Chandler, Catherine, Holly U S History

By: Holly RobinsonCatherine Cui

And Chandler Hilton

Project Question:

Were African Americans able to improve their situation as citizens in terms of gaining equal civil rights and opportunities in the United States?

Answer this question with a focus on the progression of civil rights from the Plessey vs. Ferguson decision in 1896 up until the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

Example one: Brown Vs. Board 1954o In 1954 a case called Brown vs. The Board of

Education banned segregation in schools.o Within one year, 500 school districts all over

the country had desegregated their classrooms.o An example of Brown vs. Board was the Little

Rock nine in 1957, three years after the Brown vs. Board case.

o They were nine African American students who volunteered to integrate into Little Rocks Central High School.

How did this help?Brown vs. Board helped African-Americans to

improve their situation as citizens because it was one of the first steps in de-segregating the entire country. They just started with schools.

Elizabeth Eckford enters Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Example Two: 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycotts

oOn December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks and three other African-Americans were asked to get up from their bus seat to let a White man sit down, but she refused.

oThat event was the leading cause in the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott.

oFor 381 days, thousands of African Americans boycotted busses in Montgomery Alabama.

How did this make progress?By boycotting the bussing system in

Montgomery Alabama, all of the African-Americans showed the local government that they didn’t have to put up with all the abuse while riding the bus.

They also proved how much money was lost when thousands of people didn’t ride the bus.

The Rosa Parks bus currently calls The Henry Ford Museum in

Dearborn home.

Example Three: Lunch counter Sit-inso In February of 1960 African-American

students at North Carolina's Agricultural and Technical college staged a sit-in at a ‘whites only’ lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.

oThe students had prepared to have food thrown on them, and to be beaten.

o Their objective was to gain rights by starting small, just trying to get a cup of coffee like any white person.

How Did This Have an Impact?The Greensboro lunch counter sit ins had a great

impact on the American public and the local/ major government by showing that the African-Americans were not going to back down.

Also, they proved to people how little rights they did have. Showing that they couldn’t even get a cup of coffee or a sandwich at a lunch counter.

The students were prepared for this, but still, would you want food poured on you?

Example Four: Freedom Rides of 1961oThe freedom rides of 1961 were when

African-American people would board a bus in the northern states, and then see if they could ride all the way into the southern states, and then through the south.

oTheir goal was to test the law, to see if the would really allow the African-Americans to ride the buses without a problem

How did this help?This helped by simply gaining knowledge, of what

states would discriminate on buses, and which wouldn’t.

It also helped gain knowledge about potentially dangerous places, where riots might be started.

Even though sitting on a bus sounds harmless, Freedom riders were in constant danger of having the buses be bombed.

Example Five: 1963 March on Washington o On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000

people met at the nations capital. oOf those 250,000 people, 75,000 of them

were white. oThey came together on the lawn of the

Washington monument and listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. give his historic “I have a Dream” speech.

oThe objective of this demonstration was to unite all people, whites, blacks, Asians, Jews, Catholics, Buddhists. All Manner of people were encouraged to unite.

How did this help? The march on Washington was put in place

to unite all kinds of people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech was one of the most impactful speeches of the night, and of the century. It has encouraged people in America for years and years after to become one nation.

In his famous speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. Spoke of a dream that one

day little black children and little white children would one day play

together in harmony.

So, What Do We Believe? Our group believes that over all of the years of

fighting for their rights, yes, the African-American’s were able to improve their situation as citizens in terms of gaining equal rights in the United States.

The African-Americans were able to gain more rights thanks to all of the people who gave their lives, white and black, who planned non-violent demonstrations, and did whatever they had to do, to gain those rights.

All of the examples mentioned before had great impact, but they are not by any means the only acts that were taken.

Thanks for Listening!