African-Americans in the Twentieth Century

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AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

*1960*
	Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) gained national recognition in the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. She won three Gold Medals and was called the "World's Fastest Woman." The Associated Press named her "Female Athlete of the Year" for 1960.
	Up to the 1960's, most Southern and Border States in America had segregated libraries, stores, restrooms, beaches, movie theaters, and restaurants. African-American youths and white sympathizers set in motion an accelerated movement on February 1, 1960 - the Sit-Ins. The catalyst for the sit-in movement took place at the Woolworth's lunch counter by a group of North Carolina A&T University students in Greensboro, North Carolina.
	President Eisenhower signed into law a stronger, more protective Civil Rights Act dealing with the disenfranchisement of Blacks seeking to register and vote.
	The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized and started a nationwide network of student sit-ins. The first meeting was held in Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Marion Barry (1936- ) became the first national chairperson.
	Rafer Johnson (1934- ) carried the American flag at the Olympics - a first for an African-American. That year, he also won the gold medal in the decathlon. In 1956, he had won the silver.
	By 1960, four states in the United States had not desegregated their public schools since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 had been handed down. They were South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

*1961*
	There were riots on the University of Georgia's campus when two students, Charlayne Hunter (who later became known as Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a reporter on the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour) and Hamilton Holmes (later Hamilton Holmes, M.D.), enrolled at the university in 1961.
	Dr. W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963), civil rights leader and educator, moved to Ghana, West Africa at the age of ninety-three. He expired two years later at the age of ninety-five in Ghana.
	Leontyne Price (1927- ) made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City on January 27, 1961 where she performed in Verdi's Il Trovatore.
	The singing sensation of the Supremes with Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard made their first appearance as a group out of Detroit, Michigan.
	The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set out to test the newly established interstate desegregation laws on transportation. An integrated group of Freedom Riders got as far as Anniston, Alabama where they were beaten, and the Greyhound bus was burned on May 4, 1961.
	Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was appointed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on September 1, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.

*1962*
	James Howard Meredith (1933- ), after being refused three times, was finally granted admission to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss.). The governor, Ross Barnett, blocked Meredith's admission, and the United States Federal Marshals, by force, escorted him to classes. A group of federal troops stayed around Meredith until he graduated in August of 1963 due to the racial tensions on campus.
	Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) was inducted into the Cooperstown, NY Baseball Hall of Fame on July 3, 1962.
	Ernie Davis (1939-1962), the Syracuse running back, was the first African-American to receive football's Heisman Trophy in 1962. Sadly, Davis was diagnosed with leukemia and died the same year.
	Samuel L. Gravely (1922- ) was appointed captain of the Navy Destroyer Escort, U.S.S. Falgout, thus becoming the first African-American to command a United States warship. He later received the rank of Rear Admiral, a first for an African-American navyman.

*1963*
	President John F. Kennedy called the struggle by African-Americans for basic civil rights a "moral issue." He went on to ask Congress to emphasize the strengthening of voting rights, the need for more job opportunities, and the need to enforce school integration across this nation.
	Sidney Poitier (1927- ) became the first African-American to win an Academy Award as Best Actor for his role in Lillies of the Field.
	Bayard Rustin (1910-1987), civil rights activist and A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters were the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. Over 250,000 marchers assembled at the Lincoln Memorial for the largest protest march in United States history on August 28, 1963 with housing, jobs, and education as the major focus of the protest. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stirred the nation to its feet when he delivered his memorable speech, "I Have a Dream," at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
	Medgar Evers (1925-1963), civil rights leader and NAACP field secretary, was assassinated on June 12, 1963 in front of his home in Jackson Mississippi.
	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Dr. Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990), and Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth (1922- ) led a series of Marches in Birmingham, Alabama to protest the many restrictive racial barriers aimed at African-Americans. There were many violent confrontations. Over 1,500 protesters were arrested in those marches. Attack dogs and fire hoses were used on all marchers, including women and children. This outrage led many white Americans to join the protest for civil rights for African-Americans. Police chief "Bull" Connor and Governor George Wallace became symbols of American racism and segregation.
	On April 16, 1963, Dr. King was jailed and, while there, produced his thoughts about justice and civil rights in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
	The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama became the site of a viscous attack on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four little girls were killed when a bomb exploded inside the church where the children were seated.
	On June 11, 1963, two African-American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, were ushered into the University of Alabama with the National Guard by their side although Governor George Wallace tried to physically prevent them from enrolling at the University.
	November 22, 1963 - This sad day, our President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in a moving motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

*1964*
	Time magazine honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the Man of the Year, along with a feature story, January 3, 1964.
	The Congress of the United States passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which included provisions for the elimination of discrimination in education, employment, and in public accommodations. President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill with notables present, including Dr. King, on July 2, 1964.
	In a show of hands at the Democratic National Convention, we saw Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) rise to the occasion. Because African-Americans were refused by the Democratic Party to have representative delegates, Hamer and the others formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. This one act led to the inclusion of representation by African-Americans in the next convention in 1968.
	Three civil rights workers, James Chaney (black male), Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (both white males) were killed while traveling through Philadelphia, Mississippi, August 4, 1964.
	The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on January 23, 1964. It outlawed poll taxes that kept African-Americans from being able to vote, mostly in the southern states.
	The Supremes, with Diana Ross were tops in the music industry. "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Baby Love" were two hits of 1964.
	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 1964.

*1965*
	Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was appointed to the position of Solicitor General of the United States by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
	Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) (1925-1965) was assassinated as he spoke on February 21, 1965 in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
	Patricia R. Harris (1924-1985) became the first African-American woman to be appointed an ambassador. She served in the country of Luxembourg as appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. She was, under the presidency of Jimmy Carter, the first African-American woman appointed to a cabinet position Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
	The March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was set upon with violence when the marchers crossed the Edmund Petus Bridge. Local police used billy clubs, tear gas, cattle prods, and beat the marchers to show their resistance to voter rights and the freedom to petition for those rights on "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965.
	Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white civil rights worker from Detroit, Michigan, was gunned down while driving some black marchers back to Selma, Alabama on March 25, 1965.
	President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.
	One of the bloodiest and most destructive race riots ever in America happened in Watts, Los Angeles, California and lasted for five days, August 11-15, 1965. Thirty-five people were killed, nine hundred injured, and property losses of $225 million. Federal troops were called in to stop the violence.

*1966*
	Robert C. Weaver, Ph.D. (1907-) became the first African-American to serve in the President of the United States' Cabinet. He was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Lyndon B. Johnson, starting January 3, 1966.
	The Black Panther Party was organized in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale (1936- ) of Dallas, Texas and Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) of Monroe, Louisiana as a black self-defense group aimed at getting revolutionary changes in America's policies as they related to oppressed African-Americans. Other Panther Party members included Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998) and Fred Hampton (1952?-1969).
	The strong slogan of "Black Power" was introduced in the liberation struggles of 1964's voter registration march through Mississippi. Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998), as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was credited with the spread of this slogan in many of the major protest marches of the 1960's. In 1978, he changed his name to Kwame Toure.
	Andrew Felton Brimmer (1926- ) became the first African-American appointed to serve on the prestigious Federal Reserve Board by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.
	Not since the Reconstruction Period (1865-1877) had an African-American been elected to serve in the United States Senate. On November 8, 1966, Edward W. Brooke (1919-), the Republican attorney general of Massachusetts was elected to a Senate seat in Congress.
	1966 saw two African-American women elected to state political offices: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (1932- ) was elected to the California Assembly in 1966. She later was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 1972. Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) was elected to the Texas State Senate. Texas later elected Jordan to the United States House of Representatives in 1972.
	January 3, 1966 saw Floyd McKissick (1922-1991) as the elected director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). His outspoken leadership stressed the need for both economic as well as political power for African-Americans.
	Constance Baker Motley (1921- ), the former borough president of Manhattan, made history by becoming the first African-American federal judge as appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. By 1986, she moved up to become Senior District Court Judge covering several New York counties.
	Dr. Samuel M. Nabrit (1905-2003) became the first African-American to serve as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. Dr. Nabrit was president of Texas Southern University from 1955-1966. His brother, James Nabrit (1900- ) was president of Howard University from 1960-1969.
	Julian Bond (1940- ) won an elected seat in the State of Georgia House of Representatives. He was refused his seat due to his open views opposing American involvement in the Vietnam War. After a bitter court battle, Bond was seated but treated as a pariah by his colleagues.
	Leontyne Price (1927- ) opened the new season at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in Samuel Barber's opera, Anthony and Cleopatra, done exclusively for Ms. Price.

*1967*
	Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson, becoming the first African-American appointed to the high court as an Associate Justice.
	Carl B. Stokes (1927-1996) was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, and Richard G. Hatcher (1933- ) was elected mayor of Gary, Indiana, both in 1967.
	The summer of 1967 was called the "Hot Summer," the worst racial uprisings in American history with over forty riots: the cities of Newark, NJ; Detroit, MI; New York, NY; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Atlanta, GA; and Buffalo, NY had the worst. President Johnson appointed a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to investigate the matter. This became known as the Kerner Commission.
	H. Rap Brown (1943- ) became the chairperson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on May 12, 1967. He changed the name of SNCC to the Student National Coordinating Committee. Brown's run-ins with the law landed him in jail where he converted to the Islamic faith. His new name became Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin.
	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. denounced the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War on March 24, 1967. His unpopular stance said that "Blacks and Whites should seek to resist this war by becoming conscientious objectors."
	Major Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. (1935-1967) became the first African-American astronaut on June 30, 1967. He was a research scientist and pilot. Unfortunately, he was killed when his F-104 D Starfighter Jet crashed in the California desert.

*1968*
	Taking on a new name as a group came up in 1968. Negro was out. Afro-American and Black were the preferred names when addressing Blacks as a subject according to a poll in the New York Times, July 6, 1968.
	Shirley Chisholm (1924- ) became the first African-American woman elected to Congress. Ms. Chisholm was elected to the House of Representatives from 12th District of New York. In 1972, she made a bid for the Presidency of the United States, becoming the first black woman to take on this challenge. She entered the primaries in twelve states. She resigned from Congress in 1982.
	The Civil Rights Bill of 1968 was signed into law. It included the Fair Housing Act that prohibited "discrimination on the basis of race in the renting and sale of houses and apartments."
	The demand for Black Studies Programs came to forefront of student demonstrations during the 1960's. Howard University was a target on March 19, 1968. The protest called for a curriculum that included more black culture.
	The Kerner Commission Report was released on February 29, 1968. It summed up its Report by stating that: "Our nation is moving toward two societies; one Black, one White separate and unequal."
	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. He was shot while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Dr. King was in Memphis to help the mainly black sanitation workers of Memphis with their resolution of unfair treatment of wages and work conditions.
	Ralph D. Abernathy (1926-1990) succeeded Dr. King as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) on April 29, 1968. On May 12, 1968, he led a march on Washington called the "Poor Peoples March". A campsite was erected on the Capitol grounds called "Resurrection City" which was aimed at getting legislators' attention to the plight of America's poor people.
	Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) was assassinated while addressing well wishers on his victory in the California Democratic primary.
	Black Militant leader of the Black Panther Party, Eldridge (Leroy) Cleaver (1935-1998), published his popular autobiographical book, Soul on Ice.
	O.J. Simpson (1947- ), running back for the University of Southern California, won football's Heisman Trophy in 1968.

*1969*
	James Earl Ray (1928-1998) pleaded guilty to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison on March 10, 1969.
	Many campuses across the United States were besieged with demands for more awareness of the needs of their African-American student populations. Students staged sit-ins at student centers and administration buildings in the year 1969.
	Harvard University established its first Afro-American Studies program which set the stage for similar programs at other universities across the country in 1969.
	Militant activist H. Rap Brown (1943- ) published his controversial autobiography, Die Nigger Die! Black Militancy was at its highest level. The language was strong and fiery.
	James Earl Jones (1931- ) won a Tony Award for his role as Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope on New York's Broadway.
	Moneta Sleet, Jr. (1926-1996) became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The Long Island resident died on September 30, 1996.
	The number one hit in popular music was the Fifth Dimension's recording of "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In". The song won a Grammy for Best Record in 1969.
	Arthur Mitchell (1934-) established his highly successful dance company, The Dance Theater of Harlem, in 1969. He had been the first African-American to dance as a principal performer with the American Ballet Company in 1955.

*African-Americans in the Twentieth Century*
*1900s*	*1910s*	*1920s*	*1930s*	*1940s*
*1950s*	*1960s*	*1970s*	*1980s*	*1990s*

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