1960s Timeline

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Oct 31, 2021

Video: Martin Luther King on BBC’s “Face to Face”

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, 2021

Martin Luther King Heckled in England

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

Oct 27, 2021

Rev. King Asks President Kennedy to Issue “Second Emancipation Proclamation”

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, 2021

Racial Turmoil in McComb, Mississippi

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

Oct 20, 2021

Martin Luther King Will Not Appear in Preminger Film

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, 2021

Five NBA Players, Denied Meal Service at Kentucky Hotel, Sit Out Exhibition Game

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, 2021

Alabama Klansman Sentenced for Flogging White Couple

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

Oct 16, 2021

Three Major Railroads End Segregation in Station Facilities

Oct. 16, 1961 - Three major railroads serving the South — the Illinois Central, the Southern, and the Louisville & Nashville — have...

Oct 11, 2021

Jazz Great Dizzy Gillespie Alleges Racial Discrimination in Kansas City

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, 2021

Gillespie Performance in New Orleans Canceled Over Racial Prohibition

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, 2021

President Kennedy Hails School Desegregation in South

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

Oct 5, 2021

MLK: “Reign of Terror” Being Waged on Mississippi Negroes

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, 2021

Memphis Schools Desegregated

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

Sep 25, 2021

Martin Luther King Announces Vote Registration Drive

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...

Sep 23, 2021

Robert Kennedy says ICC Ban on Segregated Busing Will Be Enforced

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

Sep 23, 2021

Martin Luther King, SCLC Push Integration Policies

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

Sep 20, 2021

TV: Some Louisiana Viewers Protest Documentary on Negroes

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

Sep 13, 2021

Thurgood Marshall of NAACP To Be Appointed Judge

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

Sep 6, 2021

Kennedy Sees Progress in Civil Rights

Sept. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy today called the peaceful integration of many schools in the South a "dramatic demonstration of...

Sep 1, 2021

Nine Men Indicted in Firebombing of Freedom Rider Bus

Sept. 1, 1961 - Nine men accused of bombing the first "freedom rider" bus to enter Alabama have been indicted by a Federal grand jury....