People
She is often called the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery.
Rosa Parks
Attended by over 250,000 people in 1963, this massive march for "Jobs and Freedom" featured the iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
March on Washington
This landmark 1954 case ruled that "separate but equal" public schools were unconstitutional.
Brown v. Board of Education
This minister and activist delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington.
Martin Luther King Jr.
This 381-day protest began after Rosa Parks’ arrest and led to the desegregation of public transit.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
This 1969 case famously declared that students do not "shed their constitutional rights... at the schoolhouse gate" regarding free speech.
Tinker v. Des Moines
At just 6 years old, she became the first Black student to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.
Ruby Bridges
In 1960, four college students began this specific protest at a Woolworth’s lunch counter, sparking a movement across the South.
Greensboro Sit In
This 1896 decision originally established the "separate but equal" doctrine, allowing Jim Crow laws to flourish.
Plessy v. Ferguson
This U.S. President sent federal troops to enforce integration at the University of Mississippi and proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
John F. Kennedy
These integrated groups of activists rode buses into the South in 1961 to challenge illegal segregation in interstate travel.
Freedom Riders
This 1857 case ruled that Black people, whether free or enslaved, could not be U.S. citizens.
Dred v. Sandford
This leader of the Black Power Movement was a prominent member of the Nation of Islam before being assassinated in 1965.
Malcolm X
This 1963 series of protests in Alabama, which saw the use of police dogs and fire hoses against marchers, led MLK to write his famous letter from jail.
Birmingham Campaign
This 1884 case ruled that Native Americans born on reservations were not automatic citizens under the 14th Amendment and could be denied the right to vote.
Elk v. Wilkins