Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement Timeline

1971 Apr 20 Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Swann in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) was an important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public...
1971 Sep 9 Inmates at Attica Correctional Facility Rise Up to Seize Control of the Prison
The Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. The riot was based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living condit...
1972 Mar 10
to 1972 Mar 12
 The National Black Political Convention is Held in Gary, Indiana
Some eight thousand African Americans (three thousand of whom were official delegates) arrived in Gary, Indiana, to attend their first convention, which was more commonly known as the "Ga...
1972 Oct 24 Jackie Robinson Dies
Robinson's body, which had served him well as an athlete, failed early. Heart disease complications and diabetes weakened him and made him almost blind by middle age. On October 24, 1972,...
1978 Jun 23 Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Bakke in University of California v. Bakke
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on affirmative action. It bars quota systems in col...
1983 Nov 2 'Martin Luther King Jr. Day' Becomes a National Holiday
Coretta King’s most enduring contribution to American culture has been as chair of the Martin L. King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. In the late 1970s the King Center collected six milli...
1985 Clayborne Carson Directs The Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project
The King Papers Project's principal mission is to publish a definitive fourteen-volume edition of King's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpubl...
1986 Coretta Scott King Travels To South Africa
During the 1980s, Scott King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington, D.C. that prompted nationwide demonstrations...
1998 Apr 1 Coretta Scott King Calls On Civil Rights Community to Join In Struggle Against Homophobia
"I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy," King told 600 people at...
1998 Apr 23 James Earl Ray Dies In Prison
In Atlanta, Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, issued a statement that said: ''This is a tragedy, not only for Mr. Ray and his family but also for the entire nation. America will ne...
2003 Jun 16 Benton Harbor, MI Erupts into Violence after Death of Black Motorcyclist in High-Speed Police Chase
When they threw the bricks and smashed the windows, when they set the blazes that devoured a dozen buildings over the past two harrowing nights, the people of this depressed city on Lake ...
2006 Jan 30 Coretta Scott King Dies
After suffering a stroke and mild heart attack in August 2005, Coretta Scott King died on 30 January 2006 while being treated at the Hospital Santa Monica in Mexico City. Her funeral serv...
2007 Aug 30 Uncovered Documents Show FBI Was Spying On Coretta Scott King
The American Civil Liberties Union today issued a call to change FBI spying guidelines after documents were released revealing that the FBI spied on Coretta Scott King, after the death of...
2010 May 9 Lena Horne Dies
Lena Horne died on Mothers Day, May 9, 2010, in New York City of heart failure, according to her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by granddaughte...