The US Armed Forces were segregated until President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948 which desegregated all the military service branches. That segregation during World War II helped create the Riot of Bamber Bridge in Great Britain in 1943. When US … Read MoreThe Riot of Bamber Bridge (1943)
The Double V campaign was a slogan championed by The Pittsburgh Courier, then the largest black newspaper in the United States, that promoted efforts toward democracy for civilian defense workers and for African Americans in the U.S. military. The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, founded in 1907, … Read MoreThe Double V Campaign (1942-1945)
Beatrice Coleman was a pioneering civil rights activist in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1946 she challenged Jim Crow segregation in the city by calling for the enforcement of a recently-enacted anti-discrimination law. In 1952 Coleman was one of the founding members of the Fairbanks chapter of … Read MoreBeatrice Coleman (1908-1982)
The Nashville Student Movement (NSM) was a civil rights organization in Nashville, Tennessee. The NSM was established when Rev. James Lawson and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council (NCLC) hosted nonviolent workshops at his church, Clark Memorial United Methodist Church, in 1959. The NSM challenged racial … Read MoreNashville Student Movement (1959-1964)
Monford Merrill Monte Irvin was a baseball player who played the left fielder and right fielder in the Negro Leagues and was one of the few who transitioned to Major League Baseball after the integration of the sport in 1947. Irvin played for the Newark … Read MoreMonford Merrill Monte Irvin (1919-2016)
The Nashville Christian Leadership Council (NCLC) was a civil rights organization based in the capital city of Tennessee. The NCLC was created on January 18, 1958 following a meeting by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia where a Nashville representative was in attendance. … Read MoreNashville Christian Leadership Council (1958-1964)
John McFerren was a civil rights activist best known for his involvement in the Tent City campaign of Fayette and Haywood Counties in the early 1960s. McFerren was born on October 28, 1924 to Eugene and Estella McFerren in the town of Somerville, the county … Read MoreJohn McFerren (1924-2020)
Viola Harris McFerren was a civil rights activist alongside her husband, John McFerren, in Fayette County, Tennessee. Viola Harris was born on October 19, 1931 in Benton County, Mississippi to Joseph and Rose Harris. She attended high school in Fayette County, walking five miles to … Read MoreViola Harris McFerren (1931-2013)
The Tent Cities of Fayette and Haywood Counties in Tennessee were the result of early efforts to register African American voters in those counties between 1959 and 1962. When John McFerren of Fayette County and other activists began their voter registration drive, many of the … Read MoreTent Cities of Fayette and Haywood Counties (1960-1962)
In 1972, Gary, Indiana hosted the National Black Political Convention. With over 10,000 attendees, it was the largest independent black political gathering in U.S. history. Planning for the convention began in 1970. Organizers had a difficult time finding a city that was willing to host … Read MoreThe National Black Political Convention, Gary Indiana (1972)
