Human Rights timeline
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Approved
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 brought together two streams of thought: one springing from the Anglo-American tradition... Read more
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Nine black students are prevented from entering formerly all-white Little Rock Central High School by the Arkansas National Guard
The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock... Read more
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Four black students sit at a segregated lunch counter in Woolworth's, sparking the Greensboro sit-ins
The sit-ins were very significant to the movement. They symbolized a change in the mood of African-American people. Up until then, we had accepted... Read more
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The first Freedom Ride leaves Washington DC for racially-segregated South
Civil Rights activists called Freedom Riders rode on interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme... Read more
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Becomes Involved in the Albany Movement
The Albany Movement was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, on November 17, 1961. Local activists, the Student Nonviolent... Read more
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James Meredith Becomes First Black Student at the University of Mississippi
Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi of Native American (Choctaw) and Black American heritage. He enlisted in the United States Air Force... Read more
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Violence Erupts as Civil Rights Protesters Clash with Police in Birmingham, AL
The Birmingham campaign was a strategic movement organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the unequal... Read more
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President Johnson Signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 into Law
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places,... Read more
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated at Lorraine Motel
In March 1968, Reverend King went to Memphis, Tennessee in support of striking African American sanitation workers. The workers had staged a... Read more
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The Washington Star Exposes the Tuskegee Experiment to a Scandalized Public
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Public Health Service Syphilis Study, or the... Read more
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Nayirah Tearfully Describes Iraqi Atrocities in Occupied Kuwait
Although there were human rights abuses committed in Kuwait by the invading Iraqi military, the ones best known in the US were an invention of the... Read more
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First group of detainees arrives at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray
In 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that stipulated that US military could indefinitely detain any non-citizen who he... Read more
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US District Judge James Robertson says trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees are unlawful
The special trials established to determine the guilt or innocence of prisoners at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are unlawful and cannot... Read more
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Riots break out across the Muslim World in response to allegations of Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay detention camp
CAIRO, May 28 -- Muslims in several countries demonstrated Friday in resurgent anti-American anger over reported desecration of the Islamic holy... Read more
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Supreme Court rejects Guantanamo Bay detainee tribunals
The Supreme Court yesterday struck down the military commissions President Bush established to try suspected members of al-Qaeda, emphatically... Read more
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Department of Defense announces creation of manual outlining rules for military commissions dealing with Guantanamo Bay detainees
The Defense Department today presented to Congress its manual outlining rules for military commissions as they will be conducted under the Military... Read more
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Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks, pleads guilty to terrorist activity
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 26 -- Australian David M. Hicks pleaded guilty to one charge of material support for terrorism during a brief military... Read more
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US Supreme Court rules that Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their detention in court
Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. ___ (2008), was a writ of habeas corpus submission made in a civilian court of the United States on behalf of Lakhdar... Read more
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President Obama orders closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility
Torture and CIA "ghost" prisons will be no more. Guantanamo Bay will be closed. Lo and behold, the leader of communist Cuba has called the 44th... Read more
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North Korea captures 2 American journalists
Two American journalists detained by North Korean soldiers are believed to have been sent to Pyongyang for questioning, a news report said... Read more
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China Tightens Grip on Security on 20th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, which culminated with the Beijing massacre, in which hundreds,... Read more
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150,000 People Hold Vigil in Hong Kong to Commemorate 20-Year Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre
Tens of thousands of people converged Thursday on a park to mark the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in... Read more
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First Guantanamo Bay Detainee to Stand Trial in US
In a reversal of Bush administration policy, the first Guantanamo detainee was transferred Tuesday to U.S. soil for trial on capital terrorism... Read more
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China Demands Rendition of Uighur Guantanamo Bay Detainees
America should "stop handing over terrorist suspects to any third country," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. Palau, a former US Pacific... Read more
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Notorious Iranian Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi is Charged with Investigating Detained Protestors
A notoriously abusive Iranian prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, has been put in charge of the investigation of detained reformist leaders and party... Read more