People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

Pigford v. Glickman is Decided

*On this date in 1999, Pigford v. Glickman was decided. This was a class action lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), alleging racial discrimination against Black farmers in allocating farm loans and assistance between 1981 and 1996.   After Shirley and Charles Sherrod lost their farm when they could not secure United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans, they became class action plaintiffs in the […]

The Central Park Jogger Case is Dismissed

On this date in 2002, A New York judge dismissed the convictions in the “Central Park Jogger” rape case.

Another Klan Member Is Found Guilty Of Murder

*On this date in 2003, another Ku Klux Klan member was convicted of killing a Black man in 1966.

Klansman Ernest Avants was found guilty of slaying Ben White, a Black sharecropper, more than thirty years ago. The trial and verdict took place in Jackson, Mississippi for a crime prosecutors say was staged to lure Martin Luther King Jr. to the southern part of the state to be assassinated.

Life Sentence for Black Florida Boy is Changed

On this date in 2003, A Florida appeals court threw out a African American boy’s conviction for beating a 6-year-old playmate to death.

The case spotlighted a Florida law that says child murderers must be locked away for the rest of their lives. In West Palm Beach, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Lionel Tate, now 16, saying his mental competency should have been evaluated before his trial. He was tried as an adult and is serving life without parole at a maximum-security juvenile prison.

The Gullah/Geechee Corridor Act is Passed

*On this date in 2005, the Gullah/Geechee Corridor Act was signed into law. The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act – Establishes the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor (Heritage Corridor) to: (1) recognize the significant contributions made to American culture and history by African Americans known as the Gullah/Geechee, who settled in the coastal counties of South Carolina, […]

The Jena Six Teenagers, a story

*On this date in 2006, the Jena Six were convicted. They were six African American teenagers accused and convicted in the beating of Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana. Barker was injured in the assault by the members of the Jena Six, and received treatment for his injuries at an emergency room.

While the case was pending, some media commentators cited it as an example of racial injustice in the United States, due to a belief that the defendants had initially been charged with too-serious offenses and had been treated unfairly.

Allegheny, PA. Bar Posthumously Admits George Vashon To Practice Law

*On this date in  2010, a Black man was admitted to the Allegheny County Bar posthumously, 163 years after he applied.  In 1847, the Allegheny County Bar denied George Boyer Vashon entry because he was Black. Vashon reapplied to the bar in 1868 and was again rejected. Pennsylvania was a “free state” before the American […]

Police Brutality Protest in Oakland, CA Occurs

*On this date in 2010 the Black community in Oakland, California protested and verdict in the death of another black man by an Oakland police officer.

Charles Taylor, Liberian President is Found Guilty

*On this date in 2012, an international court trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor ended.