The following are short descriptions of major events which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
The 1949 Sun Bowl Football Game Controversy involved faculty and student protests at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in response to the Lafayette Leopards football team being banned from participating in the Sun Bowl Football game against the Texas College of Mines (now the University … Read MoreThe Sun Bowl Football Game Controversy (1949)
The Arkansas Freedom Summer, also known as the Arkansas Summer Project, was a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas during the summer of 1965. It occurred one year after the more famous Freedom Summer in Mississippi. Michael Simmons, a Temple University student … Read MoreArkansas Freedom Summer (1965)
Louisiana Freedom Summer, also known as CORE’s Louisiana Project, was a Civil Rights campaign in Louisiana during the summer of 1964. It co-occurred simultaneously with the more famous Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. Like its Mississippi counterpart, the Project relied on volunteers from across the United … Read MoreLouisiana Freedom Summer (1964)
The Katz Drugstore Protests in Des Moines, Iowa, began on July 7, 1948, when Edna May Griffin, John Bibbs, Leonard Hudson, and Griffin’s one-year-old daughter, Phyllis Griffin, entered the Katz Drug Store to eat at the lunch counter. The group was refused service because they … Read MoreKatz Drugstore Sit-In Protests, Des Moines (1948-1949)
The Durham Desegregation Movement was a multi-year civil rights campaign in Durham, North Carolina, between 1960 and 1964. On February 8, 1960, seven days after the Greensboro Sit-Ins occurred, seventeen Black North Carolina College (Now North Carolina Central University) students staged sit-ins at three White-only … Read MoreThe Durham Desegregation Movement (1960-1964)
The Katz Drug Store Sit-Ins occurred from August 19 to August 20, 1958, at the Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The leading cause of the sit-in was the racial segregation at the lunch counter, which was the official policy of the drug store … Read MoreThe Katz Drug Store Sit-Ins (1958)
The Dockum Drug Store Sit-Ins occurred in Wichita, Kansas, between July 19 and August 11, 1958. Ronald W. Walters, a local college student who was at the time president of the Wichita National Association for The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council, organized the … Read MoreThe Dockum Drug Store Sit-Ins (1958)
The Charleston Cigar Factory Strike was a labor strike that involved workers at the Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, from October 22, 1945, to April 1, 1946. The strike resulted from the company refusing to institute raises and racial discrimination. The modern version … Read MoreThe Charleston Cigar Factory Strike (1945-1946)
The Nashville Operation Open City Movement was a civil rights campaign in Nashville, Tennessee, between 1961 and 1964. This three-year campaign would become one of the longest ongoing efforts to desegregate public accommodations in any city in the nation in the 1960s. The main goal … Read MoreNashville Operation Open City Movement (1961-1964)
The University of Los Angeles (UCLA) shootout between the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party (BBP) and the US Organization occurred on January 17, 1969. The shooting happened during a meeting of the Black Student Union at UCLA’s Campbell Hall, where the founder … Read MoreUCLA Shootout between the Panthers and US (1969)
