1960s Timeline

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Jan 1

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 NAACP this evening for “his work for freedom of all Americans.” The President sent a message to a Roosevelt Hotel dinner in New York at which 1,000 persons paid tribute to the NAACP executive secretary for 30 years’ service on the staff. “It is the nation as a whole,” the President said, “which should be congratulated tonight — for having a ma

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 constitutional interpretation test. A suit filed in New Orleans said the test was a device to keep Negroes from registering and voting. The disputed requirement was made a part of the Louisiana Constitution in 1921. This was the 15th voting case brought by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and his civil rights chief, Burke Marshall, this year. In the t

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 protesting the mass arrest of anti-segregation demonstrators last week in Baton Rouge. The police arrested 292 of them and broke up the demonstration. The Negroes began their march about 6 p.m., in the midst of rush-hour traffic in downtown New Orleans. The police rushed in all available motorcycle units. One policeman said: “We’re herding them [N

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 other Negroes (pictured) from prison. The plan calls for ending mass protests and an organized boycott against white merchants. In return for these concessions, Mayor Asa D. Kelley and other officials agreed to take the following steps: - Assure police compliance with an I.C.C. ruling against segregation in bus and rail terminals. - Release a

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 Hall for a prayer demonstration in Albany, Ga. All were jailed. There was no violence, despite the tension aroused by week-long racial controversy and the breakdown of negotiations between white and Negro leaders aimed at restoring this city of 56,000 persons to normal. Today’s demonstration was mainly in protest against the city’s refusal to r

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, La. Fifty Negroes were arrested on charges of having been disorderly. Today’s disturbance began as a protest against the arrest yesterday of 23 Negroes for having picketed downtown stores and having staged sit-ins at lunch counters. The demonstrators today were mostly students from Southern University, the largest all-Negro institution of hi

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 Congressional race in Mississippi next year. The Negro, Robert L.T. Smith, was among the four persons who filed a Federal court suit several months ago seeking to halt state donations to the pro-segregation Citizens Councils. Mr. Smith would be the first Negro to run for Congress in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. Associates said Mr.

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 demonstrators in Albany, Ga. The 150 Guardsmen called began reporting to their armory shortly after the fifth demonstration of the week had brought the desegregation of the Trailways Bus Terminal. Negotiations between white and Negro leaders were suspended temporarily today as the result of a report that one of the jailed Negroes had been beaten. He is

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 mounted in this southwest Georgia city. Handbills distributed to the overflow crowd at the Shiloh Baptist Church urged full support for a boycott of 12 major drug, variety, and department stores operated by whites. Police Chief Laurie Pritchett (pictured) called it a “very explosive situation” after the arrests and asserted that it could “erupt

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. They were charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing traffic, and failing to obey an officer as they paraded in support of 11 Freedom Riders who went on trial in City Court this morning. Most were high school and college students. Bond on the charges was set at $200, but only a few were released. Many said they intended to stay in jail unti

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 resources to advance Negro rights.” The civil rights leader made this and other charges in a speech to the convention of the AFL-CIO in Bal Harbour, Fla. He was warmly received. Dr. King acknowledged that labor had done more than any other force in America to better the conditions of Negroes. But he added: “In spite of this, some unions, governed

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 by the court today. There were three cases, involving sixteen Negro students at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. They were convicted of disturbing the peace by sitting at lunch counters where they were refused service. Chief Justice Earl Warren, in the opinion for the court, said the convictions could not stand because there was no e

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, Miss., last night the event marked “real progress.” “In the old days, the Mississippians used to burn people in the flesh,” said the editor and publisher of The Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, “now they just do it in effigy.” He called it “proof that we’re getting mighty civilized in these parts.” His burning in effigy was a protest against

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. The arrests followed a Negro boycott against white merchants for what the NAACP called discriminatory practices. The seven, including Aaron Henry, state head of the NAACP, were seized under a state law that prohibits “conspiracy to prevent others from exercising lawful trade or calling.” In Jackson, Medgar Evers (pictured), NAACP field secret

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 court-ordered desegregation in the state’s modern history. Frustrated in their efforts to keep the Negroes out of the Greyhound bus terminal, youths and a few adults attacked newsmen. Two photographers and a reporter were beaten. Dom Uhrbrock, a contract photographer for Life magazine, was slugged, kicked, and knocked through a plate glass window

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 Greyhound bus station in McComb, Mississippi. Although the three youths and two girls were mauled severely, none was seriously injured. They fled to safety at a Negro hotel after escaping from their assailants in two taxis and a truck. A dozen white youths and men in the small but angry crowd had joined in pummeling the Negroes. They chased

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 to meet integration attempts. Robert B. Patterson of the Association on Citizens Councils of Mississippi said the groups were being formed throughout the South. “Their purpose is to peacefully assemble on short notice at any given point within their community to demonstrate a citizens protest against any invasion of our institutions,” Mr. P

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 protesting his appearance picketed outside. Mr. McNamara made no reference to the controversy in his remarks to a dinner at the Dinkler-Plaza Hotel honoring Senator Richard B. Russell and Representative Carl Vinson. While he spoke, Negroes and whites representing the NAACP and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) paraded before

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 Sarasota Terrace Hotel at their Florida training base. The hotel purchase for $500,000 was announced as part of a sweeping plan to make Sarasota a year-round center for minor league as well as top-level White Sox activity. The Terrace, adjacent to Payne Field where the White Sox train, last year housed most of the Sox players, but four Negroe

Nov 9, 2021

McNamara to Speak at Segregated Hotel

Nov. 9, 1961 - President Kennedy’s associates have sought quietly but without success to open the way for Negroes to attend a speech in Atlanta by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The $7.50-a-plate dinner at the Dinkler-Plaza Hotel is being held to honor U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell and Congressman Carl Vinson. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asserted today that Mr. McNamara’s speech would cause Negroes to wonder “whether the Democratic party merited the overwh