The following are documents which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These documents are a starting point for additional research and discussions that help further our understanding of the history of people of African ancestry in the United States.
No. 35436. En Banc. Supreme Court September 29, 1961 [1] CIVIL RIGHTS – CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES AND CLASS LEGISLATION – REASONABLENESS OF CLASSIFICATION. Laws of 1957, chapter 37, which amends the law against discrimination (RCW 49.60) by empowering the State Board Against … Read More(1961) O’Meara v. The Washington State Board Against Discrimination
My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms … Read More(1963) Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button, Attorney General of Virginia, ET No. 5 Supreme Court of the United States November 8, 1961, Argued January 14, 1963, Decided Prior History: Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. Case Summary: Procedural … Read More(1963) NAACP v. Button, Attorney General of Virginia, ET
Document Number: PL 88-352 Date: 02 JUL 64 88th Congress, H. R. 7152 An Act To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the … Read More(1964) Civil Rights Act of 1964
ACT 44 A Bill for an Act Amending Act 180, L. 1963, Relating to Fair Employment Practices. Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Hawaii: SECTION 1. This Act is hereby declared to be an urgency measure deemed necessary in the public … Read More(1964) Hawaii Fair Employment Practices Act
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Under and by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, it is ordered as follows: PART I—-NONDISCRIMINATION IN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT Section 101. It is the policy of … Read More(1965) Executive Order 11246
The Negro Family: The Case For National Action Office of Policy Planning and Research United States Department of Labor March 1965 ________________________________________ Two hundred years ago, in 1765, nine assembled colonies first joined together to demand freedom from arbitrary power. For the first century we … Read More(1965) The Moynihan Report: The Negro Family, the Case for National Action
AN ACT To enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act shall be known as the … Read More(1965) The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program Written October 15, 1966 1. We Want Freedom. We Want Power to Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community. We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny. 2. We Want … Read More(1966) The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program
WARREN, C.J., Opinion of the Court SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ________________________________________ 388 U.S. 1 Loving v. Virginia APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA ________________________________________ No. 395 Argued: April 10, 1967 — Decided: June 12, 1967 ________________________________________ MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN … Read More(1967) Loving v. Virginia
