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Ay
Dr. King is arrested for
his part during demon
strations in Montgomery
in 1956
The Interstate Commerce
Commission banned segrega
tion in buses and all waiting
rooms involved in interstate
travel, November 25, 1955.
Mrs. Rosa Parks, a 42 year
old seamstress, refused to give
up her seat to a white passen
ger on a Montgomery bus and
was arrested. Dr. King became
involved in the incident. As a
means of protest the Mont
gomery Improvement Associ
ation was organized, Decem
ber 4, 1955. Dr. King was
elected president. On Decem
ber 5, 1955, the famous boy
cott was started. This was the
catalytic event which started
Dr. King on the road to
become America’s crusader
and most famous civil rights
leader.
1956 Dr. Kings home was
bombed January 30, 1956 -
no one was hurt.
_ On February 21, 1956, a
suit was filed in U.S. District
Court asking that Mont
gomery’s segregation laws be
declared unconstitutional. On
June 4 the U.S. District Court
ruled that racial segregation
on the city bus line was
unconstitutional. On Novem
‘ber 13, the U.S. Supreme
-Court affirmed this ruling
-prohibiting segregation on
‘buses by declaring Alabamas
-laws unconstitutional. Mont
-gomery’s victory came on
:December 21, 1956 when, for
the first time, black passengers
could legally take any seat on
the city’s buses. Public buses
were finally desegregated.
~ On Deceber 27, 1956, Tal
lahassee, Florida followed and
desegregated its buses after a
six month boycott.
1957 An unexploded bomb
was discovered on Dr. King’s
front porch on January 27,
1957. On January 12, mostly
concerned ministers, labor
leaders, lawyers, and activists
got together and formed the
Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference (SCLC) in
an effort to gain information
and strategy for ending segre
gation in their cities and
towns. The meeting was held
in New Orleans, Louisiana,
and Dr. King was elected pres
ident, February 14, 1957.
The Congress of the United
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Dr. King is escorted to safety after being stoned by
A crowd of angry whites in Chicago
States passed the Civil Rights
Act of 1957 on September 9,
1957. This was the first civil
rights legislation since 1875.
President Eisenhower sent
in federal troops to enforce
court-ordered integration of
Litde Rock Arkansas’ schools.
Nine black students were
escorted into the school by
court order on September 24
and 25, 1957.
Martin Luther King 111 was
born on October 23, 1957.
1958 Dr. King published
his book, Stride Toward Free
dom: The Montgomery Story
(New York: Harper and
Brothers, September 17,
1958). Dr. King was almost
killed by a deranged black
woman, who stabbed him as
he was autographing his new
book in a department store in
Harlem, New York, Septem
ber 20, 1958.
1959 Dr. King and Coretta
went to India as a guest of
Prime Minister Nehru in
efforts to study and learn
more about Gandhi’s philoso
phy and techniques of nonvi
olence from February 2
through March 10, 1959.
Dr. King published his
book, The Measure of a Man
(Philadelphia: Christian Edu
cation Press, 1959).
1960 The sit-in demonstra
tions gained strength, with
Greensboro, North Carolina’s
Woolworths lunch counter as
their focal point, February 1,
1960.
The city of San Antonio,
Texas became the first major
southern city to integrate its
lunch counters due to the sit
in demonstrations on March
16, 1960.
The Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) was formally organ
ized, mainly as a college stu
dent protest group. Its found
ing date was April 15, 1960 at
Shaw University in Raleigh,
North Carolina.
President Dwight D. Eisen
hower signed the Civil Rights
Act of 1960 into law on May
6, 1960.
Dr. King was arrested for
breaking the state of Georgia’s
trespassing law while picket
ing. He was transferred to Rei
dsville State Prison but was
released on $2,000 bond on
October 19, 1960.
1961 Dexter Scott, Dr.
King’s third child was born
January 30, 1961.
C.O.RE. (Congress of
Racial Equality) tested the
newly established interstate
desegregation laws. An inte
grated group of Freedom Rid
ers left Washington, DC on
Greyhound buses, and, upon
arrival near Anniston, Alaba
ma, the bus was burned, and
the riders were beaten, May 4,
AUGUSTA FOCUS
1961.
Thurgood Marshall, chief
counsel for the NAACP, was
appointed to the Second Cir
cuit Court of Appeals by Pres
ident John E Kennedy on
September 1, 1961.
1962 Riots broke out on
the campus at the University
of Mississippi, requiring
12,000 federal marshals to
restore order when James
Meredith enrolled at the
Oxford Campus under court
order on September 30, 1962.
1963 Dr. Kings forth child,
Bernice Albertine, was born
March 28, 1963.
Birmingham, Alabama
police chief, Eugene “Bull”
Connor, became a symbol of
extreme racism when he
broadcast to the entire world
his methods of stopping the
black protest movement. He
used dogs and fire hoses on
peaceful marchers, among
them young children and
women, April 3, 1963. Sit-in
demonstrations were held in
Birmingham, Alabama to
protest public accommoda
tions in eating facilities. Dr.
King was arrested during one
of the demonstrations, April
12, 1963.
In a moment of reflection,
Dr. King, while in his Birm
ingham cell, wrote about his
concerns and criticism on the
pace of justice in civil rights
for black Americans. These
thoughts were expressed in his
moving Letter from a Birming
ham Jail, April 16, 1963.
Governor George Wallace
stood in the door of the Uni
versity of Alabama, refusing
the entrance of black students,
June 11, 1963. :
Civil Rights leader Medgar
Evers was assassinated in front
of his home in Jackson, Mis
sissippi on June 12, 1963.
On August 28, 1963, after
meeting with President John
E Kennedy, Dr. King deliv
ered his famous / Have a
Dream speech on the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial to a
crowd estimated at 250,000.
Dr. King published his
book, The Strength to Love
(Harper and Row Publishers,
September 1, 1963).
The Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham,
Alabama became the site of a
viscous attack on Sunday, Sep
tember 15, 1963. Four litde
girls were killed when a bomb
exploded inside the church
where the children were seat
ed. Dr. King performed a
eulogy for three of the girls on
September 18.
President Kennedy was
assassinated on November 22,
1963.
1964 Time Magazine hon
ored Dr. King as “Man of the
Year” with a feature story and
cover photo, January 3, 1964.
Dr. King published his
book, Why We Cant Wait
(New American Library Pub
lishers, June 4, 1964).
A new plank in the civil
rights movement started with
black and white students,
called the Council of Federat
ed Organizations (COFO).
They initiated massive voter
registration drives in the Sum
mer of 1964.
Dr. King was present at the
White House while President
Lyndon B. Johnson signed the
Public Accommodation and
Fair Employment sections to
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
on July 2, 1964.
Three civil rights workers,
James Chaney (black) and
Andrew Goodman and
Michael Schwerner (both
white) were killed on a trip
through Philadelphia, Missis
sippi, August 4, 1964.
On December 10, 1964,
Dr. King received the Nobel
Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
1965 Malcolm X was assas
sinated in New York City on
February 21, 1965.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge
incident took place in Selma,
Alabama. The marchers were
billy-clubbed, tear-gassed, and
whipped with cattle prods,
March 7, 1965.
The Selma to Montgomery
March, which took in over
25,000 marchers, was held
from March 21 to 25, 1965,
with the protection of federal
troops. A white civil rights
worker, Mrs. Viola Liuzzo was
killed driving some of the
black marchers back to Selma
on March 25, 1965.
The 1965 Voting Rights
Act was signed into law by
President Lyndon B. Johnson,
August 6, 1965.
The Watts riots erupted in
California, August 11 and 12,
1965. The National Guard
was called in to stop America’s
worst single racial distur
bance. Thirty-five people
died.
1966 Robert C. Weaver
became the first black to serve
in the cabinet of our nation.
He was sworn in as Secretary
of Housing and Urban
Affairs, January 13, 1966.
The Supreme Court of the
United States ruled that any
poll tax levied was unconstitu
tional, March 7, 1966.
Dr. King came out against
our governments policy in
Vietnam May 16, 1966.
James Meredith was shot on
a 220 mile “March Against
Fear” from Memphis, Ten
nessce to Jackson Mississippi
on June 6, 1966.
SNCC leader Stokely
Carmichael used the then
militant term, “Black Power,”
in public for the first time in
Greenwood, Mississippi, June
27, 1966.
The National Guard was
called in when summer riots,
between July 18-23, 1966,
broke out in Omaha, Nebras
ka, Chicago, Illinois, Cleve
land and Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. King marched on the
issue for open housing in
Chicago and was stoned by an
angry crowd on August 6,
1966.
Edward Brooke, Republi
can of Massachusetts, was
elected as a United States
Senator, the first black
senator since Reconstruction,
November 8, 1966.
1967 Dr. King published
his book, Where Do We Go
from Here? Chaos or Commu
nity (Harper and Row Pub
lishers, January 1967).
Summer riots took the lives
of 43, including 324 injured
in Detroit, Michigan. 23 died
and 725 were injured in the
Newark, New Jersey riots. Dr.
King, Roy Wilkins, and
Whitney Young, Jr. came out
in an appeal to stop the riots
that took place from May 1
through October 1, 1967.
Thurgood Marshall was
confirmed by United States
Senate to sit as an Associate
Justice and first black on the
U.S. Supreme Court, June 23,
1967.
1968 The National Adviso
ry Committee on Civil Disor
ders (known as the Kerner
Commission) came out with a
statement CONCErning racism
and riots in America on
March 2, 1968.
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in New York City, in 1967, Dr. King addresses over
125,000 marchers during an anti-war protest at the
United Nations Headquarters
Dr. King went to Memphis,
Tennessee to lead a march in
support of striking sanitation
workers, April 3, 1968.
Dr. King delivered his last
speech, entitled /ve Been to the
Mountain Top, at the Mason
Temple, the national head
quarters of the Church of
God in Christ, in Memphis,
Tennessee, on April 3, 1968.
On April 4, 1968, Dr.
Kings life was ended by an
assassin’s s bullet while he was
on the balcony of the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis, Ten
nessee. On April 5, President
Lyndon B. Johnson decreed
that Sunday, April 7, 1968 be
a day of national mourning in
honor of Dr. King.
His body was viewed by
mourners on the campus of
Spelman College in Atanta,
Georgia, April 7, 1968. His
funeral was eulogized at
Ebenezer Baptist Church,
Atanta on April 9, 1968. He
was laid to rest at the South
View Cemetery. More than
300,000 people marched
through Adanta with his
horse-drawn coffin, April 9,
1968.
In the midst of the sadness
of 1968, President Johnson
signed another piece of civil
rights legislation banning
racial discrimination in the
sale and rental of housing to
Blacks and minorities, April
11, 1968.
On June 5, 1968, Robert
Kennedy, the brother of the
late president, John E
Kennedy, was assassinated in
Los Angeles while campaign
ing for the presidency of the
United States.
Dr. Kings assassin was iden
tified as James Earl Ray, who
was arrested at a London air
porton June 8, 1968. Ray was
later sentenced to 99 years in
prison for this crime on May
10, 1969. He died in prison of
liver failure on April 23, 1998.
Shirley Chisholm of Bed
ford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn,
New York became the first
black woman elected to Con
gress, November 5, 1968.
1970 March 25, After the
presentation of a petition
with six million signatures to
Congress, Conyers and Rep.
Shirly Chislom (D-N.Y.)
Announces hearings to study
the King holiday issues.
April 10, California
becomes the first state to
make Dr. Kings birthday a
school holiday.
July, Rep. George Fleming
begins hearings to make
Kings birthday a legal holiday
in Washington state.
1983 August 2 House of
Representatives approves leg
islation for a national King
holiday as the third Monday
of every January beginning in
January 15, 2004
1986. Vote passes 338-90
October 19 Senate approves
measure 78-22, despite efforts
by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)
to sidetrack legislation.
November 2, Legislation for
national King holiday signed
by President Ronald Reagan.
1986 January 18 King’s
birthday is established as
national holiday following the
Congressional passage of the
Public Law 98 -144. President
Ronald Reagan designates the
celebration of the day every
third Monday of each Janu
ary.
1999 New Hampshire
becomes the last state in the
union to officially adopt hon
oring the MLK Holiday.
AUGUSTA TIMELINE
1986 Martin Luther King
Jr. holiday first celebrated on
Monday, January 20. Histori
an J. Philip Waring’s column
“Georgia Places” in the Jan.
16 issue of Augusta Focus
encouraged people to turn on
their automobile lights as they
drove around during that day.
1989 Augusta commission
ers finally voted on April 25 to
rename part of Milledgeville
Road to Martin Luther King
Jr. Blvd. A compromise was
reached about the length to
be renamed. Objections to
any name change had been
made by local businessmen
who did not want to change
addresses, by the United
Daughters of Confederacy
and by the Ku Klux Klan who
submitted a petition with
1,800 signatures.
2003 December 31, Com
missioner Lee Beard passed
away. Beard, as a principal in
the Richmond County public
school system, led a successful
effort to insure other black
educators were given equal
opportunities for promotion
to the position of principal.
The number of black princi
pals increased as a result of this
effort. Beard was known as a
soft-spoken member of the
county commission who
worked collaboratively with
fellow commissioners in sup
port of revitalization projects
in Augusta’s downtown neigh
borhoods among other
things.
2004 January 6, Betty
Beard becomes the first
woman to be appointed to the
Augusta-Richmond County
Commission since the
city/county consolidation.
Beard, the wife of former
commissioner Lee Beard, was
named as interim commis
sioner to fill the seat left vacant
by her husband’s death.
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