1960s Timeline

Nov. 9, 1961 - President Kennedy’s associates have sought quietly but without success to open the way for Negroes to attend a speech in...

Oct. 31, 1961 - Here is an interview with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King on the BBC television show “Face to Face.” Dr. King talks about...

Oct. 30, 1961 - Hecklers shouted “Keep Britain white!” today when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, American anti-segregation leader,...

Oct. 27, 1961 - The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called on President Kennedy today to take action to “free the Negro from all forms of...

Oct. 20, 1961 - A Negro student revolt has pushed the city of McComb, a segregationist stronghold in southwestern Mississippi, to the...

Oct. 20, 1961 - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said today that he would not portray a Georgia senator in the film version of the novel...

Oct. 17, 1961 - Bill Russell (right) and four other Negro players on the Boston Celtics and two on the St. Louis Hawks left Lexington,...

Oct. 17, 1961 - In Talladega, Alabama today, a Ku Klux Klansman was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for dragging a white man and...

Oct. 11, 1961 - Dizzy Gillespie (pictured), the jazz trumpeter, charged today that he had been denied access to a swimming pool in a...

Oct. 7, 1961 - A concert by Dizzy Gillespie (left) and his band at Tulane University in New Orleans on Tuesday has been canceled because...

Oct. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy today hailed the progress in desegregating schools in Memphis, New Orleans, and elsewhere. He said that...

Oct. 5, 1961 - The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. charged today that "an apparent reign of terror" was being waged against Negroes taking...

Oct. 3, 1961 - A century of segregation ended in Memphis, Tenn., today when 13 Negro first-graders were admitted to white schools. Police...

Sept. 25, 1961 - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said today that a campaign to double the number of Negro voters in the South this fall...

Sept. 23, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today the Justice Department "will cooperate fully" in enforcing the new...

Sept. 23, 1961 - More than 200 representatives of organizations affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will gather...

Sept. 20, 1961 - A storm of protest arose in Shreveport, Louisiana, today over "Walk in My Shoes," a documentary on the plight of the...

Sept. 20, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has resigned from the Metropolitan Club because of its segregation policy. Assistant...

Sept. 13, 1961 - Thurgood Marshall (pictured right with Roy Wilkins), chief counsel to the NAACP, is slated for appointment to one of...

Sept. 9, 1961 - The Houston Oilers set a scoring record today while opening the defense of their American Football League championship by...