10 Events Civil Rights Era
The Most Important Events of the Civil Rights Era
2. Montgomery Bus Boycott- In 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin Luther King led a boycott of city buses. After 11 months, Supreme Court ruled segregation of public transportation illegal.
3. Sputnik- In 1957, Moscow launched the first artificial Earth satellite. This sparked fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. This event also led to the space race and creation of NASA.
4. Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas- 1954; Declared state laws segregating schools to be unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.
5. Jackie Robinson- 1947. First African American in the major league baseball. His actions helped to bring other opportunities to other African Americans.
6. Elvis Presley- Born in 1935, Elvis Presley fused black rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country throughout the 1950's. Known as the King of Rock and Roll.
7. Televangelist- Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Fulton J, Sheen, used television to spread Christian Gospel.
8. Dr. Fidel Castro- Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba.
9. Sweatt v. Painter- 1950; Ruled that professional schools for blacks failed to meet the test of equality. Blacks must be allowed to attend integrated schools in Oklahoma and Texas which strengthened the Equal Protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment.
10. Interstate Highway Act of 1956- Eisenhower authorized construction of 42,000 miles of Interstate highways linking all of the nations major cities.