Black Power, Civil Rights and 1960's

​Black Empowerment, Civil Rights and 1960's

Dr. King was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

​“The Negro wants to be everything but himself[...] He wants to integrate with the white man, but he cannot integrate with himself or with his own kind. The Negro wants to lose his identity because he does not know his own identity.” - Elijah Muhammad

​Black Panther Party

​Founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was the era's most influential militant black power organization. Its members confronted politicians, challenged the police, and protected black citizens from brutality

​Free healthcare was given in the community. The first nationwide program to screen sickle cell anemia was established.

Black Panther Healthcare

From 1969 through the early 1970s, the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School Children Program fed tens of thousands of hungry kids.

The Panthers’ popular breakfast programs put pressure on political leaders to feed children before school.

Black Panther Breakfast Program

​Black Panther Party Fueling a Revolution

​Malcolm X was a minister, a leader in the civil rights movement and a supporter of Black nationalism. He urged his fellow Black Americans to protect themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary,” a stance that often put him at odds with the nonviolent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.

​JFK is assassinated on Nov 22, 1963 in Dallas. Suspected killer is Lee Harvey Oswald. Lyndon B. Johnson fearing it was a soviet attack is sworn into office on Airforce One with president Kennedy's dead corpse on board.

​Civil Rights Act of 1964

​Following Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson became president. One of his first initiatives was to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was drafted by Kennedy. Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

​The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

​Voting Rights Act of 1965

​(Left image) Dr. King survives an attempted murder in 1958. While promoting a book, Dr. King was stabbed by Izola Curry with a 7inch letter opener in the chest.

​(Right Image) Dr. King is shot dead on April 4, 1968 in the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN by James Earl Ray.

​It seeks to empower migrant farmworkers and to improve their wages and working conditions through protest and boycotts.

​​United Farm Workers

​Activists began organizing demonstrations to secure the civil rights of Native Americans due to horrible reservation conditions.

American Indian Movement

​A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex.

Equality Rights Amendment