Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. To coincide with her trial on December 5, 1955, the Women’s Political Council initiated a one-day citywide bus boycott. At a meeting later that evening, a vote to extend the boycott was passed….
Today in History–August 28–the Library of Congress features the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on this day in 1963. Around a quarter million people participated in this non-violent demonstration for civil rights seeking, among other things, equal access to public accommodations, decent housing, adequate and integrated education, the right to vote, and…
Have students use the primary sources in this set to tell a story about the period 1945-1968. The wartime economy led to new economic prosperity for the United States and expanded opportunities for many, but certainly not all its citizens. As a result, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women took up the fight for civil…
Today in History–January 15–the Library of Congress features civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., born on this date in 1929. King entered Morehouse College at 15, received a bachelor of divinity from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951, and a Ph.D from Boston University in 1955. Armed with his doctorate and belief in the use of non-violent action to…
Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream Image Sequencing Activity
Today in History–March 7–the Library of Congress features the first civil rights march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery, which was led on this day in 1965. Unfortunately, the marchers, which numbered about 600, had scarcely left Selma when they were were brutally assaulted by heavily armed state troopers and deputies. The ugly incident…
On August 28, 1963 a march organized by supporters of stronger civil rights legislation drew more than 250,000 people to Washington, D.C. Encouraged and inspired, Martin Luther King, Jr. strayed from the short speech he had prepared and delivered instead his famous extemporaneous I Have a Dream speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Primary…