The Civil Rights Movement - Main Events
Civil Rights Movement – Background Info
1619 – Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia
1660s – Slavery officially began when laws in Virginia and Maryland were passed. The trade lasted until 1808.
South Cotton – Most slaves went to the agricultural southern states where they grew cotton for the massive textile mills in England.
Abolitionists – ‘Underground Railways’ – People who fought against the slave system. There was even a underground railroad that helped escaping slaves reach the northern states.
War of Independence – Many African Americans fought in this war hoping that once the colony was freed from British country, the ideas of freedom and equality would also include them.
1866 Civil Rights Act – This act ‘protected’ people from discrimination.
1870 Right to Vote – By this time, African Americans had the right to vote and between 1869 and 1901 twenty African Americans had been elected in the US House of Reps.
Sharecropping – African American families would work on the farm in return for housing and seed. This wasn’t much better than slavery and the families usually owed money to the landowners.
The Ku Klux Klan (The KKK) – Founded in 1865, the KKK recruited poor white men who resented blacks and the new freedom of ex slaves. The KKK terrorised African Americans and whites who had opposing views to them.
‘Jim Crow’ Laws – these laws allowed further segregation in the south. In 1875 the US Supreme Court ruled that the 1866 Civil Rights Act was against the constitution and in 1896 accepted the Jim Crow laws by saying that segregation was allowed if the facilities were “separate but equal”.
Booker T. Washington – ex-slave who became a teacher and began a school called the Tuskegee Institute in 1881.
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (N.A.A.C.P) – Founded in 1909, the NAACP fought for coloured people rights. By 1923 they had 400 branches an ad won important victories such as defeating segregation laws and establishing
1619 – Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia
1660s – Slavery officially began when laws in Virginia and Maryland were passed. The trade lasted until 1808.
South Cotton – Most slaves went to the agricultural southern states where they grew cotton for the massive textile mills in England.
Abolitionists – ‘Underground Railways’ – People who fought against the slave system. There was even a underground railroad that helped escaping slaves reach the northern states.
War of Independence – Many African Americans fought in this war hoping that once the colony was freed from British country, the ideas of freedom and equality would also include them.
1866 Civil Rights Act – This act ‘protected’ people from discrimination.
1870 Right to Vote – By this time, African Americans had the right to vote and between 1869 and 1901 twenty African Americans had been elected in the US House of Reps.
Sharecropping – African American families would work on the farm in return for housing and seed. This wasn’t much better than slavery and the families usually owed money to the landowners.
The Ku Klux Klan (The KKK) – Founded in 1865, the KKK recruited poor white men who resented blacks and the new freedom of ex slaves. The KKK terrorised African Americans and whites who had opposing views to them.
‘Jim Crow’ Laws – these laws allowed further segregation in the south. In 1875 the US Supreme Court ruled that the 1866 Civil Rights Act was against the constitution and in 1896 accepted the Jim Crow laws by saying that segregation was allowed if the facilities were “separate but equal”.
Booker T. Washington – ex-slave who became a teacher and began a school called the Tuskegee Institute in 1881.
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (N.A.A.C.P) – Founded in 1909, the NAACP fought for coloured people rights. By 1923 they had 400 branches an ad won important victories such as defeating segregation laws and establishing