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Sweatt v. Painter ( LSCC)
Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629, was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was influential in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education four years later. -
Keys v. Carolina Coach (LSCC)
On Aug. 1, 1952, Sarah Keys Evans refused to give up her seat on a state-to-state charter bus, prompting the landmark court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, in which the Interstate Commerce Commission outlawed the segregation of Black passengers in buses traveling across state lines. -
The Board of Education Ruling
The supreme court ruled that seperating children in public schools on the basis of race is unconstitutinal. It ended legalized racial segregation. They argued that such segregation violated The Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment. -
The Murder of Emmett Till (VBO)
While visiting family in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store. Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, claimed Till "whistled at her", her husband Roy Bryant, and her brother-in-law kidnapped and brutally murdered Emmett, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. -
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The Montgomery Boycott (p)
This event was after Rosa Parks got arrested for refusing her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama, to a white male passenger. On Dec. 1st, 1955 Martin Luther King Jr proposed a citywide boycott against racial segregation. The boycott continued for 381 days and was very effective -
Alabama University admits its first black student.
On court order, the University of Alabama admits its first African American student, Autherine Lucy, but finds legal ways to prevent her attendance. Her career there lasted only three days, attacked by mobs, she was suspended and then expelled. Today, a campus building is named in her honor -
Congress passes The Civil Right Act of 1957
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which creates the Civil Rights Commission and authorizes the Justice Department to investigate cases of Black people being denied voting rights in the South. -
Albany Movement (p)
The Albany Movement intended to end all forms of racial segregation in the city, but it initially focused on desegregating travel facilities. The goal was to offer counsel rather than become a participant, but he was jailed during a demonstration and was given a sentence of 45 days or a fine. He chose jail to push for change but was released three days later. -
Birmingham Campaign (NV)
The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. -
March on Washington
This was the largest political rally for human rights ever in the United States. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 participants converged on the Mall in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963, to protest for jobs and freedom for African Americans. King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The March on Washington is credited with helping pass the civil rights act of 1964 -
The Harlem Riots (VBP)
This occurred in Harlem and several other African American neighborhoods of New York City. On July 16, 1964, an off-duty police officer shot and killed a fifteen-year-old African American boy in Manhattan. That night, there was a peaceful student protest march in Harlem. This led to minor fights and children throwing rocks at police officers. -
Bloody Sunday (VBO)
This march went down in history as Bloody Sunday for the violent beatings state troopers inflicted on protesters as they attempted to march peacefully from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital, Montgomery. The march was aimed at fighting the lack of voting rights for African Americans. Approximately 600 protesters were to travel from Selma on U.S. Highway 80 to the state capital on March 7, 1965, led by John Lewis. -
Vietnam War Opposition
Many groups and individuals vehemently opposed the Vietnam War in the massive peace movement of the 1960s and '70s. His first public speech against the war, called “Beyond Vietnam,” was delivered in April 1967 in front of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York. He called for a stop to all bombing in North and South Vietnam, as well as a declaration of a unilateral truce and a move toward peace talks. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr
On Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King’s assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property damage in over 100 American cities. -
Dr. Clifton Wharton Jr apt. as president Of Michigan State.
Dr. Clifton Wharton Jr. is appointed as president of Michigan State University. Dr. Wharton is the first African American to head a predominately White university in the 20th century. -
The Baseball Hall of Fame (A)
Leroy Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He is the first former Black Baseball League player to be inducted. After spending more than two decades in the Black Leagues, he is hired by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians, for whom he wins six games and loses one. He also has 61 hits, scores 22 runs, and hits two home runs. -
Fashion Publications (A)
Beverly Johnson is the first African American woman to grace the cover of a major fashion publication when she is featured on the cover of Glamour. -
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National Black Political Convention (VBP)
The first National Black Political Convention takes place in Gary, Indiana, and about 10,000 Black people attend. -
Legal Strategies (NV)
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the case of the University of California Regents v. Bakke that affirmative action can be used as a legal strategy to deal with past discrimination. The decision has historical and legal significance because it declares that race can be one of several determining factors in college admission policies, but it rejects the use of racial quotes. -
Muhammad Ali wins heavyweight championship
Muhammad Ali is the first heavyweight champion to win the title three times by defeating Leon Spinks in New Orleans. Ali's conversion to Islam and draft evasion conviction led to controversy and his exile from boxing for three years. Despite the hiatus, Ali beats Spinks who had defeated Ali in an earlier contest taking the World Heavyweight title in a rematch that did not even last the full 15 rounds.