American History - 11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

American History - 11 - Essay Example †¢ Served as the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. †¢ On 1st December, 1955, Parks, seated in the ‘black section’ at the back of the bus, refused to give up her seat to a white person †¢ Arrested by the police and fined for violating the segregation law. †¢ Volunteered to let the NAACP use her as a test case to oppose segregation on buses. †¢ Was immediately sacked from her tailoring job with Montgomery Fair. †¢ Became the symbol of the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement. †¢ Founded the  Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development in 1987. †¢ Died on 24th October, 2005. 2. ____Martin Luther King, Jr.______ †¢   Baptist minister, preeminent civil-rights activist and orator par excellence. †¢ Born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. †¢ Married Coretta Scott in June 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice. â₠¬ ¢ Elected to lead the successful Montgomery bus boycott in December 1955. †¢ Co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in January 1957 †¢ Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, led several non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform. †¢ Led the 1960 â€Å"sit-in† movement in Greensboro and the1963 demonstration in downtown Birmingham. †¢ Led the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963, which drew more than 200,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial and made his famous â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. †¢ Instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964. Assassinated by  James Earl Ray in Memphis on April 4, 1968 3. ____Malcolm X_____ †¢ Civil Rights Activist,  nationalist leader and charismatic spokesman for the Nation of Islam †¢ Born Malcolm Little in May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.   †¢ Father’s civil rights activis m led to his harassment and murder by white supremacists. †¢ Dropped out of school at 15 and turned to crime and drugs to finance his extravagant lifestyle †¢ Arrested on charges of larceny and sentenced to ten years in jail in 1946 †¢ Converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his surname to â€Å"X† – a tribute to the unknown name of his African ancestors. †¢ Urged any means, including violence, to fight racism and establish an independent state for black Americans †¢ Married Betty Sanders, a fellow member of the Nation of Islam, in 1958. †¢ Broke away from the Nation of Islam in 1964, converted to traditional Islam, changed name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and considered prospects for peaceful resolution to racism. †¢ Assassinated on February 21, 1965, in Manhattan, at the age of 39,  by members of the Nation of Islam.   4. __The Fair Deal________ †¢ Name given to Truman’s domestic program set out in his 1949 Stat e of the Union speech. †¢ Proposed federal initiatives to solve economic and social problems in post-war America. †¢ Envisaged the redistribution of income among all classes. †¢ New civil rights legislation †¢ Federal housing programs †¢ Unemployment insurance benefits †¢ New tax cuts for the poor †¢ Federal funding for education †¢ A federal health care and health insurance program. †¢ Failed as it was blocked by the conservative political coalition   5. ___ Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka ____ †¢ Acknowledged to be one of the greatest US Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. †¢ Plessy v. Ferguson  (1896) legalized separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites. †¢