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16th Street Church Bombing
The story headlined in most major newspapers around the country on September 16th 1963 a Bomb had gone off at the 16thstreet Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church was…
Six Dead After Church Bombing
September 16, 1963 Birmingham, Sept. 15 — A bomb hurled from a passing car blasted a crowded Negro church today, killing four girls in their Sunday school classes and triggering…
Baxley Reopens Probe of Birmingham Bombing
"We know who did it," Alabama Atty. Gen. Bill Baxley said Wednesday as he confirmed that he has reopened the investigation of a church bombing that killed four young black…
Civil Rights: Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama, served as the center of black industrial employment for nearly a century, and the major site of black labor struggles and civil rights protests. Nestled in the Jones…
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing September 15, 1963
On September 15 1963 at 10:22am, a bomb went off in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls. It was a seminal act of cowardice. And…
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer, highly publicized campaign in the Deep South to register blacks to vote during the summer of 1964. During the summer of 1964, thousands of activists in the Civil…
March on Washington, 1963
March on Washington, 1963, massive public demonstration that articulated the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. The 1963 March on Washington attracted an estimated 250,000 people for a peaceful demonstration…
Emmett Till Story
Emmett Till Louis "Bobo" Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) The difference between the political, economic, and social milieu of the large Chicago metropolis and the rural Mississippi…
Little Rock: School Integration in 1957
Escorted by United States troops, nine black students walk up the stairs to the main entrance of Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, on the first full day of integration,…
1963 Freedom Vote Campaign
Two African American boys help out in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, "Freedom Press" office during the Freedom Vote campaign of 1963. The campaign was an effort to increase black voter registration….
Martin Luther King: SCLC Protest
In the early 1960s Martin Luther King led the SCLC in a series of protest campaigns that gained national attention. The first was in 1961 in Albany, Georgia, where the…
Martin Luther King: Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery’s black community had long-standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on city buses. Many white bus drivers treated blacks rudely, often cursing them and humiliating them by enforcing the…
Martin Luther King: Motel Lorraine
Local newspapers mocked Martin Luther King when he announced he was coming back to Memphis for a second round. Among other snipes and barbs, the local press criticized him for…
Martin Luther King: James Earl Ray
As soon as Martin Luther King fell, an aide, believed to be Marrell McCullough, pointed to the bathroom window of Bessie Brewer’s boarding house. The fingers of others followed him,…
Detroit Riot of 1967
Detroit Riot of 1967, one of several racial disturbances in American cities during the summer of 1967. The summer of 1967 was a turbulent period in American history. Racial confrontations…
Harlem Riot of 1964
Harlem Riot of 1964, an urban rebellion resulting from African American protest of police brutality. At 9:30 pm on July 18, 1964, demonstrators rioted in the Harlem neighborhood of New…
Kerner Commission Report 1968
Kerner Report, the 1968 report of a federal government commission that investigated urban riots in the United States. The Kerner Report was released after seven months of investigation by the…
Watts Riot of 1965
Watts Riot of 1965, the first major racially-fueled rebellion of the 1960s, an event that foreshadowed the widespread urban violence of the latter half of the decade. With the arrest…
