target the cruel acts of the Ku Klux Klan. Before these codes, many people were afraid to take a stand against the Ku Klux Klan because they were too powerful. One of the acts made private criminal punishment acts a federal crime. President Grant sent federal troops to restore order in parts of the country where there was a lot of violence, therefore taking power away from the KKK and restoring it with the rightful governments.
The black codes were a series of laws that took place of the 13th amendment. They were made to control how much freedom the released slaves had. There were numerous restrictions that controlled, legal rights, property, punishment, firearms, interracial marriages and cheap labor. After the Freedman’s Bureau the codes became non existent.
Carpetbaggers was a commonly used term of scorn used by white southerners to describe northerners who were actively participating in the republican party in the South. The originally northern republican party was becoming active in the South and granting civil rights to blacks. The term “carpetbagger” was mostly used in propaganda.
Soon after the Civil War ended, the government realized that something needed to be done for the former slaves who had never done anything in their lives but worked on a plantation. The president set up a federal agency to assist former slaves. The Freedmen's Bureau established schools and hospitals. It also distributed clothes, food, and fuels throughout the South.
13th - December 6, 1865 Abolition of Slavery. “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States. 14th - July 9, 1868 Civil Rights “no state shall make to enforce any law which shall abridge or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.” 15th - February 3, 1870 Black suffrage “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 24th - January 23,1964 Abolition of poll taxes “The right of citizens to vote in any primary or other elections...shall not be denied by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.”
William J Simmons organized a new Klan in Atlanta that directed it’s activities to things that are considered to be un-american. By the mis 20’s, it had more than 2 million followers around the country. The Klan elected public officials to futher enforce their power. Klan leasers eventually starting fighting for power, and the second Ku Klux Klan died down.
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