This is a timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement .
- July 13 , The Northwest Ordinance bans the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River.
- September - David Walker begins publication of the abolitionist pamphlet ''Walker's Appeal''.
Reconstruction
- spring - Thousands of African-Americans give up on the South and migrate to Kansas. They become known as Exodusters .
- unknown - In Civil Rights Cases the United States Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as unconstitutional.
- unknown - Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn published, written by Mark Twain .
- unknown - Judy W. Reed, of Washington, DC , and Sarah E. Goode, of Chicago , were the first African American women inventors to receive patents. Reed may not have been able to sign her name, but she may be the first African American woman to receive a patent. Signed with an "X", patent no. 305,474, granted September 23 , 1884 , is for a dough kneader and roller. Goode's patent for a cabinet bed, patent no. 322,177, was issued on July 14 , 1885 . Goode, the owner of a Chicago furniture store at the time of her invention, invented a folding bed that could be formed into a desk when not in use.
- unknown - Ida B. Wells sued the Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad Company for its use of segregated "Jim Crow" cars.
- unknown - Ida B. Wells published her famous pamphlet, ''Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases''.
- January - Professor Carter Woodson and The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History begins publishing the '' Journal Of Negro History '', the first academic journal devoted to the study of African-American history.
Second Reconstruction / American Civil Rights Movement
- unknown - Freeman Field Mutiny , where Black officers attempt to desegregate an all-white officers club.
- , the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case as part of Brown V. Board Of Education .
- April 1 - Chancellor Collins J. Seitz finds for the black plaintiffs ('' Belton V. Gebhart, Belton V. Bulah '') and orders the integration of Hockessin elementary and Claymont High School in Delaware based that the black and white schools are not equal based on ('' Plessy V. Ferguson, Cumming V. Richmond County Board Of Eduation 1899 '') "separate but equal" public school facilities required by the Delaware constitution.
- September 4 Eleven black students attend the first day of school at Claymont High School becoming the first black students in the 17 segregated states to integrate a white public school. The day occurred without incident or notice by the community.
- September 5 Delaware State Attorney General informs Claymont Superintendent Stahl that the black students will have to go home because the case is being appealed. Stahl, the School Board and the faculty refuse and the students remain. The two Delaware cases are argued before the Warren US Supreme Court by Redding, Greenberg and Marshall and are used as an example of how integration can be achieved peacefully and is a primary influence in the '' Brown V. Board '' case. Claymont High School is the first public school in the states that allow or require segregation to integrate. The students become active in sports, music and theater and the first two black students graduate in June 1954 just one month after the '' Brown V. Board '' case.
- January 15 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10590, establishing the President's Committee on Government Policy to enforce a nondiscrimination policy in federal employment.
- unknown - The Supreme Court awards the NAACP the right to continue operating in Alabama under '' NAACP V. Alabama ''.
- January - Incoming Alabama governor George Wallace calls for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" in his inaugural address.
- April-May - The Birmingham Campaign , organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Alabama Christian Movement For Human Rights challenges city leaders and business owners in Birmingham, Alabama with daily mass demonstrations.
- April 16 - Letter From Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King .
- April 23 , CORE activist William L. Moore is killed in Gadsden, Alabama .
- May 2 - After images of fire hoses and police dogs turned on protesters are shown on television, the Children's Crusade impels a negotiated truce - an end to mass demonstrations in return for rolling back oppressive segregation laws and practices and the release of thousands of jailed demonstrators.
- June 9 , Fannie Lou Hamer is among a group of several SNCC workers badly beaten by police in the Winona, Mississippi jail after their bus stops there.
- Governor George Wallace stands in front of a schoolhouse door at the University Of Alabama in an attempt to stop Desegregation of that institution by the enrollment of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood . Wallace only stands aside after being confronted by Federal Marshals , Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach , and the Alabama National Guard . Later in life he apologizes for his opposition to Racial Integration at that time.
- June 11 - President John F. Kennedy (JFK) makes his historic civil rights speech, promising a bill to Congress the next week. About civil rights for "Negroes", in his speech he asks for "the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves."
- June 12 - NAACP worker Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson , Mississippi . (His killer is convicted in 1994.)
- June 19 - President Kennedy sends to the Congress (H. Doc. 124, 88th Cong., 1st session.) his proposed Civil Rights Act.
- August 28 - March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom is held. Dr. Martin Luther King gives his '' I Have A Dream '' speech.,
- September 15 - 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls. Spike Lee will later make the 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls about this atrocity.
- November 22 - President Kennedy is assassinated. The new President Lyndon Johnson decides that accomplishing JFK's legislative agenda is his best strategy, which he pursues with the results below in 1964-1965.
- February 8 - Orangeburg Massacre occurs during university protest.
- April 2 - On a primetime television special, Petula Clark touches Harry Belafonte 's arm during a duet. Chrysler Corporation , the show's sponsor, had insisted the moment be deleted, but Clark stood firm, destroyed all other takes of the song, and delivered the completed program to NBC with the touch intact.
- April 4 - Dr. Martin Luther King is shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray .
- April 11 - Civil Rights Act Of 1968 is signed. The Fair Housing Act is Title VIII of this Civil Rights Act - it bans discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
- October - Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists to symbolize black power and unity after winning the gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games .
- ''
- unknown - In Powe V. Miles a federal court holds that the portions of private colleges that are funded by public money are subject to the Civil Rights Act.
- unknown - Poor People's Campaign marches on Washington, DC.
- December - Fred Hampton , chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party is shot and killed while asleep in bed during a police raid on his home.
- unknown - United Citizens Party is formed in South Carolina when Democratic Party refuse to nominate African-American candidates.
- unknown - Control of segregationist TV station WLBT given to a bi-racial foundation.
- unknown - Congress passes the Indian Civil Rights Act , which prohibits state governments from assuming jurisdiction over Native American lands and extends to Indians the same rights that non-Native whites have had since the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
- In Baton Rouge, two Southern University students are killed by white Sheriff deputies during a school protest over lack of funding from the state. Today, the university’s Smith-Brown Memorial Union is named in their honor.
- The film '' A Soldier's Story '' is released, dealing with racism in the U.S. military.
- Established by legislation in 1983, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is first celebrated as a national holiday.
- The Public Broadcasting System 's six-part documentary '' Eyes On The Prize '' is first shown, covering the years 1954-1965. In 1990 it is added to by the eight-part ''Eyes on the Prize II'' covering the years 1965-1985.
- June 7 - James Byrd, Jr. was brutally murdered by white supremacists in Jasper, Texas . The scene was reminiscent of earlier lynchings. In response, Byrd's family created the .
- The film '' American History X '' is released, powerfully highlighting the problems of urban racism
- April 4 - Don Imus referred on-air to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" during a discussion about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. Civil rights leaders successfully campaign to have Imus fired.
''To the reader'' : If you arrived at a footnote by clicking on a superscript (or [c ) then click on the superscript b (or c), to return:
|
