People, Locations, Episodes

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is Signed

On this date in 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

This was the first civil rights bill to be approved by Congress since Reconstruction. Though Eisenhower is not routinely linked to the civil rights issue, his contribution, including the 1957 Act, was important as it pushed the whole civil rights issue into the White House. At the time, politicians from the South were angry over what they saw as federal interference in state affairs. This bill became an act where as both parties were fighting for the “Black Vote.”

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 […]

Braden v. United States is decided

*Braden v. United States, 365 U.S. 431, was decided on this date in 1961. In this case, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the petitioner, Carl Braden, ‘s conviction, based on his refusal to answer questions posed by the House of Representatives, did not violate his First Amendment rights and was therefore […]

South Africa Gains Independence From Britain

*On this date in 1961, South Africa gained independence from Britain. This was the first step in the redemption of the Berlin Conference. That episode marked the high point of white European competition for African territory, a process commonly known as the Scramble for Africa.  The country became a republic following a referendum (only open to […]

The Commonwealth Immigration Act is Enacted

*On this date in 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 went into effect.  This was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a pushback against the Windrush generation and non-white colonial citizens of Britain. Before the Act was passed, citizens of Commonwealth countries had extensive rights to migrate to the UK. […]

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 […]

Michelle D. Bernard, Journalist born

*On this date in 1963, Michelle Bernard was born. She is an African American author, journalist and lawyer.

Keith Ellison, Political Administrator, and Activist born

*Keith Ellison was born on this date in 1963. He is an African American lawyer, and politician.

Keith Maurice Ellison is one of five boys, was raised in a Roman Catholic home in Detroit, Michigan. Ellison’s father was a psychiatrist and his mother was a social worker. Growing up Ellison was influenced by the involvement of his family in the civil rights movement, including the work of his grandfather as a member of the NAACP in Louisiana. He converted to Islam at 19 while attending Wayne State University.

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.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act is Passed

On this date in 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act.

John F. Kennedy had argued for a new Civil Rights Act during the 1960 presidential election. But for the next two years, over 70 per cent of the African American vote went to Kennedy, the new president did nothing to promote this legislation.

The Civil Rights bill was brought before Congress in 1963. Kennedy presented arguments in favor of it on June 11 in a speech on television. Kennedy’s Civil Rights bill was still being debated by Congress when he was assassinated in November 1963.