1960s Timeline

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Jan 6, 2022

In Georgia, a 15-year-old Negro boy, Preston Cobb Jr., Faces Death Sentence

Jan. 6, 1962 - In Georgia’s Reidsville Prison, a 15-year-old Negro boy, Preston Cobb Jr., is under sentence of death for killing a...

Jan 1, 2022

President Hails Roy Wilkins of NAACP

Jan. 1, 1962 - President Kennedy hailed Roy Wilkins (pictured center in 1959 with Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall) of the...

Dec 28, 2021

Justice Department Wants Louisiana Voting Law Struck Down

Dec. 28, 1961 - The Justice Department asked a Federal court today to strike down a Louisiana law requiring voters to pass a...

Dec 18, 2021

Nearly 300 Negro Demonstrators Arrested in New Orleans

Dec. 18, 1961 - Three hundred Negroes and a few whites tried to march on the State Office Building in New Orleans today. They were...

Dec 18, 2021

Dr. King Released from Georgia Prison

Dec. 18, 1961 - An agreement reached in Albany, Ga., paved the way for the release of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and about 300...

Dec 16, 2021

Dr. King, 264 other Negroes arrested in Albany, Ga.

Dec. 16, 1961 - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 264 other Negroes, and 1 white youth were arrested today as they marched on City...

Dec 15, 2021

Police Use Tear Gas to Break Up Negro Demonstration in Baton Rouge

Dec. 15, 1961 - The police used tear gas to break up demonstrations today by 1,500 Negroes in the main business district of Baton Rouge,...

Dec 15, 2021

Mississippi Negro Will Run for Congress, First Since Reconstruction

Dec. 15, 1961 - A 58-year-old Jackson Negro grocer said today he would oppose Representative John Bell Williams in the Fourth District...

Dec 14, 2021

Georgia National Guard Called Out After More Demonstrations in Albany

Dec. 14, 1961 - National Guardsmen were called out today as negotiators sought to resolve a crisis over mass arrests of Negro...

Dec 13, 2021

More Arrests in Albany, Ga. as Racial Tension Mounts

Dec. 13, 1961 - In Albany Ga., the police arrested 202 Negroes this evening during a demonstration at the City Hall as racial tension...

Dec 12, 2021

Mass Arrests of Negro Demonstrators in Albany, Georgia

Dec. 12, 1961 - Two hundred and sixty-seven young Negroes were arrested while marching and singing through downtown Albany, Ga., today....

Dec 11, 2021

Martin Luther King Addresses AFL-CIO Convention

Dec. 11, 1961 - Dr. Martin Luther King told organized labor today that it had “not adequately used its great power, its vision, and...

Dec 11, 2021

Supreme Court Voids Sit-In Convictions

Dec. 11, 1961 - The first convictions to reach the Supreme Court from the student sit-in campaign in the South were unanimously set aside...

Dec 9, 2021

Mississippi Newspaperman Burned in Effigy

Dec. 9, 1961 - Hodding Carter (pictured), Pulitzer Prize newspaper man, commented today that when he was burned in effigy in Glen Allan,...

Dec 7, 2021

Mississippi Negroes Arrested for Boycotting Downtown Merchants

Dec. 7, 1961 - Seven Negroes were arrested today in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on charges of “withholding trade” from downtown merchants....

Dec 1, 2021

Mob Menaces Freedom Riders, Attacks Newsmen in Mississippi

Dec. 1, 1961 - In McComb, Mississippi today, he police held back angry white mobs twice while six Freedom Riders achieved the first...

Nov 29, 2021

Freedom Riders Beaten in McComb, Mississippi

Nov. 29, 1961 - A mob of cursing whites, shouting “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!” set upon five Negro Freedom Riders today and drove them from the...

Nov 29, 2021

Mississippi Citizens Council Forming "Minutemen" Organizations

Nov. 29, 1961 - A Mississippi Citizens Council leader said today that several Southern communities were forming “minutemen” organizations...

Nov 11, 2021

McNamara Speaks in Atlanta Amidst Protests

Nov. 11, 1961 - Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara addressed a segregated audience in Atlanta this evening while Negroes and whites...

Nov 9, 2021

White Sox Purchase Hotel to Bypass Segregation in Florida

Nov. 9, 1961 - The Chicago White Sox erased any possible racial segregation problem in spring training today by purchasing the 117-room...