People, Locations, Episodes

Dorsey v. State Athletic Commission is Decided

*On this date in 1958, Dorsey v. State Athletic Commission was decided. The Louisiana decision stated that Joseph Dorsey, Jr., is a Negro prizefighter. He brings this suit on his behalf and behalf of all other Negro professional prizefighters similarly situated. He asks for a declaratory judgment and an injunction to restrain the Louisiana State […]

Boynton v. Virginia is Ruled

*On this date, 1960, the United States Supreme Court decided Boynton v. Virginia. The case overturned a judgment convicting Bruce Boynton, a Black law student, of trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal that was “whites only.” It held that racial segregation in public transportation was illegal because such segregation violated the Interstate Commerce Act, which broadly forbade discrimination in interstate […]

Holmes v. Danner is Ruled

*On this date in 1961, Holmes v. Danner was decided.  This civil rights case was won to permit the desegregation of the University of Georgia.  Hamilton Holmes, a minor, by his father and next friend, Alfred Holmes, and Charlayne A. Hunter, a minor by her mother and next friend, Mrs. Althea Brown Hunter, on behalf […]

Sherrilyn Ifill, Attorney born

*Sherrilyn Ifill, born on this date in 1962, is a Black lawyer, author, and non-profit administrator.    From New York City, her family immigrated to the U.S. from Barbados; she is the cousin to former PBS journalist Gwen Ifill, with fathers who were brothers, both becoming African Methodist Episcopal ministers. Ifill received her B.A. degree from Vassar College and her J.D. degree from New York […]

Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital is Decided

*On this date in 1963, Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital was decided.  This federal case reached the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that “separate but equal” racial segregation in publicly funded hospitals violated equal protection under the United States Constitution.  George Simkins, Jr. was a dentist and NAACP leader in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of his African American patients developed an abscessed tooth, and […]

The N.A.A.C.P. v. Button Case is Decided

*On this date in 1963, the NAACP v. Button case was decided.   This was a 6-to-3 ruling by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the reservation of jurisdiction by a federal district court did not bar the U.S. Supreme Court from reviewing a state court’s ruling. It also overturned specific laws enacted by the […]

Wilhelmina Wright, Judge born

*Wilhelmina Wright was born on this date in 1964. She is a Black lawyer, professor, and Judge. Wilhelmina Marie Wright was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied literature at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduating cum laude in 1986. Wright received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1989. As a law […]

Michelle Obama, Attorney, and Administrator born

*Michelle Obama was born on this date in 1964. She is an African American attorney, administrator community advocate and wife of Present Barack Obama.

Born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in Chicago, Illinois, she is the daughter of Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Shields, a secretary at Spiegel’s catalog store. She grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago’s South Shore. They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church.

The 24th Amendment To The Constitution is Passed

*On this date in 1964 the twenty-fourth amendment to the constitution was passed.

Since the legal end to slavery, African Americans had been denied the right to vote by a number of different ways. Some measures were deceitful, many others were life threatening. This confirmation ensured the Abolition of the Poll Tax Qualification in Federal Elections.

Heart of Atlanta Motel Inc. v. the United States is Decided

*On this date in 1964, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. the United States was decided. This court case was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court. It held that the Commerce Clause gave the U.S. Congress power to force private businesses to abide by Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits […]

Swain v. Alabama is decided

*On this date in 1965, Swain v. Alabama was decided. This case was heard before the United States Supreme Court regarding the legality of a struck jury. Robert Swain, a Black man, was indicted and convicted of rape in the Circuit Court of Talladega County, Alabama, and sentenced to death by an all-white jury. The […]

The Race Relations Act is passed

*On this date in 1965, the Race Relations Act was enacted. This was the first legislation in the United Kingdom to address racial discrimination. The Act outlawed discrimination on the “grounds of color, race, or ethnic or national origins” in public places in Great Britain. It also prompted the creation of the Race Relations Board […]

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections is Decided

*On this date in 1966, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was decided. This was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia’s poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.   In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eleven southern states established poll taxes to disenfranchise most blacks and many […]

The United States v. Guest is Decided

*On this date in 1966, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745. Justice Potter Stewart authored this landmark decision. The Court extended the protection of the 14th Amendment to citizens who suffer rights deprivations at the hands of private conspiracies, where there is minimal state participation in the conspiracy. The Court also held that […]

The Civil Rights (Fair Housing Act) of 1968 is Signed

*On this date in 1968, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed. This federal law prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing.   President Lyndon Johnson signed this landmark act into law almost immediately following the Martin Luther King assassination riots in America. It was the final primary legislation passed in the modern 20th-century American […]