A law took effect in Arkansas prohibiting the employment of free Black individuals on boats and ships navigating the state's rivers. This legislation... Continue →
On this day, a federal law went into effect prohibiting the importation of enslaved Africans into the United States. While slavery itself remained... Continue →
James Meredith became the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, marking a significant milestone in the American Civil... Continue →
Nearly 1,500 African American students in Selma, Alabama, boycotted classes to protest the dismissal of Norward Rousell, the city's first Black... Continue →
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Indiana University by Elder W. Diggs, Bryan K. Armstrong, John M. Lee, Harvey T. Asher, Marcus P.... Continue →
Amidst a wave of violence and political unrest aimed at suppressing Black voters and Republican officials during Reconstruction, President Ulysses S.... Continue →
The Peabody Fund was established by philanthropist George Peabody to support education in the post-Civil War Southern United States, particularly for... Continue →
In Rock Hill, South Carolina, nine African American students from Friendship Junior College were arrested for a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter.... Continue →
The New England Anti-Slavery Society was organized at the African Baptist Church on Boston’s Beacon Hill. Led by William Lloyd Garrison, the... Continue →
In Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison released the first issue of The Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper that would become... Continue →
On this day, a group of enslaved Black men in Massachusetts submitted a petition to the colonial legislature, seeking their freedom. Citing natural... Continue →
Michael Griffith, a 23-year-old African-American man, was chased by a group of white teenagers in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York.... Continue →
Congress passed legislation granting African American men the right to vote in the District of Columbia, overriding President Andrew Johnson's veto.... Continue →
Charles Deslondes, a free man of color from Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), led one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history in the Territory... Continue →
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana by a group of prominent ministers including Dr. Martin... Continue →
On this day, Julian Bond, a founding member and communications director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was denied his seat... Continue →
Max Roach, one of the most influential drummers in jazz history, was born on this day in Newland, North Carolina. A key figure in the development of... Continue →
On this day, the Georgia state legislature reconvened and readmitted Black representatives and senators who had been wrongfully expelled in 1868.... Continue →
The Georgia Equal Rights Association was organized in Augusta, Georgia, becoming the first statewide political organization for African Americans in... Continue →
In Philadelphia, Black community members gathered at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church to protest the American Colonization Society’s... Continue →
A violent riot erupted at the University of Georgia after the admission of its first two Black students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes. The... Continue →
On this day, the University of Tennessee admitted its first Black student, marking a pivotal moment in the desegregation of higher education in the... Continue →
Born in Marshall, Texas, James Farmer was a key figure in the American civil rights movement. He co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),... Continue →
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, a prominent educator and minister, was born on this day in Paris, Tennessee. He became the first Black president of Howard... Continue →
A commemorative stamp honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is issued by the U.S. Postal Service as part of the Black Heritage USA... Continue →
On this day, Benjamin Lawson Hooks was born in Memphis, Tennessee. A tireless advocate for civil rights, Hooks became one of the most influential... Continue →
Julian Bond, an influential civil rights leader, legislator, and co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was born in... Continue →
More than 4,000 delegates representing 100 national organizations gathered in Washington, D.C., for the National Emergency Civil Rights Conference.... Continue →
A bronze bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes the first of any Black American to be placed in the U.S. Capitol. Just five days later, on January... Continue →
A federal lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court accusing the New York City Board of Education of using “racial quotas” in a way that... Continue →
Paul Cuffee, a successful African American shipowner, merchant, and advocate for the emigration of free Black people to Africa, was born on this day.... Continue →
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opened his campaign in Chicago on January 17, 1966, marking the beginning of the Chicago Freedom Movement. This initiative... Continue →
On January 17, 1923, a report revealed that twenty-nine Black individuals were lynched in the United States during the year 1923. This grim statistic... Continue →
George Washington Carver, head of the department of research at Tuskegee Institute, received the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for his groundbreaking... Continue →
Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was temporarily closed after student demonstrations erupted in protest of the expulsion of classmates... Continue →
John H. Johnson, the trailblazing African American entrepreneur and publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, was born on this day in Arkansas City,... Continue →
On this day in 1997, former Major League Baseball outfielder Curt Flood passed away at the age of 59. Flood famously challenged baseball’s reserve... Continue →
On this day, the United States observed the first national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The holiday, signed into law in 1983,... Continue →
The Florida Constitutional Convention met in Tallahassee, including eighteen Black delegates and twenty-seven white delegates. This was a pivotal... Continue →
On this day, Congressman George H. White of North Carolina introduced a bill to make lynching a federal crime. As the only Black member of Congress... Continue →
William Brown-Chappell, a notable African American civil rights advocate, educator, and civic leader, was born on this day. He became known for his... Continue →
On this day in 1830, officials in Portsmouth, Ohio, began forcibly deporting Black residents from the town. This action was carried out under Ohio's... Continue →
Clarence Willi Norris, the last surviving member of the Scottsboro Boys, died at age 76 while a patient at Bronx Community Hospital. Norris was one... Continue →
The Lodge Bill, also known as the Federal Elections Bill of 1890, which aimed to protect African American voting rights through federal oversight of... Continue →
Barney Lancelot Ford was born into slavery in Virginia but escaped and went on to become a successful entrepreneur, abolitionist, and civil rights... Continue →
Haitian liberator Toussaint Louverture entered the city of Santiago in the eastern part of Hispaniola (modern-day Dominican Republic) as part of his... Continue →
The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, abolishing the use of poll taxes in federal elections. Poll taxes were... Continue →
Paul Robeson, a renowned actor, singer, athlete, and civil rights activist, passed away on this day in 1976. Robeson was a multi-talented figure who... Continue →
Student activists at the University of Chicago, supported by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), launched demonstrations from January 23 to... Continue →
Amanda Berry Smith was born into slavery in Long Green, Maryland. After gaining her freedom, she became a renowned evangelist and missionary. Defying... Continue →
On January 23, 1821, minister and former slave Lott Cary departed the United States, leading a group of freed African Americans to West Africa under... Continue →
On January 24, 1993, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, passed away at the age of 84. A towering figure in... Continue →
On January 24, 1885, Martin Delany, a pioneering African American abolitionist, physician, and military officer, died in Xenia, Ohio. Delany was one... Continue →
On January 25, 1966, Constance Baker Motley made history by becoming the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. Nominated... Continue →
On January 25, 1890, the National Afro-American League was founded by Timothy Thomas Fortune. As one of the first national civil rights organizations... Continue →
On January 25, 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered a powerful address at the first Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. A formerly enslaved... Continue →
Angela Davis, prominent political activist, scholar, and author, was born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. Known for her involvement in... Continue →
On January 27, 1972, Mahalia Jackson, the “Queen of Gospel,” passed away in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Known for her powerful voice and deep... Continue →
On January 28, 1963, Harvey Gantt became the first Black student to enroll at Clemson College in South Carolina, peacefully integrating the last... Continue →
On January 28, 1787, the Free African Society was organized in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. It was one of the first Black mutual... Continue →
On January 29, 1997, Louis E. Martin, a pioneering journalist and influential presidential adviser, died in Orange, California. Often referred to as... Continue →
On January 30, 1956, the home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, was bombed in Montgomery, Alabama. Although his... Continue →
Floyd Flake, born on January 30, 1945, is a former U.S. Representative from New York and senior pastor of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in... Continue →
On January 30, 1900, John Parker, a prominent abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor, passed away. A former enslaved man who bought his... Continue →
Richard Theodore Greener, who would later become the first African American to graduate from Harvard University, was born on January 30, 1844. He... Continue →
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery on January 30, 1797, in Hurley, New York. She went on to become a powerful abolitionist and women’s rights... Continue →
On February 1, 1990, Joseph McNeil, Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, and David Richmond—known as the Greensboro... Continue →
On February 1, 1967, renowned poet, playwright, and social activist Langston Hughes passed away. A central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes... Continue →
On February 1, 1965, a peaceful voting rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama, ended with the mass arrest of approximately 700 protesters. The... Continue →
On February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina A&T College—Joseph McNeil, Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, and... Continue →
Henry McNeal Turner was born on February 1, 1834, in what is now known as Hannah Circuit near Newberry, then part of Abbeville County, South... Continue →
On February 1, 1989, a rebellion broke out in Tampa, Florida, following the suspicious death of Edgar Allan Price, a Black man who died while being... Continue →
On February 2, 1962, eleven people—seven white and four Black activists—were arrested after an all-night sit-in at Englewood City Hall in New... Continue →
On February 3, 1948, Rosa Ingram and her two teenage sons, aged fourteen and sixteen, were sentenced to death in Georgia for the alleged murder of a... Continue →
On February 3, 1971, the National Guard was mobilized in Wilmington, North Carolina, to quell civil unrest sparked by racial tensions and protests.... Continue →
Rosa Parks, born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 3, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, became a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement. Her... Continue →
On February 3, 1794, during the French Revolution, France formally abolished slavery in all of its colonies, marking a landmark moment in European... Continue →
On February 6, 1961, the "Jail-in" movement began in Rock Hill, South Carolina, when nine Black students refused to pay fines for a sit-in and... Continue →
On February 8, 1925, students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, organized a strike to protest the repressive policies of the white... Continue →
On February 10, 1964, after 12 days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by... Continue →
On February 10, 1946, Jackie Robinson, who would soon break Major League Baseball’s color barrier, married Rachel Isum in Los Angeles. Their... Continue →
Grace Towns Hamilton, a pioneering civil rights activist and politician, was born on February 10, 1907, in Atlanta, Georgia. She became the first... Continue →
Joseph Charles Price, a pioneering African American educator and leader, was born on this day in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He became the... Continue →
Founded in New York City by a diverse group of Black and white citizens committed to social justice, the National Association for the Advancement of... Continue →
On February 12, 1865, Henry Highland Garnet became the first Black person to speak in the U.S. Capitol when he delivered a memorial sermon on the... Continue →
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was officially organized at a meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was... Continue →
Wendell P. Dabney, a prominent African American civil rights activist, journalist, and author, founded The Union newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio. The... Continue →
Frederick Douglass, born into slavery as Frederick Bailey, is widely believed to have been born on this day. After escaping slavery, he purchased his... Continue →
Malcolm X delivered his powerful speech "There Is a Worldwide Revolution Going On" at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. In this address, he... Continue →
U.S. civil rights activists and African nationalists disrupted United Nations sessions to protest the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister... Continue →
A group of Black abolitionists stormed a Boston courtroom to rescue Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive slave who had been captured under the Fugitive Slave... Continue →
On this day, Black abolitionists in Boston boldly stormed a courtroom to rescue Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive slave captured under the Fugitive Slave... Continue →
On this day, five-year-old Sarah Roberts was barred from attending a whites-only public school in Boston. Her father, Benjamin Roberts, filed Roberts... Continue →
Malcolm X delivered his speech “Not Just an American Problem, But a World Problem” at the Corn Hill Methodist Church in Rochester, New York. In... Continue →
The New York City Council passed a groundbreaking bill prohibiting racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments. This legislation... Continue →
Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was born in Monroe, Louisiana. An illiterate high school graduate, Newton taught himself to... Continue →
Charles A. Hayes, civil rights advocate and U.S. Representative from Illinois, was born in Cairo, Illinois. A labor leader and longtime supporter of... Continue →
John Hope, the first Black president of both Morehouse College and Atlanta University, passed away on this day. A prominent educator and advocate for... Continue →
Frederick Douglass, the leading Black spokesman of the 19th century, died on this day. Born into slavery, Douglass escaped and rose to prominence as... Continue →
African Americans in Tampa, Florida, erupted in protest after the death of 23-year-old Melvin Hair, a Black man who died in police custody following... Continue →
Malcolm X, a prominent African American leader and civil rights activist, was assassinated at age 39 while delivering a speech at the Audubon... Continue →
John Lewis, a key figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, was born in Troy, Alabama. He would go on to become the founding chairman of the... Continue →
On the day following the death of Frederick Douglass, the North Carolina Legislature—then dominated by a coalition of Black Republicans and white... Continue →
Frazier B. Baker, a Black postmaster appointed by President McKinley, was lynched by a white mob in Lake City, South Carolina. The mob set his home... Continue →
Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a pioneering educator, sociologist, and civil rights advocate, was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Du... Continue →
White supremacist John William King was sentenced to death in Jasper, Texas, for the brutal 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., a Black man. Byrd was... Continue →
Edward Daniel Nixon, former president of the Georgia NAACP and a key figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, died at age 87. A longtime... Continue →
Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old civil rights activist, died from injuries sustained during a peaceful voting rights protest in Marion, Alabama. He... Continue →
Anna Julia Cooper, an educator, scholar, and advocate for the rights of Black women, died at the age of 105. Born into slavery in 1858, she went on... Continue →
Charlotte E. Ray graduated from Howard University School of Law, becoming the first African American woman to earn a law degree in the United States.... Continue →
Maria W. Stewart, a free Black woman, became the first American-born woman to speak publicly to a mixed audience of men and women, Black and white.... Continue →
On this day, the "Exodus of 1879" began, marking the first major migration of Southern Black Americans after Reconstruction. Fleeing political... Continue →
On this day, Sergeant Cornelius F. Adjetey was shot and killed by colonial police while leading a peaceful protest of ex-servicemen in Accra,... Continue →
National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) said white racism was the fundamental cause of the riots in American cities.... Continue →
The Emancipation Centennial protest began on March 1, 1963, in Greenwood, Mississippi, with a major voter registration campaign. Organized by civil... Continue →
Beginning on March 1, 1960, approximately 1,000 students from Alabama State College marched on the state capitol in Montgomery to protest racial... Continue →
In response to the growing student-led sit-in movement across the South, police in Tallahassee, Florida, used tear gas to disperse peaceful Black... Continue →
San Antonio, Texas, became the first major Southern city to peacefully integrate its lunch counters. This significant step toward desegregation came... Continue →
Following sustained sit-in movements led by Black students across the South, four national chain stores announced that lunch counters in... Continue →
The Associated Press reported that more than 1,000 Black Americans had been arrested across the South for participating in sit-in protests against... Continue →
Merlie Evers-Williams, a future civil rights activist and the first woman to chair the NAACP, is born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The widow of Medgar... Continue →
The U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, granting African Americans the legal right to equal treatment in public accommodations such as... Continue →
Pennsylvania became the first U.S. state to pass a law abolishing slavery with the enactment of the Gradual Abolition Act. This pioneering... Continue →
Charles Sumner, a leading abolitionist and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, died on this day. A fierce advocate for racial equality during and after... Continue →
On this day, twelve Black laborers in New Orleans were brutally attacked by a white mob. The violence, fueled by post-Reconstruction racial tensions... Continue →
Andrew Young, a key figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He would go on to become a close aide to Dr.... Continue →
Dorothy Irene Height was born on this day. A tireless advocate for civil rights and women's rights, she served for decades as the president of the... Continue →
On this day, the Mississippi legislature denied adequate funding to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, one of the first Black land-grant... Continue →
Led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., thousands of civil rights activists began a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand equal... Continue →
Walter White, former executive secretary of the NAACP, passed away at age 61 in New York City. A key figure in the civil rights movement, White led... Continue →
On this day, San Antonio, Texas became the first major Southern city to voluntarily integrate its lunch counters. The peaceful agreement between... Continue →
On this day, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a former aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became the first non-voting congressional delegate from the District... Continue →
Z. Alexander Looby, a pioneering civil rights attorney and the first African American to serve on the Nashville City Council, passed away on this... Continue →
Dorothy Irene Height was born in Richmond, Virginia. A towering figure in the civil rights and women’s rights movements, Height served as president... Continue →
On March 24, 1837, Black men in Canada were officially granted the right to vote. This milestone followed the abolition of slavery in the British... Continue →
After four days and 54 miles, the Selma to Montgomery March concluded as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., alongside John Lewis, Coretta Scott King, and... Continue →
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), a fearless anti-lynching crusader, journalist, and suffragist, passed away on this day. Born... Continue →
Nine African American teenagers, known as the Scottsboro Boys, were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama. Despite weak evidence, they... Continue →
Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, former president of Morehouse College and a towering figure in American education and the civil rights movement, passed... Continue →
A peaceful protest march in Memphis, Tennessee, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in support of striking Black sanitation workers, was interrupted by... Continue →
On March 31, 1960, eighteen students were suspended by Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after organizing a boycott of classes in... Continue →
Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved African who became a prominent abolitionist and author, died in London. His autobiography, The Interesting... Continue →
On this day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech, I've Been to the Mountaintop, at Bishop Charles J. Mason Temple in Memphis,... Continue →
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) launched a major anti-segregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, one... Continue →
In response to a Black-led boycott of downtown Birmingham stores during the civil rights movement, the Birmingham City Commission voted to withhold... Continue →
In an 8–1 decision in Smith v. Allwright, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to bar Black citizens from voting in Texas... Continue →
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic civil rights leader and advocate for nonviolent resistance, was assassinated by a white sniper while standing... Continue →
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., influential congressman and civil rights leader, died at the age of 63 in Miami. As the first African American elected to... Continue →
Speaking before the Overseas Press Club in New York City, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly announced his opposition to the Vietnam War.... Continue →
Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839, in Beaufort, South Carolina, into the brutal institution of slavery. His mother, Lydia Polite, was enslaved... Continue →
On this day, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed a lawsuit against Irene Emerson in St. Louis, Missouri, seeking their freedom. The Scotts argued... Continue →
William Monroe Trotter, a pioneering Black journalist, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the Boston Guardian newspaper, died at age 62 in... Continue →
On this day, a group of 27 enslaved Africans in New York City launched a rebellion against brutal conditions and oppression. The revolt began with... Continue →
In Wrightsville, Georgia, state troopers were deployed to quell racial disturbances sparked by long-standing tensions over police brutality, voter... Continue →
On this day, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was officially organized during a meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh, North... Continue →
The U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, overriding President Andrew Johnson’s veto. This landmark legislation granted citizenship... Continue →
Josephine Baker, the legendary African American performer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist, died in Paris at the age of 68.... Continue →
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was laid to rest following funeral services at Ebenezer Baptist Church and a public memorial at Morehouse College in... Continue →
Paul Bustill Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey. A brilliant scholar and All-American football player at Rutgers University, Robeson graduated... Continue →
On this day, the American Anti-Slavery Society officially disbanded in Boston, declaring its mission complete following the passage of the 15th... Continue →
Johnnie Tillmon Blackston (born Johnnie Lee Percy) was born in Scott, Arkansas, on April 10, 1926. She became a pioneering welfare rights activist... Continue →
Benjamin L. Hooks, a Memphis lawyer, Baptist minister, and civil rights advocate, became the first African American appointed to the Federal... Continue →
Following the death of civil rights leader Walter White, Roy Wilkins was elected executive secretary of the NAACP. Wilkins would go on to serve as a... Continue →
In a speech delivered on this day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. publicly criticized the Vietnam War, describing it as “rapidly degenerating into a... Continue →
Black students at Boston University occupied the administration building to demand the creation of Afro-American history courses and the admission of... Continue →
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones established the Free African Society in Philadelphia, one of the earliest Black mutual aid organizations in the... Continue →
The first abolitionist society in the United States, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, was organized in... Continue →
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, began public hearings to investigate human rights... Continue →
Asa Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida. He would go on to become one of the most influential labor and civil rights leaders in... Continue →
On April 17, 1990, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy—close friend, confidant, and co-strategist to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—died of heart failure at... Continue →
On April 17, 1872, William Monroe Trotter—an uncompromising voice for Black equality—was born in Boston, Massachusetts. A Harvard graduate and... Continue →
On April 18, 1941, New York City bus companies agreed to hire Black drivers and mechanics following a powerful four-week boycott organized by Black... Continue →
On April 19, 1960, civil rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby's Nashville home was destroyed by a dynamite bomb in retaliation for his legal defense of... Continue →
On April 20, 1853, Harriet Tubman began actively leading enslaved people to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. After escaping... Continue →
On April 22, 1970, thousands of students at Yale University joined a growing national movement to protest in support of the Black Panther Party. The... Continue →
On April 22, 1964, students at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, staged a bold sit-in by occupying the administration building to protest... Continue →
On April 22, 1964, the opening day of the New York World’s Fair was met with mass civil rights demonstrations. In a bold protest against racial... Continue →
On April 22, 1950, Charles Hamilton Houston passed away at age 54 in Washington, D.C. Often referred to as “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow,” Houston... Continue →
On April 22, 1692, Mary Black, an enslaved Black woman in Salem, Massachusetts, was accused of witchcraft during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.... Continue →
On April 23, 1951, more than 450 Black students at Robert Russa Moton High School in Prince Edward County, Virginia, staged a courageous walkout to... Continue →
On April 24, 1867, African American residents of Richmond, Virginia, organized one of the earliest documented mass transit protests in U.S. history.... Continue →
On April 25, 1963, interracial groups of Freedom Riders continued their courageous journeys through the Deep South to test compliance with U.S.... Continue →
On April 25, 1960, a federal court in Memphis issued a consent judgment that struck down discriminatory voter suppression practices in Fayette... Continue →
On April 26, 1968, Black students at Columbia University in New York City took over Hamilton Hall in protest of the university’s ties to military... Continue →
On April 27, 1903, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow to Black civil rights by upholding Alabama’s constitutional amendments that... Continue →
On April 27, 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois published The Souls of Black Folk, a groundbreaking collection of essays that reshaped the national dialogue on... Continue →
By April 27, 1903, reports had confirmed that 84 African Americans had been lynched in the United States within that year alone—making 1903 one of... Continue →
On April 27, 1883, Hubert Henry Harrison was born in St. Croix, then part of the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands). A brilliant... Continue →
On April 28, 1967, Mrs. Dorothy I. Height—then known formally as Mrs. Robert W. Claytor—was elected as the first Black president of the national... Continue →
On April 28, 1957, W. Robert Ming—a prominent civil rights attorney and World War II veteran from Chicago—was elected chairman of the American... Continue →
On April 28, 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell, the first African American Democrat elected to Congress,... Continue →
On April 29, 1968, the Poor People's Campaign officially began when Dr. Ralph Abernathy, who succeeded Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the... Continue →
On April 29, 1992, the city of Los Angeles exploded in unrest following the acquittal of four white LAPD officers charged in the brutal videotaped... Continue →
On April 29, 1981, a grand jury in Buffalo, New York indicted U.S. Army Pvt. Joseph G. Christopher on charges related to a string of racially... Continue →
Though not African American, Judy Collins, born May 1, 1941, played an important supporting role in the Civil Rights Movement through her music. As a... Continue →
On May 1, 1969, Fred Hampton, the charismatic leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party, gave a passionate speech at the University of Illinois,... Continue →
On May 1, 1967, the United States entered what would become one of the most explosive summers of civil unrest in the nation's history. Between May 1... Continue →
On May 1, 1948, U.S. Senator Glenn H. Taylor of Idaho—then running as the Progressive Party's vice-presidential candidate alongside Henry... Continue →
On May 1, 1941, civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph issued a bold call for 100,000 Black Americans to march on Washington, D.C., in protest of... Continue →
On May 1, 1905, W.E.B. Du Bois and a group of Black intellectuals laid the groundwork for what would become the Niagara Movement—an early civil... Continue →
On May 1, 1992, Los Angeles erupted into widespread unrest following the acquittal of four white police officers who had brutally beaten Rodney King,... Continue →
On May 1, 1968, just a month after Dr. King’s assassination, the Poor People’s Campaign officially launched with thousands of activists arriving... Continue →
Though assassinated in February 1965, Malcolm X’s final writings and speeches had a profound impact on African labor leaders who gathered on May 1... Continue →
On May 2, 1992, the city of Los Angeles began the massive cleanup and rebuilding process following five days of unrest sparked by the acquittal of... Continue →
On May 2, 1968, Reverend Ralph Abernathy officially launched the Poor People’s Campaign with a march on Washington, D.C., just one month after the... Continue →
On May 2, 1963, more than 2,500 African American children, teenagers, and a few white allies were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, during a mass... Continue →
On May 2, 1803, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, purchased his freedom with $600 he had won through a local lottery. While this event occurred... Continue →
On May 2, 1974, after a high-profile trial, Black activist and scholar Angela Davis was acquitted of all charges related to a 1970 courtroom... Continue →
On May 2, 1865, just weeks after the Civil War ended, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens delivered a fiery speech demanding full citizenship and suffrage... Continue →
On May 2, 1895, Booker T. Washington hosted a major conference at Tuskegee Institute, bringing together Black educators, farmers, and business... Continue →
On May 3, 1960, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, aiming to address racial discrimination in voting. Building on the earlier... Continue →
On May 3, 1978, the National Urban League, under Vernon Jordan's leadership, organized a major March on Washington to demand economic opportunities... Continue →
On May 3, 1963, during the Birmingham Campaign in Alabama, hundreds of young Black protesters faced fire hoses and police dogs under Bull Connor’s... Continue →
John Brown, a white abolitionist who would become a fierce ally to Black freedom fighters, was born on May 3, 1808, in Connecticut. Though... Continue →
Elmer A. Carter, a groundbreaking social worker and civil rights leader, passed away on May 3, 1949. He was the first African American to head a New... Continue →
After decades of anti-colonial struggle against Portuguese rule and a long civil war, Angola was officially admitted as a full member of the United... Continue →
On May 4, 1961, thirteen courageous civil rights activists—seven Black and six white—departed Washington, D.C., on Greyhound and Trailways buses... Continue →
Born May 4, 1928, in Liberia, Hosanna Kabakoro later became a U.S.-based journalist who used her platform to advocate for African rights during the... Continue →
On May 4, 1956, as the Montgomery Bus Boycott passed the five-month mark, national media coverage of the movement exploded. Photos and reports of... Continue →
On May 4, 1969, tensions were high at historically Black Jackson State University in Mississippi, part of the nationwide wave of student activism... Continue →
Hubert Harrison, born May 4, 1891, in St. Croix, became one of the most influential Black activists and thinkers in early 20th-century America. Often... Continue →
On May 4, 1956, while visiting the Gold Coast (soon-to-be Ghana), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a private speech to a group of Ghanaian... Continue →
On May 4, 1969, Fred Hampton, charismatic leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, delivered a stirring speech at the University of... Continue →
On May 4, 1978, Senegalese scholar and activist Alioune Diop died. Diop founded Présence Africaine, a Paris-based journal and publishing house that... Continue →
On May 5, 1969, Moneta Sleet Jr. made history as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. He earned the award for his... Continue →
On May 5, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) Church was officially incorporated in New York City. Known as the "Freedom Church,"... Continue →
Born on May 5, 1921, in Bluefield, West Virginia, Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele became a leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement. As president... Continue →
On May 6, 1963, as part of the Birmingham Campaign, thousands of young African American students continued marching for civil rights, confronting... Continue →
On May 6, 1875, Mississippi authorities intensified Black Codes to limit African American freedom, despite Reconstruction amendments guaranteeing... Continue →
On May 6, 1963, The Fire Next Time was officially published in the United Kingdom. James Baldwin’s searing essays explored race relations in... Continue →
On May 6, 1984, South African anti-apartheid leader Mamphela Ramphele was officially banned and confined to the town of Tzaneen. A medical doctor and... Continue →
On May 6, 1965, news of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in the U.S. reached Caribbean islands like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, fueling Black... Continue →
On May 7, 1867, African American demonstrators in New Orleans staged a powerful “ride-in” protest to challenge segregation on the city’s... Continue →
On May 7, 1963, thousands of Black schoolchildren in Birmingham, Alabama, continued to march for civil rights, following the first mass arrests the... Continue →
On May 7, 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Though limited compared to later legislation, it was a key step... Continue →
On May 7, 2020, after months of public outcry, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael were finally charged for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a... Continue →
On May 7, 1867, Sarah Breedlove — later known as Madam C.J. Walker — was born in Delta, Louisiana. She would rise from poverty to become one of... Continue →
On May 7, 1952, Josina Machel, one of Mozambique’s most revered anti-colonial activists, was born. From a young age, she was deeply involved in the... Continue →
On May 8, 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was officially organized, becoming the first major African American labor union in the... Continue →
While imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continued to inspire global movements for civil rights. On May 8, 1963, King... Continue →
By May 8, 1970, Steve Biko and the South African Students\' Organisation (SASO) had successfully catalyzed the Black Consciousness Movement.... Continue →
On May 9, 1867, Sojourner Truth—abolitionist, feminist, and former enslaved woman—delivered a stirring speech at the First Annual Meeting of the... Continue →
On May 9, 1862, Union General David Hunter issued General Order No. 11, declaring the emancipation of all enslaved people in Georgia, Florida, and... Continue →
On May 9, 1800, John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut. Though not Black himself, Brown became one of the most radical and committed white... Continue →
Floyd McKissick, a pioneering civil rights leader and lawyer, was born on May 9, 1916, in Asheville, North Carolina. McKissick became the first... Continue →
On May 9, 1942, tensions over racial discrimination, police brutality, and economic inequality exploded into a violent race riot in Harlem, New York.... Continue →
On May 9, 1970, the New Orleans police, along with federal agents, launched a violent assault on the headquarters of the New Orleans chapter of the... Continue →
On May 9, 1872, during the Equal Rights Party convention, Victoria Woodhull nominated famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass for Vice President of the... Continue →
On May 10, 1963, Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a key leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), announced a partial victory in the... Continue →
On May 10, 1919, a violent race riot broke out in Charleston, South Carolina, when a confrontation between white U.S. Navy sailors and Black... Continue →
On May 10, 1652, John Johnson, a free Black man in colonial Virginia, was officially granted 550 acres of land in Northampton County. The land was... Continue →
On May 10, 1996, former Congressman Kweisi Mfume was formally inaugurated as president and CEO of the NAACP, America’s oldest civil rights... Continue →
On May 10, 1967, Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture), a Trinidadian-born civil rights activist, delivered a groundbreaking speech at... Continue →
Born in St. Croix on May 10, 1881, Hubert Harrison became one of the most influential Black intellectuals of the early 20th century. Often called the... Continue →
On May 11, 1968, nine caravans of poor Americans arrived in Washington, D.C., marking the first phase of the Poor People’s Campaign, a multiracial... Continue →
Born on May 11, 1872, Victoria Earle Matthews was a pioneering journalist, anti-lynching activist, and advocate for Black working women. A former... Continue →
On May 11, 1960, anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph survived a failed assassination attempt outside her home in Johannesburg. Though white, Joseph... Continue →
On May 11, 1893, Trinidadian lawyer Henry Sylvester-Williams publicly proposed a conference to address the global concerns of African-descended... Continue →
On May 12, 1970, a race riot broke out in Augusta, Georgia, following the death of 16-year-old Charles Oatman, a Black teenager who died under... Continue →
On May 12, 1967, fiery orator and activist H. Rap Brown was named chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), succeeding... Continue →
On May 12, 1951, Oscar Stanton De Priest, a pioneering African American politician, passed away at the age of 80 in Chicago. Elected in 1928, De... Continue →
On May 12, 1963, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers organized a massive boycott of white merchants in Jackson, Mississippi. The boycott was in... Continue →
On May 12, 1961, a racially integrated group of Freedom Riders traveling through the South were violently attacked by a white mob in Anniston,... Continue →
Born on May 12, 1915, in Trinidad, Claudia Jones would go on to become one of the most important voices in Black British history. After migrating to... Continue →
On May 13, 1969, Charles Evers made history in Fayette, Mississippi by becoming the first Black mayor elected in a racially integrated town in the... Continue →
On May 13, 1865, more than a month after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the Sixty-second U.S. Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) joined two white... Continue →
On May 13, 1964, Malcolm X delivered a follow-up speech in Detroit reinforcing his now-famous “Ballot or the Bullet” message. Speaking with a mix... Continue →
On May 13, 1888, Brazil officially abolished slavery with the signing of the \"Lei Áurea\" or Golden Law by Princess Isabel. This historic act freed... Continue →
On May 13, 1950, South Africa rejected United Nations calls to end racial discrimination, doubling down on its apartheid system. This act marked a... Continue →
On May 14, 1961, a Greyhound bus carrying interracial Freedom Riders was firebombed by a white mob in Anniston, Alabama. The Freedom Riders—Black... Continue →
On May 14, 1867, a Black political mass meeting in Mobile, Alabama, ended in violence when a white mob attacked attendees, leading to a deadly riot.... Continue →
On May 15, 1963, Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, delivered powerful testimony before a U.S. congressional committee on... Continue →
On May 15, 1987, Burkina Faso’s President Thomas Sankara addressed an international youth summit in Ouagadougou, detailing his revolutionary... Continue →
On this day, Asa Philip Randolph—an iconic labor leader and civil rights pioneer—passed away at age 90 in New York City. Randolph was... Continue →
On this day, Stokely Carmichael was named chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), marking a shift toward more radical Black... Continue →
On May 16, 1929, Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York City. At just 16, she organized a student strike in 1951 at R.R. Moton High School in... Continue →
On May 16, 1920, Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), delivered one of his most powerful addresses at... Continue →
On May 16, 1994, Jamaica passed the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, significantly expanding protections for civil liberties, including... Continue →
A major race riot erupted in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida, following the acquittal of four white police officers who were charged... Continue →
On May 17, 1957, the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom took place in Washington, D.C., marking the largest civil rights demonstration in the United... Continue →
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools was... Continue →
On this day in 1909, white firemen working for the Georgia Railroad went on strike to protest the employment of Black firemen. The strike highlighted... Continue →
On this day in 1881, renowned abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass was appointed Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia by President... Continue →
On May 17, 1968, the Poor People’s Campaign, initiated by Martin Luther King Jr. and led by Ralph Abernathy after King’s assassination, began a... Continue →
On May 17, 1967, Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was arrested in Oakland, California, on charges related to a previous traffic... Continue →
On May 18, 1918, Hayes Turner was lynched in Brooks County, Georgia, in one of the most brutal racial terror campaigns in American history. Turner, a... Continue →
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, remains one of the most powerful voices in the fight for Black liberation. His... Continue →
Yuri Kochiyama, born on May 19, 1921, in San Pedro, California, became one of the most steadfast allies of Black liberation. A Japanese-American... Continue →
By May 19, 1970, the Black Panther Party’s network of free medical clinics had expanded significantly across cities like Oakland, Chicago, and... Continue →
On May 20, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders—civil rights activists challenging segregated bus terminals in the South—were viciously attacked by a... Continue →
On this day in 1743, Pierre-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was born in Saint-Domingue, the French colony that would later become Haiti. Though slave... Continue →
Dred Scott, whose Supreme Court case would become one of the most infamous in U.S. history, was born into slavery on May 20, 1806, in Virginia. He... Continue →
On May 20, 1969, civil rights leader James Forman delivered his \"Black Manifesto\" at Riverside Church in New York City, demanding $500 million in... Continue →
Police and National Guardsmen opened fire on student demonstrators at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. The... Continue →
On May 21, 1979, the “Danville 8”—a group of Black workers and activists—were found guilty in Danville, Illinois, for participating in civil... Continue →
While not Black himself, Senator Charles Sumner\'s brutal beating on May 21, 1856, by pro-slavery Congressman Preston Brooks has major significance... Continue →
On May 21, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Ghana, deepening his international commitment to Black liberation. Invited by President Kwame... Continue →
On May 21, 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered her iconic “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio—a moment that... Continue →
On this day in 1917, Ell Persons, an African American man, was brutally lynched by a mob in Memphis, Tennessee. Accused without substantial evidence... Continue →
On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a commencement address at the University of Michigan, introducing his vision for the \"Great... Continue →
On May 22, 1969, the Greensboro Uprising commenced in North Carolina, sparked by the dismissal of a Black student council president at Dudley High... Continue →
On May 23, 1878, attorney John Henry Smyth was appointed as U.S. Minister to Liberia. A prominent African American diplomat and advocate for civil... Continue →
Scipio Africanus Jones Jr. was born on May 23, 1910, into a legacy of Black excellence and civil rights. As a U.S. diplomat, he was stationed in... Continue →
William Craft, born on May 23, 1805, famously escaped slavery with his wife Ellen Craft through a daring disguise in 1848. After their escape, the... Continue →
On May 23, 1949, Haiti declared a national day of mourning for W.E.B. Du Bois after false reports of his death circulated. Although premature, the... Continue →
On May 23, 1963, Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, played a pivotal yet often overlooked role in shaping the future of African unity during... Continue →
On May 24, 1861, Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler declared that enslaved people who escaped to Union lines would be considered “contraband of... Continue →
On this day, abolitionist John Brown led an anti-slavery militia in a violent raid on a pro-slavery settlement near Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin... Continue →
On this day, Anthony Burns, a celebrated fugitive slave, was arrested by United States Deputy Marshals in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Act. His... Continue →
On May 24, 1854, Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave living in Boston, was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act, triggering a wave of national protests.... Continue →
On May 24, 1965, the U.S. Senate opened debate on the landmark Voting Rights Act, a crucial turning point in the civil rights movement. This... Continue →
On May 24, 1870, African American men in South Carolina participated in one of the first major post-Civil War elections under Reconstruction that... Continue →
Born on May 24, 1830, Osborne Perry Anderson was the only African American survivor of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. A free Black man... Continue →
Fannie Lou Hamer was born on May 24, 1917, in Mississippi and went on to become one of the most influential voices in the American Civil Rights... Continue →
Charles Hamilton Houston, born May 24, 1895, was a legal architect of the civil rights movement and mentor to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S.... Continue →
On May 25, 1971, Jo Etha Collier, a young Black woman and high school student, was tragically killed in Drew, Mississippi, by a bullet fired from a... Continue →
On this day in 1943, a violent riot broke out at the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company in Mobile, Alabama, after twelve Black workers were... Continue →
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed during an arrest by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on... Continue →
On May 25, 1961, the Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee was established in Atlanta, Georgia. This coalition of civil rights... Continue →
Berry Washington, a 72-year-old African American man, was lynched by a mob in Milan, Georgia, after defending two young Black girls from assault.... Continue →
Tensions exploded in East St. Louis, Illinois, when a race riot broke out amid growing hostility toward African American workers who had migrated... Continue →
On May 27, 1986, South Africa’s anti-apartheid groups organized a National Day of Mourning to honor the victims of state violence and protest... Continue →
On May 27, 1967, the Watts Writers Workshop was formally established in Los Angeles as a cultural response to the 1965 Watts Rebellion. Founded by... Continue →
On May 27, 1969, major newspapers and television networks spotlighted the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for Children Program, sparking... Continue →
On May 28, 1940, Betty Shabazz—civil rights advocate, educator, and the widow of Malcolm X—was born in Detroit, Michigan. A powerful figure in... Continue →
On May 28, 1956, a federal court ruled that bus segregation laws in Montgomery, Alabama, were unconstitutional, marking a critical victory in the... Continue →
On May 28, 1972, the Watts Writers Workshop officially reopened in Los Angeles after being destroyed in a suspicious fire the year before. Founded in... Continue →
On May 28, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers organized a major voter registration drive in Jackson, Mississippi, amid mounting threats from... Continue →
On May 28, 1966, Stokely Carmichael was elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a major turning point in the civil... Continue →
On May 28, 1963, four young African American students—Annie Moody, Memphis Norman, Pearlena Lewis, and William Buttons—staged a sit-in at a... Continue →
On May 28, 1956, thousands of Sudanese women took to the streets of Khartoum demanding full rights in the newly independent Sudan. Just months after... Continue →
On May 29, 1851, abolitionist and women\'s rights activist Sojourner Truth delivered her iconic speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the Women’s... Continue →
On May 29, 1964, Malcolm X delivered a powerful speech in London at the London School of Economics as part of his international tour following his... Continue →
On May 29, 1969, Black students and allies at Harvard University staged a powerful protest during the school’s commencement ceremony. The... Continue →
On May 29, 1920, Hubert Thomas Delany—civil rights attorney, judge, and grandson of abolitionist Martin Delany—was born in Raleigh, North... Continue →
On May 29, 1987, West African students organized a major protest in Paris against the French government\'s restrictive immigration and education... Continue →
Sparked by the arrest of two Florida A&M University students who refused to give up their seats on a segregated bus, the Tallahassee Bus Boycott... Continue →
On this day, a house slave revealed the details of Denmark Vesey's planned uprising to white authorities, leading to the unraveling of one of the... Continue →
On May 30, 1920, survivors and witnesses of the East St. Louis Race Riot (1917) gave emotional testimony before Congress. This riot, one of the... Continue →
May 30, 1921, marked the beginning of the tragic events that led to the Tulsa Race Massacre. On this day, tensions escalated after a Black teenager,... Continue →
On May 30, 1967, civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) delivered a powerful speech where he coined the term... Continue →
On May 30, 1956, the Tallahassee Bus Boycott began to garner national headlines as a critical chapter in the Southern civil rights movement. Sparked... Continue →
On May 30, 1920, Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), laid the cornerstone of Liberty Hall in Harlem, New... Continue →
On May 30, 1797, Isabella Baumfree—later known as Sojourner Truth—was born into slavery in New York. She would rise to become a fierce... Continue →
Olaudah Equiano, a former enslaved African who became a prominent abolitionist and author, died in 1797, but on May 31, 1809, his memoir The... Continue →
On May 31, 1961, the Freedom Riders—civil rights activists challenging segregation in the South—were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi. These... Continue →
On May 31, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education that busing was an appropriate tool for achieving... Continue →
On May 31, 2005, former FBI official W. Mark Felt confirmed he was “Deep Throat,” the anonymous source who helped expose the Watergate scandal... Continue →
May 31, 1964, marked the posthumous honoring of Medgar Evers by the NAACP for his courageous civil rights work in Mississippi. A World War II veteran... Continue →
On May 31, 1961, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, a 19-year-old white college student from Washington, D.C., was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for... Continue →
On the morning of June 1, 1921, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma—known as \"Black Wall Street\"—lay in ashes after one of the deadliest... Continue →
On June 1, 1883, Sojourner Truth gave her final public speech in Battle Creek, Michigan. A former slave turned abolitionist, Truth had spent decades... Continue →
On June 2, 2020, global protests demanding justice for George Floyd and an end to systemic racism reached a peak. Sparked by Floyd’s murder at the... Continue →
Although centered in the U.S., the Detroit race riot of June 2, 1943, had international ramifications. News of the violence spread rapidly across... Continue →
On June 3, 1963, civil rights activist Medgar Evers gave his final public speech at a mass meeting at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jackson,... Continue →
On June 3, 1989, during the bicentennial of the U.S. Congress, lawmakers formally recognized Crispus Attucks, the first person killed in the 1770... Continue →
On June 3, 1969, Ghana’s exiled former president, Kwame Nkrumah, published Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare, a militant guide for African... Continue →
On June 4, 1967, Black students at the University of Mississippi organized a large protest demanding racial justice, full integration, and equal... Continue →
Although the Red Summer is more broadly associated with events later in 1919, June 4 marked early racial tensions in Chicago, where rumors and labor... Continue →
On June 4, 1961, several Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for violating segregation laws at a Greyhound bus terminal. These... Continue →
Cyril Lionel Robert James was born on June 4, 1898, in Trinidad and Tobago. A literary critic, historian, and Marxist intellectual, James was one of... Continue →
On June 4, 1838, Bermuda officially ended the practice of slavery, aligning with Britain’s wider emancipation efforts across its empire. Though the... Continue →
On June 4, 1844, Haitian forces under President Charles Rivière-Hérard launched an invasion of the newly independent Dominican Republic. The DR had... Continue →
James Meredith, the first Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi, was shot and wounded by a white sniper near Hernando,... Continue →
On June 5, 1872, over 100 African American delegates gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas, for a statewide political convention. The event was a key... Continue →
On June 5, 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives held a formal session acknowledging the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. It followed a detailed report... Continue →
Though the exact day is often debated, Tubman’s initial escape attempt is traditionally commemorated around early June. By June 5, 1849, she was... Continue →
George Washington Carver, one of the most innovative agricultural scientists in U.S. history, is believed to have been born around June 6, 1844, in... Continue →
On June 6, 1871, the U.S. federal government invoked the Ku Klux Klan Act (also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871) to arrest Klan members in... Continue →
By June 6, 2020, Breonna Taylor’s name had become a rallying cry during worldwide protests following the murder of George Floyd. Demonstrations... Continue →
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the Pan-Africanist visionary and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), died on June 6, 1940, in... Continue →
On June 7, 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot by a sniper in Mississippi during his “March Against Fear,” a solo walk from... Continue →
On June 7, 1953, Georgia Gilmore married, beginning a new chapter in a life marked by activism. Gilmore later became instrumental in supporting the... Continue →
On June 8, 1966, the Black Panther Party formally launched its Free Breakfast for Children Program in Oakland, California. The initiative began... Continue →
On June 8, 1978, Charles Hamilton Houston Jr., son of legendary legal strategist Charles H. Houston, died. Like his father, he was committed to civil... Continue →
On June 8, 2020, George Floyd’s funeral was held in Houston, Texas, two weeks after his death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. The... Continue →
On June 8, 1943, José do Patrocínio Filho, the son of famed Brazilian abolitionist José do Patrocínio, passed away. Though not as globally... Continue →
On June 9, 1980, civil rights advocates began a campaign to honor Paul Robeson—actor, singer, and activist—with a U.S. postage stamp. Robeson, a... Continue →
Born on June 9, 1904, Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey was a Ghanaian educator, scholar, and Pan-Africanist who profoundly influenced the next... Continue →
On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, mandating equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. While this law... Continue →
Prince Hall, a pioneer of African American Freemasonry and a Revolutionary War veteran, is believed to have died on June 10, 1806. Hall was a vocal... Continue →
On June 10, 1966, during the Meredith March Against Fear in Mississippi, Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) electrified the crowd by... Continue →
On the night of June 11, 1963, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was shot and killed outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers had spent years... Continue →
On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers, a field secretary for the NAACP,... Continue →
On June 12, 1954, a protest led by Black Caribbean workers erupted over discriminatory hiring practices at British Rail in London. Many West Indian... Continue →
Though Medgar Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963, his funeral was held on June 13 and became a major civil rights moment. Evers was a... Continue →
On June 13, 1866, the U.S. House of Representatives reaffirmed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 following President Andrew Johnson’s continued... Continue →
On June 13, 1920, James Weldon Johnson was appointed as the first African American Executive Secretary of the NAACP. Already known for his work as a... Continue →
On June 14, 1951, William L. Patterson, representing the Civil Rights Congress, delivered the petition “We Charge Genocide” to the United... Continue →
On June 14, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Just days earlier, Evers had... Continue →
Born on June 15, 1943, in Mobile, Alabama, Beulah Mae Donald would become a symbol of grassroots resistance against white supremacy. Her son, Michael... Continue →
A race riot erupted in Beaumont, Texas, following the accusation of a Black man assaulting a white woman. Over three days, white mobs attacked Black... Continue →
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Martha White, a Black domestic worker, sat in a \"whites-only\" seat on a city bus, challenging segregation laws. Her... Continue →
On June 15, 1849, Harriet Tubman made her first, though initially unsuccessful, escape from slavery in Maryland. Though widely known for her later... Continue →
Mary Church Terrell, one of the first African American women to earn a college degree, died on June 16, 1954. Born in 1863, she was a pioneering... Continue →
On June 16, 1890, journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells published a scathing editorial in The Free Speech, condemning the widespread... Continue →
Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on June 16, 1963, just days after he was... Continue →
Born on June 16, 1821, in Burlington County, New Jersey, William Still was a free-born African American who played a critical role in the Underground... Continue →
On June 17, 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American man, was brutally beaten in Detroit by two white autoworkers who mistook him for Japanese and... Continue →
On June 17, 1822, the planned slave rebellion organized by Denmark Vesey was discovered in Charleston, South Carolina. Vesey, a literate free Black... Continue →
On June 17, 1950, the park now known as James Weldon Johnson Park in Jacksonville, Florida, was rededicated in honor of the civil rights leader,... Continue →
On June 18, 1942, Paul Robeson received the NAACP’s prestigious Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African American. Robeson, a... Continue →
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, announcing the enforcement of the... Continue →
President John F. Kennedy sent a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress on June 19, 1963. The proposed legislation aimed to end segregation in... Continue →
On June 19, 1970, the Black Panther Party held a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., calling for a Revolutionary People\'s... Continue →
The Detroit Race Riot erupted on June 20, 1943, amidst World War II tensions. A false rumor about racial violence at Belle Isle Park escalated into... Continue →
On June 20, 1970, the Black Panther Party announced plans for a Revolutionary People\'s Constitutional Convention at the Lincoln Memorial in... Continue →
On June 21, 1919, Jim McMillan, an African American man, was lynched by a mob in Mississippi. This brutal act was part of the \"Red Summer,\" a... Continue →
On June 21, 1964, civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia,... Continue →
Exactly 41 years after the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, Edgar Ray Killen, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, was convicted on June 21, 2005,... Continue →
June 21, 1964, marked a pivotal day in the Freedom Summer campaign, aimed at increasing Black voter registration in Mississippi. The disappearance... Continue →
On June 22, 1943, W.E.B. Du Bois was inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters, becoming its first African American member. A renowned... Continue →
The Detroit Race Riot, one of the most violent and destructive riots of the World War II era, concluded on June 22, 1943. The three-day conflict... Continue →
On June 22, 1903, George White, an African American man accused of murder, was forcibly taken from jail by a mob in Wilmington, Delaware, and... Continue →
On June 23, 1963, the Detroit Walk to Freedom took place, drawing an estimated 125,000 participants, making it the largest civil rights demonstration... Continue →
Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X and a prominent civil rights advocate, died on June 23, 1997, from burns sustained in a fire set by her... Continue →
On June 24, 1854, Anthony Burns, an escaped enslaved man, was apprehended in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. His arrest ignited massive... Continue →
On June 24, 1953, the Baton Rouge City Council passed Ordinance 251 in response to a bus boycott protesting segregated seating. The ordinance allowed... Continue →
On June 24, 1973, a fire at the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, resulted in the deaths of 32 people, many of whom were African American.... Continue →
On June 25, 1773, a group of enslaved African Americans in Massachusetts submitted a petition to the colonial government, seeking emancipation. They... Continue →
On June 25, 1868, the U.S. Congress passed significant civil rights legislation aimed at protecting the rights of African Americans during the... Continue →
On June 25, 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith rejoined the March Against Fear, a 220-mile walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson,... Continue →
On June 26, 1966, the March Against Fear concluded in Jackson, Mississippi, with approximately 15,000 participants—the largest civil rights... Continue →
On June 26, 1934, W.E.B. Du Bois resigned from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) due to ideological differences... Continue →
During a speech on June 26, 1966, at the conclusion of the March Against Fear in Jackson, Mississippi, civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael... Continue →
On June 27, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and global protests against racial injustice, virtual Global Pride events were held worldwide. These... Continue →
On June 28, 1839, Sengbe Pieh, known as Cinqué, a Mende man from Sierra Leone, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba. Along with other... Continue →
In the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Uprising began in New York City\'s Greenwich Village. Following a police raid on the Stonewall... Continue →
On June 28, 1960, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin resigned from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under pressure from fellow... Continue →
On June 28, 1963, the funeral of civil rights activist Medgar Evers was held in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers, the NAACP\'s first field secretary in... Continue →
On June 28, 2024, the Indiana Black Expo held its annual Summer Celebration in Indianapolis, featuring events that honored Black excellence in... Continue →
On June 29, 1970, the Black Panther Party announced plans for the Revolutionary People\'s Constitutional Convention. This initiative aimed to draft a... Continue →
On June 29, 1956, the NAACP secured a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, compelling the University of Alabama to admit Autherine Lucy, making her the... Continue →
Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed on June 29, 1958, by white supremacists opposing the civil rights movement. The church, led... Continue →
On June 30, 2006, President George W. Bush visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum, located at the site of Dr.... Continue →
On June 30, 1963, civil rights demonstrations in Cambridge, Maryland, escalated into confrontations between activists and segregationists. Led by... Continue →
The Clotilda was the last recorded slave ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, arriving illegally in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July... Continue →
On July 1, 1971, Ted Brown, a Black British activist, helped organize the United Kingdom\'s first Gay Pride Rally in London. The event marked a... Continue →
July 3, 1917 marked the escalation of one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. On that day, white mobs renewed violent attacks - beatings,... Continue →
On July?3,?1919, Black members of the 10th U.S. Cavalry—the famed “Buffalo Soldiers”—clashed with local law enforcement in Bisbee, Arizona.... Continue →
On July?3,?1930, political dissident Otto Strasser officially founded the “Black Front” (Schwarze Front), a left-wing splinter movement opposing... Continue →
In the wake of the Civil Rights Act passed on July?2,?1964, segregationist restaurant owner Lester Maddox forced three Black men out of his Pickrick... Continue →
On July?3,?2021, the first National Crown Day was held to commemorate the federal signing of the CROWN Act, combatting hair discrimination toward... Continue →
In 1799, New York enacted a gradual emancipation law. By July 4, 1827, all enslaved persons remaining in the state were legally free. This marked the... Continue →
1967 was a year of intense civil unrest in the United States, marked by numerous racial uprisings and protests against racial injustice, economic... Continue →
On November 7, 1967, Edward W. Brooke was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP for his outstanding public service. Who Was Edward W. Brooke? ... Continue →
1916 was a particularly violent year in American history regarding racial violence and lynching. While the exact number of lynchings that occurred on... Continue →
On November 7, 1909, the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver were organized in Mobile, Alabama, by four Josephite priests and three Catholic... Continue →
On November 7, 1837, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an abolitionist journalist and newspaper editor, was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton,... Continue →
On November 7, 1775, Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was issued, marking a significant moment in Black history during the American Revolution. ? Lord... Continue →
Edward W. Brooke Elected to the U.S. Senate On November 8, 1966, Edward W. Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, made history by becoming: ... Continue →
The year 1892 marked one of the deadliest years for racial violence in the United States, with 161 recorded lynchings of Black Americans by... Continue →
The Civil Rights Memorial, designed by renowned artist Maya Lin, was dedicated in Montgomery, Alabama to honor the memory of 40 individuals who died... Continue →
The Bethune Museum and Archives was founded on this day as the first institution in the United States dedicated to African American women's history.... Continue →
Booker T. Washington, one of the most prominent African American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, died at age 59 in Tuskegee,... Continue →
A report released by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith revealed a significant increase in Ku Klux Klan activity across the United... Continue →
On this day, Rosa L. Parks received the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor, in recognition of her pivotal role in sparking the Montgomery... Continue →
John Mercer Langston, a prominent abolitionist, educator, and politician, died at the age of 67 in Washington, D.C. He was the first African American... Continue →
George Latimer, an escaped enslaved man, was captured in Boston, Massachusetts, after fleeing from Virginia with his pregnant wife. His arrest led to... Continue →
On this day, Howard Thurman was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. A theologian, philosopher, and civil rights leader, Thurman became one of the most... Continue →
Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, was born into slavery but became one of America’s most powerful... Continue →
By this date in 1922, at least 51 African Americans had been reported lynched across the United States during that year alone. These acts of racial... Continue →
Timothy Thomas Fortune, a pioneering African American journalist and civil rights leader, founded the New York Freeman on this day. The publication... Continue →
On November 22, 1865, the Mississippi legislature passed one of the first sets of Black Codes in the post-Civil War South. These laws severely... Continue →
The Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1867 convened at the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans, with a groundbreaking delegation of forty-nine... Continue →
On November 24, 1874, Robert Brown Elliott, a distinguished African American politician and orator, was elected Speaker of the South Carolina House... Continue →
Sojourner Truth, renowned abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, and powerful orator, died on this day in Battle Creek, Michigan, at approximately... Continue →
Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, students at Merritt College in Oakland, California, founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The... Continue →
On this date, reports confirmed that 113 African Americans had been lynched in the United States during the year 1891 alone. This horrifying figure... Continue →
Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, leaders of the Black Panther Party, were killed during a pre-dawn raid by the Chicago Police Department, coordinated... Continue →
On or around December 6, 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped enslavement in Dorchester County, Maryland. Risking her life, she later returned to the South... Continue →
On this day, Tougaloo College was established in Tougaloo, Mississippi, by the American Missionary Association. It became a center for African... Continue →
On December 9, 1995, Kweisi Mfume, then a Democratic Congressman from Maryland, was unanimously elected as the President and Chief Executive Officer... Continue →
On this day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, for his nonviolent struggle against racial segregation and... Continue →
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the convictions of sixteen African American students who had been arrested for participating in a peaceful lunch... Continue →
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was posthumously awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP for his courageous work in the fight against racial... Continue →
More than 700 demonstrators, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were arrested in Albany, Georgia, during five mass marches to city hall protesting... Continue →
On this day, George H. Williams was appointed as the U.S. Attorney General by President Ulysses S. Grant. While Williams himself was not Black, his... Continue →
Ella Baker, one of the most influential yet unsung heroes of the American Civil Rights Movement, was born on this day. A tireless organizer and... Continue →
Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. received the prestigious Spingarn Medal from the NAACP for his “superb and many-faceted talent” and his significant... Continue →
On this day, George Washington, the first President of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon estate. In his last will and testament, Washington... Continue →
On December 15, 1943, the Spingarn Medal was presented to William H. Hastie in recognition of his distinguished career as a jurist and his unwavering... Continue →
On December 16, 1976, President-elect Jimmy Carter nominated Andrew Young to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, making him... Continue →
John Edward Jacob, born on December 16, 1934, in Trout, Louisiana, and raised in Houston, Texas, was a prominent civil rights leader and advocate for... Continue →
On this day in 1933, Charles L. Blockson was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. A renowned author, historian, and collector, Blockson became one of... Continue →
Charles Caldwell, a formerly enslaved man who became a state senator and militia leader during Reconstruction, was assassinated in Clinton,... Continue →
Henry Adams was born enslaved in Forks of the Road, Louisiana. After gaining freedom, he became a Union Army soldier, political leader, and civil... Continue →
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, upheld the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of over 120,000 Japanese... Continue →
On December 18, 1971, Reverend Jesse Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in Chicago. The organization was established to... Continue →
James Weldon Johnson, noted author, educator, lawyer, and civil rights leader, resigned from his role as executive secretary of the NAACP, a position... Continue →
On December 20, 1956, the African American community in Montgomery, Alabama, voted to end their 381-day bus boycott following the U.S. Supreme... Continue →
On December 21, 1988, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, alongside other prominent Black leaders, advocated for the adoption of the term... Continue →
On December 20, 1986, Michael Griffith, a 23-year-old Black man, was tragically killed in a racially motivated attack in the predominantly white... Continue →
The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially ended after 381 days, making Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. national heroes. The U.S. Supreme Court... Continue →
A year-end report released on this date revealed that 59 Black Americans were lynched in the United States during 1921. These extrajudicial killings,... Continue →
In response to escalating violence against Black citizens and Republicans during the Reconstruction era, President Ulysses S. Grant issued a... Continue →
W.E.B. Du Bois, a pioneering sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist, was elected to the prestigious National Institute of Arts and... Continue →
Henry Highland Garnet, a minister, abolitionist, and diplomat, was born into slavery in Kent County, Maryland. He became a prominent figure in the... Continue →
On this day, approximately five thousand African Americans departed Edgefield County, South Carolina, in what became known as the “Edgefield... Continue →
Tennessee initiated the modern Jim Crow era by enacting a law mandating segregated railroad cars, becoming the first state to formalize such racial... Continue →
The United Order of True Reformers, an African American fraternal organization, was officially established in Richmond, Virginia. Founded by William... Continue →
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) announced that its national director, James Farmer, a key architect of the Civil Rights Movement and leader of... Continue →
On Christmas Day 1956, the home of Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a key leader in the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement, was bombed by white... Continue →
Civil rights activists Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriette, were killed by a bomb planted beneath their home in Mims, Florida. Harry T. Moore, the... Continue →
Reports from across the American South indicated that many freedmen had left plantations, anticipating a general distribution of land. General Rufus... Continue →
Remond was one of the first African Americans employed as a lecturer by the antislavery movement. Known for his eloquence and passionate advocacy, he... Continue →
By the end of 1908, records from anti-lynching activists and institutions like the Tuskegee Institute documented that 89 Black individuals were... Continue →
David Ruggles, often considered the first African American bookseller, died in Northampton, Massachusetts. He opened his bookstore in 1834 in New... Continue →
William and Ellen Craft escaped from slavery in Georgia in a daring journey. Ellen, who was light-skinned, disguised herself as a white male... Continue →
In a decisive ruling, Judge Devane declared that “every segregation act of every state or city is as dead as a doornail,” reinforcing the legal... Continue →
Arthur B. Spingarn, a key figure in the early U.S. civil rights movement and one of the founders of the NAACP (National Association for the... Continue →
The date December 28, 1918, is tied to a tragic and telling report in U.S. history. On that day, The Chicago Whip, a Black newspaper, reported that... Continue →
On this day in 1845, Texas was admitted to the United States as the 28th state, entering the Union as a slave state. This move heightened tensions... Continue →
The "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaign began in Chicago with the picketing of chain stores on the South Side, demanding fair employment... Continue →
On this day, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson was honored with the prestigious Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, recognizing his significant contributions to... Continue →
Residents of Rochester, New York, joined Frederick Douglass in a solemn vigil on the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation. As midnight approached,... Continue →
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