People, Locations, Episodes

Rita Obama, Journalist and Activist born

*Rita Obama’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1960. She is a Black Kenyan-British community activist, sociologist, journalist, and author. Rita Auma Obama is from Nairobi, Kenya, and is the daughter of Barack Obama Sr. and his first wife, Kezia Obama (née Aoko). She is Barack Obama’s older half-sister. After attending a local elementary […]

The University of Georgia Reinstates Hunter, and Holmes

On this date in 1961, racial rioting erupted on the campus of the University of Georgia.

Black students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were suspended for their involvement, but eventually reinstated by a federal court order. Hunter-Gault later became an Emmy award-winning journalist with the McNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.

The Revolutionary Action Movement, a story

*On this date in 1961, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) is affirmed. RAM was a Marxist-Leninist, Black nationalist organization. They were the first group to apply the philosophy of Maoism to the conditions of Black people in the United States. They informed the revolutionary politics of the Black Power movement. Group formation. In 1961, students […]

Barack Obama, Politician born

*Barack Obama was born on this date in 1961. He is an African American lawyer, politician and activist. He is also the first Black person elected as President of the United States of America.

The SNCC Freedom Singers Are formed

*The SNCC Freedom Singers were formed on this date in 1962. They were connected to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, to organize against growing injustice and violence against black people. In the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins, four African American college students protested Jim Crow laws by sitting at a “whites-only” lunch counter. Using […]

Jackie Copeland, Administrator, and Women’s and Environmental Activist born.

*Jackie Copeland was born on this date in 1962. She is a Black environmentalist, women’s activist, author, administrator, and philanthropist. Jackie “Bouvier” Copeland was born in Philadelphia and was the daughter of James and Willette Copeland. She received her B.A. in literature from the School of Arts and Sciences with an African Studies Certification from […]

The Council of Federated Organizations is Formed

*The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was formed on this date in 1962.  They were a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi.  The COFO was the effort of local activists and indigenous leadership.  The prelude to the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi began after World War II when veterans such as Medgar Evers, his brother Charles Evers, Aaron Henry, and Amzie Moore returned home […]

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 […]

100 Black Men of America is Formed

*On this date in 1963, we affirm 100 Black Men of America. They are a men’s civic organization and service club aiming to educate and empower African American children and teens.   100 Black Men has 110 chapters in different cities in the United States and worldwide. The mission statement is “to improve the quality of life within our communities and enhance educational […]

Martin Luther King Jr. Writes the “Letter Frome a Birmingham Jail”

On this date in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama.

While incarcerated there, he wrote, smuggled out of jail, and had printed his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” a moving justification for the moral necessity of non-violent resistance to unjust laws.

The Progressive Club (Charleston, S.C.) Opens

*The Progressive Club was celebrated on this date in 1963.  This historic clubhouse was at Johns Island, Charleston County, South Carolina. It was established in 1948 to provide a home for Esau Jenkins’ Progressive Club’s legal and financial assistance program, adult education program, and dormitory lodging. It also served as a community recreational center, childcare facility, meeting place, and […]

Hamilton v. Alabama is Ruled

*On March 30, 1964, Hamilton v. Alabama was decided. This was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a Black woman, Mary Hamilton, was entitled to the same courteous forms of address customarily reserved solely to whites in the Southern United States and that calling a Black person by his […]

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is Formed

*On this date in 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was formed.  Also referred to as the Freedom Democratic Party, it was an American political party created as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in Mississippi during the 20th-century American Civil Rights Movement. Blacks and whites organized it from Mississippi to challenge the established power of the Mississippi Democratic Party, which at the time allowed participation only […]

Freedom Summer (In America), a story

*Freedom Summer is briefly described on this date in 1964.  Sometimes called the Mississippi Summer Project, it was a volunteer campaign against voter suppression in the United States. Its launch was to register as many Black voters as possible in Mississippi. Blacks had been cut off from voting since the turn of the century due […]

The Organization of Afro-American Unity is Formed

*On this date in 1964, Malcolm X announced the establishment of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) at a public meeting in New York’s Audubon Ballroom.