Brown v. Board of Education (1954):
The case of Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education
Carter Wesley (1892 – 1969):
Wesley served as auditor, vice president, treasurer and general manager of the Houston Informer and used the paper as a podium from which to battle racism and to speak on behalf of African Americans.
For more information visit:
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/wesley-carter-w-1892-1969
Chad Holley (1993 - ):
16 year old Houstonian, alleged victim of police brutality, who in 2010 was reportedly struck by a police car and then hit and kicked repeatedly by several officers after they had chased him down.
For more information visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/us/15houston.html
Eldrewy Sterns (1931 - ):
Eldrewey Joseph Stearns, political activist and student organizer, who was pulled over by Houston police in August, 1959. This incident is often cited as the flash point for the TSU student rebellions of the early 1960’s.
For more information visit:
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/stearns-eldrewey-joseph-1931
Emmitt Till (1941 – 1955):
Till was an African American boy who, at the age of 14, reportedly flirted with a white woman. Several nights later, two white men took Till to a barn, beat him and gouged out one of his eyes, before shooting him through the head and disposing of his body in the Tallahatchie River, with a 70-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. His body was discovered and retrieved from the river three days later.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmitt_Till
Felton Turner (1933 – 2006):
Turner was an African American whose survival from a vicious attack on March 7, 1960, helped galvanize the city of Houston during the American Civil Rights movement.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felton_Turner
Freedom Riders:
Freedom riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States (including Houston) to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia (of 1960).
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Riders
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/
ICC – Interstate Commerce Commission (1887 – 1995):
The ICC was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland. In 1955, the ICC banned bus segregation in interstate travel. This extends the logic of Brown v. Board of Education, to bus travel across state lines. The agency was abolished in 1995, and the agency's remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Commerce_Commission
Jim Crow Laws (1876 – 1965):
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, PBS.org
The History of Jim Crow
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968):
MLK was a clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, best known for his oratory skills and his use of nonviolent methods to achieve change.
For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King
http://www.thekingcenter.org/Default.aspx
http://www.sclcnational.org/
Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" speech, YouTube
Reconstruction Era (1863 – 1877):
The term Reconstruction Era can be used in two ways; the first covers the entire nation in the period 1865–1877 following the Civil War; the second one, covers the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, with the reconstruction of state and society in the former Confederacy. In the different states, Reconstruction began and ended at different times; federal Reconstruction policies were finally abandoned in 1877.
For more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States
Additional links:
Houston’s 1960 Civil Rights events:
For more information visit:
http://houstonhistorymagazine.org
http://www.soulofamerica.com/houston-civil-rights-movement.phtml
The Strange Demise of Jim Crow (film, 1998):
For more information visit:
http://newsreel.org/video/THE-STRANGE-DEMISE-OF-JIM-CROW
HoustonPBS Presents: A Conversation on Race (TV Special, 2008):
For more information visit:
http://www.houstonpbs.org/race/index.html
Freedom Now: Houston Retraces the Civil Rights Movement:
A yearlong community initiative by Houston organizations to remember and preserve the history of activism in our city.
For more information visit:
Freedom Now Houston.org
