THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STRUGGLE FOR
FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND POWER, 1945-1975 

Part One. Examine the following time-line of events. Which events do you think were most important in shaping the African-American struggle for freedom, equality and power? Least important. List the three most important and one least important. Come to class on Wednesday, May 5^th ready to justify your choices.

1. 1945-46. Black soldiers who fought against fascism in World War Two are demobilized from a segregated armed forces into a segregated civilian society.
2. 1946-70. Mechanization of southern agriculture and decline of tenant farming underscores mass migration of blacks from rural to urban areas and from South to North.
3. 1947. Jackie Robinson breaks color line in major league baseball.
4. 1947-70. U.S. government becomes increasingly embarrassed as it seeks to court governments in Africa, Latin America and Asia as allies in the cold war.
5. 1948. President Harry Truman issues executive order desegregating the armed forces.
6. 1954. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Topeka orders schools desegregated.
7. 1955. Montgomery Bus Boycott.
8. 1957. President Eisenhower mobilizes army to enforce desegregation of Little Rock, Arkansas schools.
9. 1960. Sit-in movement begins in the South.
10.1961. Freedom rides.
11. 1962. James Meredith attempts to enter University of Mississippi.
12. 1963. Desegregation movement in Birmingham met by brutal police response (including dramatic footage shown on national TV).
13. 1963. Medgar Evers assassinated.
14. 1963. March on Washington.
15. 1964. Civil Rights Act outlaws racial discrimination in public accommodations.
16. 1964. Democratic party does not seat Mississippi Freedom Democratic party at its national convention.
17. 1964. Civil Rights workers Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner killed in Mississippi.
18. 1964-5. Autobiography of Malcolm X published; assassinated in 1965.
19. 1964-68. Urban riots in Watts, Newark, Detroit, etc.
20. 1965. Voting Rights Act authorizes federal government to intervene where states prevent black voters from registering.
21. 1966. Stokeley Carmichael becomes head of SNCC and call for black power. Black Panther party formed.
22. 1968. Kerner Commission, appointed by President Johnson to investigate urban riots, issues report pointing to racism as cause.
23. 1968. Martin Luther King assassinated.
24. 1968. Victorious African-American athletes give black power salute at Olympic games.
25. 1971. Supreme Court rules that bussing to desegregate schools is constitutional.
26. Other (1199 hospital organizing drive?/Ali refuses draft?)

Part Two. Examine the following list. Which listings do you think played the most important role in the African-American struggle for freedom, equality & power, 1945-71? Least important. List the three most important and one least important. Come to class on Wednesday, May 5^th ready to justify your choices.