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Showing results 41 – 50 of 145

Glossary Term – Event

Emmett Till murdered

Emmett Till, an African American teenager from Chicago, was murdered in Mississippi. Having arrived in Mississippi a week before to visit relatives, Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot, and killed by two white men after allegedly speaking inappropriately to a white female grocery store cashier. The murderers—the husband and half brother-in-law of the cashier—dumped Till’s corpse in a river. The men were soon arrested but were aqcuitted at trial by an all-white, all-male jury.

Glossary Term – Event

First black senator since Reconstruction

Edward Brooke III of Massachusetts became the first African American to serve in the US Senate since Reconstruction.

Glossary Term – Event

First Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa was established as a holiday to celebrate African American community and culture.

Glossary Term – Event

First sit-ins

Four black college students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College staged the first of the Civil Rights Movement’s sit-ins. The students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and attempted to order but were refused service. The sit-in movement grew to more than 140 cities. Participants faced harassment, violence, and arrest in their attempts to integrate public lunch counters.

Glossary Term – Event

Freedom Summer

In Mississippi, civil rights advocates organized a Freedom Summer, registering African American voters and teaching literacy and black history.

Glossary Term – Event

George Wallace’s Stand in the Schoolhouse Door

Alabama governor George Wallace, who previously declared, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” attempted to stop the integration of the University of Alabama by physically blocking the entry of two black students. Wallace eventually stood aside after President Kennedy authorized the National Guard to step in.

 

Glossary Term – Event

Jackie Robinson integrates Major League Baseball

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first African American to play Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers on the field.

Glossary Term – Event

John F. Kennedy assassinated

President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president upon Kennedy’s death.

Glossary Term – Event

John F. Kennedy elected president

In a close election, Democrat John F. Kennedy edged out Republican Richard Nixon to win the presidency. Kennedy won by fewer than 117,000 popular votes.

Glossary Term – Event

Kerner Commission Report

The Kerner Commission, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the race riots of 1967, issued its report on the nation’s recent racial violence. The report declared, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” It further stated, “This deepening racial division is not inevitable. The movement apart can be reversed. ”