1. Civil Rights Mrs. Sinacore, 2015
US Regents Review Part 13
Civil Rights
Mrs. Sinacore, 2015

2. Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
The Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Fergusson, 1896 decision when it ruled that separate accommodations (schools) were unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren used psychological and sociological evidence in this surprising and unanimous decision. Schools were supposed to integrate “with all deliberate speed.”

3. Little Rock Crisis, 1957
In 1957, 9 Black students were chosen to integrate Central High School, but the white community was upset; Governor Faubus tried to use the National Guard to prevent these students from attending, but President Eisenhower intervened and used the troops to protect the students indstead.

4. Freedom Rides, 1961
Black and white students boarded busses in the north and traveled into the south to challenge segregation laws; they faced great resistance and violence; the outcome was that the Interstate Commerce Commission got involved and banned segregation on interstate transportation

5. March on Washington, 1963
More than 200,000 people peacefully demonstrated in Washington, DC; Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

6. Civil Rights Act of 1964
This federal law outlawed discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity

7. 24th Amendment
This amendment abolished the poll tax

8. Voting Rights Act of 1965
This federal law came in response to the march from Selma to Montgomery; It outlawed voting barriers put into place after the Civil War (grandfather clauses, literacy tests, voucher systems)