Southern organizers begin building the organization later named SCLC

Thousands of women from different communities marched to Pretoria’s Union Buildings against extending pass controls to African women. Organizers connected women’s lives and work to opposition to...

The first Congress of Black Writers and Artists opened at the Sorbonne in Paris and continued through 22 September. Participants debated culture, racism and colonial domination. Their gathering...

Police arrested Congress Alliance activists in a coordinated sweep. The accused group subsequently grew to 156. Prosecutors used treason charges against organizing associated with the Freedom Charter....

Black residents resumed bus travel after the boycott ended the previous day following receipt of the desegregation mandate. Sustained community organization, alternative transport and litigation had...

Residents began refusing PUTCO buses after a one-penny fare increase. Many walked long distances to work, and the boycott spread to other communities. Collective withdrawal challenged transport...

Ghana became independent as Britain relinquished control of the territories forming the new state. Years of nationalist organization and mass pressure had challenged colonial political authority....

Demonstrators gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to demand progress on civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr.’s address emphasized voting rights as a means to change public institutions. Organizers...

Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed the Federation of Malaya’s independence at Stadium Merdeka. Negotiations and nationalist mobilization ended formal British rule. The event challenged imperial political...

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 strengthened federal institutions for investigating and challenging voting-rights violations. It established a Commission on Civil Rights and authorized additional...

Nine Black students entered Central High School for their first full day of classes under federal troop escort. Their families and local campaigners had confronted state obstruction and racist crowds....