Sep 20 Obama: Women made the civil rights movement happen By Darlene Superville, Associated Press To President Barack Obama, women of the civil rights movement were "the thinkers and the doers" whose toil and sacrifice benefited everyone in the country. Continue reading
Jul 13 How newspapers reviewed ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ in 1960 By Joshua Barajas At a time when Jim Crow laws still gripped the U.S. southern states and the civil rights movement was beginning to hit its stride, Harper Lee was quietly developing two books that told the story of racism in the South. Continue reading
Mar 07 Obama signs law honoring civil rights marchers By Darlene Superville, Associated Press Participants in three civil rights marches a half century ago are being recognized with Congressional Gold Medals, the highest honor awarded by Congress. Continue reading
Feb 04 Rosa Parks’ letters and photographs reveal a lifelong warrior for civil rights By Ruth Tam The Rosa Parks Collection of 7,500 manuscripts and 2,500 photographs are available to researchers at the Library of Congress on Feb. 4 and a portion will be open to the public on March 2. Continue reading
Aug 08 When Mississippi schools wouldn’t integrate, Freedom Schools opened doors By April Brown, Mike Fritz In the summer of 1964, hundreds of out-of-state volunteers joined local activists in Mississippi to increase voter registration among disenfranchised African Americans in the state. Many of the volunteers worked in the dozens of newly created Freedom Schools. Herbert Randall,… Continue reading
Jun 24 Watch 50 years later, ‘Freedom Summer’ leaders recall pivotal fight against discrimination By PBS NewsHour A new documentary “Freedom Summer” looks back to the deeply segregated Mississippi of 1964, and the young people who came from around the country to lend a hand in the struggle against racism. For a look back at the moment,… Continue watching
Apr 10 Watch How the Civil Rights Act pioneered anti-discrimination laws in America By PBS NewsHour Continue watching
Mar 17 Watch Beyond ‘Black Power,’ recounting the under-told story of Stokely Carmichael By PBS NewsHour Continue watching
Jan 28 To everything there is a season: Folk singer and activist Pete Seeger dies at 94 By Victoria Fleischer Pete Seeger, the legendary folk musician who helped spearhead the American folk revival, died Monday night in New York City at the age of 94 from natural causes. Across more than seven decades, he inspired scores of singer-songwriters, activists and… Continue reading
Jan 20 Lost speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. surfaces in New York By Stephen Fee In November 2013, an intern at the New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y., uncovered the only known recording of a speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Sept. 12, 1962, at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New… Continue reading