People, Locations, Episodes

The H.U.D. Act is Signed Into Law

*The Housing and Urban Development Act was enacted on this date in 1968.    President Lyndon B. Johnson signed this landmark law in the United States during the King assassination riots.   Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, apply to the Native American tribes of the United States, and make many but […]

Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham is Decided

*On this date in 1969, Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham was decided. This was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Supreme Court struck down a Birmingham, Alabama, ordinance that prohibited citizens from holding parades and processions on city streets without obtaining a permit.   The Petitioner was Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a Black minister who helped lead 52 African Americans in an orderly civil rights march in Birmingham, […]

The Police murder two Black Panthers Members

On this date in 1969, Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Mark Clark, a fellow member were killed while sleeping by Chicago police.

The attack, aided by the help of an infiltrator, was masterminded by the city police force and the FBI’s powerful counter-intelligence program (COINTEL-PRO).

Adrian Fenty, Politician and Lawyer born.

*Adrian Fenty was born on this date in 1970. He is a Black politician and lawyer. Adrian Malik Fenty was born in Washington, D.C., the second of the three children of Jeanette Bianchi Perno Fenty and Phil Fenty. He is the middle child of three boys: Shawn, himself, and Jesse. Fenty’s mother is Italian-American. His […]

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. is Decided

*On this date in 1971, Griggs v. Duke Power Co. was decided.  This court case was argued before the United States Supreme Court on December 14, 1970. It concerned employment racial discrimination and the adverse impact theory.  It is generally considered the first case of its type.  The Supreme Court ruled that the company’s employment […]

Fani Willis, Lawyer, Judge, and Prosecutor born

*Fani Willis’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1971. She is a Black attorney, judge, and prosecutor. Fani Taifa Willis was born in Inglewood, California. Her father was a member of the Black Panthers and a criminal defense attorney. When Willis was in the first grade, her family moved to Washington, D.C. Her parents divorced, and […]

The Soledad Brothers (Prison Inmates) are Acquitted

*The two surviving Soledad Brothers were acquitted on this date in 1972. An all-white jury cleared Fleeta Dumgo and John Cluchette of murder charges.

They had been charged with killing a white guard at Soledad Prison in 1970. The third Soledad Brother, George Jackson, was killed in the August 1971 alleged escape attempt.

The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice is Formed

*The beginning of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ) in 1974 is celebrated on this date.

Dereck Chauvin, Policeman born

*Derek Chauvin was born on this date in 1976. He is a white-American former police officer and murderer. Derek Michael Chauvin was born in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. His mother was a housewife, and his father was a certified public accountant. At seven, his parents divorced and were granted joint custody of him. Chauvin attended Park […]

Saint Lucia Gains Independence From Britain

*On this date in 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state from Britain.    Saint Lucia is a sovereign island country in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean.   The island was previously called Iyonola, the name was given to the island by the native Arawaks, and […]

Knight v. Alabama is Filed

*On this date in 1981, Knight v. Alabama was filed in federal court. The suit, brought by John F. Knight and others associated with two Historically Black Colleges in Alabama (HBCU), held that Alabama’s higher education system utilized racially discriminatory practices in allocating funding and admissions. Those schools were Alabama A&M University and Alabama State […]

Batson v. Kentucky is decided

*On this date in 1986, Batson v. Kentucky was decided. A landmark United States Supreme Court decision ruled that a prosecutor’s use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case—dismissing jurors without stating a valid cause—may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race. The Court ruled that this practice violated the […]

The Supreme Court Favors Reverse Discrimination Decision

On this date in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of reverse discrimination suits.

The establishment of racial quotas in the name of affirmative action brought charges of so-called reverse discrimination in the late 1970s. Although the U.S. Supreme Court accepted such an argument in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), it let existing programs stand and approved the use of quotas in 1979 in a case involving voluntary affirmative-action programs in unions and private businesses.

Rodney King is Beaten by Three White Police Officers

*This date marks the anniversary of the Rodney King beating. On March 3, 1991, white police officers in Los Angeles, California, stopped a car driven by a 34-year-old African American named Rodney King, who, they said, was speeding.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 Takes Effect

*On January 1, 1995, The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) went into effect. Also known as the Motor Voter Act, it was a United States federal law signed on May 20, 1993. After Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to address rampant voting discrimination against racial minorities, voting rights advocates argued for federal […]