Video: 'Eyes on the Prize (VI) — Bridge to Freedom, 1965 [with English subtitles]' (Mar. 21, 1965, at 45:24)
(Sunday, March 21, 1965, during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — Protected by federal and federalized troops, civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their successful march out of Selma today. Continue reading Freedom march begins at Selma, troops on guard 50 years ago today (Mar 21 1965)
Video: 'Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506.'
(Monday, March 15, 1965, 9:02 p.m. EST; during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson took the rallying cry of African-Americans into millions of American homes tonight by pledging that “we shall overcome” what he called “a crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.” Continue reading Johnson urges Congress to insure African-American voting rights 50 years ago this hour (Mar 15 1965)
Video: 'President Johnson's Meeting with Governor George Wallace, 3/13/65. MP538.'
(Saturday, March 13, 1965, during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson told Gov. George C. Wallace Alabama today that police brutality in Selma, Alabama, “just must not be repeated” and that federal force would be used if necessary to protect African-Americans there. Continue reading Johnson pledges vote for all, calls Selma ‘American tragedy’ 50 years ago today (Mar 13 1965)
Video: 'The 1965 murder of James Reeb'
(Tuesday, March 9, 1965; after dinner, during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — The Rev. James Reeb, a white minister from Boston who’d gone to Selma, Alabama, to show support for civil rights marchers, was fatally attacked today by a group of white men and struck on the head (Reeb died two days later at age 38). Continue reading White minister supporting civil rights fatally beaten by whites in Selma 50 years ago tonight (Mar 9 1965)
Video: 'Eyes on the Prize (VI) — Bridge to Freedom, 1965 [with English subtitles]' (Mar. 7, 1965, at 20:32)
(Sunday, March 7, 1965, during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — Alabama state troopers and volunteer officers of the Dallas County sheriff’s office tore through a column of unarmed African-American demonstrators with tear gas, nightsticks and whips at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma today to enforce Gov. George C. Wallace’s order against a protest march from Selma to Montgomery. 17 marchers were hospitalized. Continue reading Alabama police use gas, clubs to rout civil rights demonstrators on ‘Bloody Sunday’ 50 years ago today (Mar 7 1965)
(Saturday, March 6, 1965) — “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke peaked today at #31 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart for one week (less than three months after he was fatally shot Dec. 11, 1964). In 2005, the track was voted number 12 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Video: 'Popular Claudette Colvin Videos'
(Wednesday, March 2, 1955; during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested today after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger.
Video: 'THE BURIAL OF MALCOLM X'
(Saturday, February 27, 1965, 9:30 a.m. EST) — Malcolm X, a black nationalist who had told African-Americans they must meet violence with violence, went to his grave today eulogized as a man who died believing in the brotherhood of man. Continue reading Harlem is quiet as crowds watch Malcolm X rites 50 years ago this hour (Feb 27 1965)
Video: 'THE ASSASSINATION OF MALCOLM X (Feb. 21, 1965)'
(Sunday, February 21, 1965, 3:10 p.m. EST) — Black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death this afternoon at a rally of his followers inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York. Continue reading Malcolm X assassinated at rally in New York City 50 years ago this hour (Feb 21 1965)
Video: 'Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech'
(Thursday, December 10, 1964) — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today on behalf of the civil rights movement and “all men who love peace and brotherhood.”
The Baptist minister, in a ceremony at Oslo University, said the award came “at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice.”
