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Milestones in the modern
civil rights movement
by Elissa Haney
1954 1960 1964 1968 1971
1988 1991
1954 May 17
The Supreme Court rules on
the landmark case Brown Vv.
Board of Education of
Topeka, Kans., unanimously
agreeing that segregation in
public schools is unconstitu-
tional. The ruling paves the
way for large-scale desegrega-
tion. It is a victory for NAACP
attomey Thurgood Marshall,
who will later return to the
Supreme Court as the nationTs
first black justice.
1955 Dec. 1
(Montgomery, Ala.) NAACP
member Rosa Parks refuses to
give up her seat at the front of
the bus to a white passenger,
defying a southern custom of
the time. In response to her
arrest the Montgomery black
community launches a bus
boycott, which will last for
more than a year, until the
buses are desegregated Dec.
21, 1956. As newly elected
president of the Montgomery
Improvement Association
(MIA), Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr, 1s instrumen-
tal in leading the boycott.
1957 Jan.Feb.
Rev. King, Charles K. Steele,
and Fred L. Shuttlesworth
establish the | Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference, of which King 1s
made the first president. The
SCLC becomes a major force
in organizing the civil rights
movement.
Sept.
~ (Little Rock, Ark.) Formerly
all-white Central High School
learns that integration is eas-
ier said than done. Nine black
students are blocked from
entering the school by crowds
organized by Governor Orval
Faubus. President Eisenhower
sends federal troops and the
National Guard to intervene
on behalf of the students.
1960 Feb. 1
(Greensboro, N.C.) Four black
students from North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical
College begin a sit-in at a
segregated Woolworth's lunch
counter Although they are
refused service, they are al-
lowed to stay at the counter.
The event triggers many simi-
lar nonviolent _ protests
throughout the south.
April
(Raleigh, N.C.) The Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) 1S
founded at Shaw University,
providing young blacks a
more organized place in the
civil rights movement. The
SNCC later grows into a more
radical organization, espe-
cially under the leadership of
Stokely Carmichael
(19661967).
1961 May 4
The C of Racial
Equality (CORE) begins send-
ing student volu :
trips to test the implementa-
tion of new laws prohibiting
segregation in interstate travel
facilities. One of the first two
groups of ofreedom riders," as
they are called, encounters its
first problem. two weeks later,
when a mob in Alabama-sets
the riders' bus on fire. The
program continues, and by the
end of the summer 1,000
volunteers, black and white,
have participated.
1963 June 12
(Jackson, Miss.) Mississippi's
NAACP field secretary, 37-
year-old Medgar Evers, 1s
murdered outside his home.
Byron De La Beckwith 1s tried
twice in 1964, both trials
resulting in hung juries. Thirty
years later he 1s convicted for
murdering Evers.
Aug. 28
(Washington, D.C.) About
250,000 people join the
March on Washington.
Congregating at the Lincoln
Memorial, participants listen
as Reverend King delivers his
famous "I Have a Dream"
speech.
Sept. 15
(Birmingham, Ala.) Four
young girls attending Sunday
school are killed when a bomb
explodes at the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church, a popu-
lar location for civil rights
meetings. Riots erupt in
Birmingham, leading to the
deaths of two more black
youths.
1964 Summer
The Council of Federated
Organizations (COFO), a net-
work of civil rights groups
that includes CORE and
SNCC, launches a massive
effort to register black voters
during what becomes known
as the Freedom Summer. It
also sends delegates to the
Democratic National
Convention to protestand at-
tempt to unseatthe official
all-white Mississippi contin-
gent.
July 2
President Johnson signs the
Civil Rights Act of 1964,
making segregation in public
facilities and discrimination in
employment illegal.
Aug. 5
Three Mississippi civil-rights
workers are officially declared
missing, having disappeared
on June 21. The last day they
were seen, James E. Cheney,
21; Andrew Goodman, 21;
and Michael Schwerner, 24,
had been arrested, incarcer-
ated, and then released on
speeding charges. Their mur-
dered bodies are found after
President Johnson sends mili-
tary personnel to join the
search party. It is later re-
vealed that the police released
"| Have A Dream"
August 28, 1963
These famous words of
Dr. Martin Luther King
are remembered today.
He was a leader who
allowed his dream to
inspire the masses.
His dream created a
new way of life and a
change for our nation.
If you have a dream
about your future,
the counselors at
Pitt Community College
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Call today: 355-4245
volunteers on bus |
$965 Feb. 21
ie
Klan. The. trio had been
working to register black- vot-
os o
Malcolm X, black nationalist
and founder of the
Organization of = Afro-
American Unity, is shot to
death in Harlem. It is believed
the assailants are members of
the Black Muslim faith, which
Malcolm had recently aban-
doned.
March 7
(Selma, Ala.) Blacks begin a
march to Montgomery in sup-
port of voting rights but are
stopped at the Pettus Bridge
by a police blockade. Fifty
marchers are hospitalized af-
ter police use tear gas, whips,
and clubs against them. The
incident 1s dubbed "Bloody
Sunday" by the media.
Aug. 10
Congress passes the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, making it
easier for southern blacks to
register to vote. Literacy tests
and other such requirements
that tended to restrict black
voting become illegal.
1968 April 4
(Memphis, Tenn.) Reverend
King, at age 39, is shot as he
stands on the balcony outside
his hotel room. Although es-
caped convict James Earl Ray
later pleads guilty to the
crime, questions about the
actual circumstances of King's
assassination remain to this
day.
April 11 .
President Johnson signs the
Civil Rights Act of 1968,
prohibiting discrimination in
the sale, rental, and financing
of housing.
1971 April 20
The Supreme Court, in Swann
Vv. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Board of Education, upholds
busing as a legitimate means
for achieving integration of
public schools. Although
largely unwelcome (and some-
times violently opposed) in
local school districts, court-
ordered busing plans in cities
such as Charlotte, Boston. and
Denver continue until the late
1990s.
1988 March 22
Overriding President Reagan's
veto, Congress passes the
Civil Rights Restoration Act,
which expands the reach of
non-discrimination laws
within private institutions re-
ceiving federal funds.
199} Nov. 22
After two years of debates.
vetoes, and threatened vetoes.
President Bush reverses him-
self and signs the Civil Rights
Act of 1991, strengthening
existing civil rights laws and
providing for damages in
cases of intentional employ-
ment discrimination.
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution
Ex-Black ; Panther
says murder trial is
FBI conspiracy ©
Duncan Campbell
The Guardian
A murder trial under way in
Atlanta, Georgia, has rekin-
dled memories of one of the
most turbulent periods of
American racial politics, with
the accused - a former leading
figure of the Black Panthers -
claiming to be the victim of an
FBI witch-hunt.
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, 58, a
Muslim cleric, was better
known as "H Rap Brown" in
the 1960s when he was one of
the firebrands in the Black
Panthers. The _ shortlived
movement challenged the po-
lice and played a leading part ©
in the black power movement.
Mr al-Amin was a leading
member of the Student Non-
Violent Coordinating
Committee and was active in
the registration of black voters
in the 1960s. Now he faces a
possible death penalty after
the fatal shooting of a sheriff's
deputy in Atlanta in March
2000
Two deputies, Ricky Kinchen
and Aldranon English, went to
Mr al-Amin's house to serve
him with a summons for some
minor motoring charges and
an accusation of impersonat-
ing a police officer The visit
came after he had failed to
attend a court hearing.
Both deputies were shot in an
exchange of gunfire. Kinchen,
who was black, later died. Mr
English identified Mr al-Amin
as the gunman
The suspect was found four
days later in woods near a
small town in Alabama where
he had helped to register
-
The Minority Voice December 20 - 28, 2001
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(Jur experience and knowledge of the ial
ry
voters in the 1960s. Police sav
the weapon used in the fatal
shooting was found nearby
The prosecution says that this
is a Straightforward case. Mr
al-Amin was identified by one
of his victims and the weapon
used in the shooting was
found near him
But the defendant told the
New York Times from prison
that the charges resulted from
the FBI's determination to jail
him. "They still fear a person-
ality, a character coming up
among " African-Americans
who could galvanise support
among all the different ele-
ments of the African-
American community.. They
are trying to crush Islam
before it realises its own
worth and strength," he said.
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