Civil Rights Museum

These are three events that happened in our history's past that helped improve the civil rights movement through the 1950's and 1960's.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Freedom Riders

The Greensboro Sit-ins

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Chase's Civil Rights Museum

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Greensboro Sit-ins

The Greensboro Sit-ins were a group of college kids who sat in at a diner, fighting for there right to eat in white only places. It started when a group of college kids sat in a white-only diner. They sat there the whole day without getting served, and then they did it again and again until the town had to decide if they wanted to sacrifice their businesses or make peace with the African Americans. This event took place in Greensboro, North Carolina. This led to many other places to desegregate, and it showed that a peaceful protest was possible.

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Freedom Riders

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The Freedom Riders were a group of people who wanted to end segregation in all interstate travel. It started in Washington D.C. when a group of black and white civil activists planned to travel to New Orleans, Louisiana using a bus with a goal of testing out if they could dine at white diners and go to the bathroom in public bathrooms and more., and also with goal to try to desegregate interstate travel. The trip was going fine until they got to Anniston, Alabama when they were firebombed and assaulted by a group of the KKK. There bus was no longer able to move forward and they had to stop. This led to a law called The ICC law being passed to end discrimination in interstate travel. This event was so important because it ended all segregation in interstate travel and it brought awareness to the dangers of the KKK.

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Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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It started when Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for sitting in the first row of the black section but when the bus got full she was forced to move, but she didn't. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Some 17,000 blacks refused to ride the bus to work and found other ways to get there. Many people started programs to help like the MIA and the Women's Political Party. This event started on December 5th, 1956, and lasted for a full year, ending on December 20th, 1957. This event led to greater efforts to desegregate schools and greater promotion of peaceful protests to desegregate other public places, and it showed that peaceful protests/civil disobedience can lead to legal change. This was so important because so many people bonded together to help give people rides, even white people drove blacks to work.