Video: 'A Tribute to Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher'
(Monday, January 12, 1948) — The U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, unanimously ruled today that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, ordering the admission of Ada Lois Sipuel, a 24-year-old African-American. Continue reading Supreme Court orders Oklahoma to admit African-Americans to law school 70 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD
Video: 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' trailer
(Monday, December 11, 1967, 8:30 p.m. EST) — An aging white couple’s liberal principles are tested when their daughter announces her engagement to an African-American doctor in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, an American comedy-drama film that premiered tonight at the Victoria Theater in New York City. Continue reading ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ premieres in New York City 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 11 1967)
Image: Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey, right, and deputy Cecil Price, center, pass a Meridian policeman en route to court on Oct. 11, 1967.
(Friday, October 20, 1967, 9:12 a.m. CDT; during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — A federal jury of white Mississippians convicted Mississippi Deputy Sheriff Cecil R. Price and six other defendants today in Meridian, Mississippi, for participating in a Ku Klux Klan conspiracy to murder three young civil rights workers in 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Continue reading Seven found guilty in ‘Mississippi Burning’ trial 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 20 1967)
Video: '"Thurgood Marshall Nominated to Supreme Court" (Washington DC, 6/13/1967)'
(Monday, October 2, 1967, morning EDT; during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — Thurgood Marshall was sworn in today by Chief Justice Earl Warren as the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice in the nation’s history. Continue reading Thurgood Marshall sworn-in as first African-American justice on U.S. Supreme Court 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 2 1967)
Video: 'Eyes On The Prize - (Part 2) Fighting Back 1957–1962' (Sept. 25, 1957, at 18:36)
(Wednesday, September 25, 1957, 9:25 a.m. CDT; during the Little Rock Crisis, part of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–1968)) — Nine black students who’d been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class this morning by members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division without serious disorder. Continue reading U.S. Army troops escort ‘Little Rock Nine’ to school 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 25 1957)
Video: 'Eyes On The Prize - (Part 2) Fighting Back 1957–1962' (Sept. 23, 1957, at 14:22)
(Monday, September 23, 1957, noon CDT; during the Little Rock Crisis, part of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–1968)) — A mob of belligerent, shrieking and hysterical white demonstrators forced the withdrawal today of nine African-Amerian students from Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Continue reading White mob forces nine black pupils to leave school 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 23 1957)
Video: 'Eyes On The Prize - (Part 2) Fighting Back 1957–1962' (Sept. 4, 1957, at 8:29)
(Wednesday, September 4, 1957; during the Little Rock Crisis, part of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–1968)) — Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard today to prevent African-American students from enrolling in the all-white Little Rock Central High School, citing “imminent danger of tumult, riot and breach of peace and the doing of violence to persons and property.” Continue reading Arkansas troops bar African-American pupils 60 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 4 1957)
Video: 'Thurgood Marshall Appointed to Supreme Court 1967'
(Wednesday, August 30, 1967) — The Senate today confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first African American Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 69 to 11. Continue reading Senate confirms Marshall as first African-American justice #OnThisDay #OTD (Aug 30 1967)
Video: 'PBS LBJ Part 1' (Civil Rights Act of 1957 at 43:28)
(Wednesday, August 7, 1957, evening EDT) — The U.S. Senate tonight passed 72-18 the first federal civil rights legislation to become law in 82 years. Continue reading Senate passes first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction 60 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Aug 7 1957)
Video: 'In the Heat of the Night' trailer
(Wednesday, August 2, 1967, 10:00 a.m. EDT) — In the Heat of the Night, an American mystery drama film about a black police detective from the North forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a murder investigation, opened this morning at Loew’s Capitol theater in New York City. Continue reading ‘In the Heat of the Night’ opens in New York City 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Aug 2 1967)
