The Civil Rights Act becomes law

Students and families withheld attendance in a citywide protest against school segregation and unequal educational conditions. Black and Puerto Rican organizing brought racial inequality in a northern...

Mandela addressed the court as the defence case opened in the Rivonia Trial. He explained the political struggle against apartheid and defended the ideal of a democratic society with equal...

Mandela and seven fellow defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. The judgment removed prominent organizers from public political activity, while resistance continued through other networks and...

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi while engaged in civil rights work. The killings involved white supremacists and local law-enforcement participation....

Malcolm X introduced the OAAU at a New York rally. Drawing inspiration from African continental unity, the organization linked Black self-determination in the United States to international human...

Malawi gained independence from Britain, replacing colonial Nyasaland with a sovereign state. Hastings Kamuzu Banda headed the government. The change ended colonial political authority following...

Hamer told the Democratic convention’s credentials committee about retaliation and violence faced by Black people seeking the vote. The MFDP challenged the legitimacy of Mississippi’s exclusionary...

FRELIMO launched armed struggle against Portuguese colonial government. Under Eduardo Mondlane’s leadership, the movement sought national liberation from an order that denied equal political authority...

Zambia became independent, ending British rule over Northern Rhodesia, with Kenneth Kaunda as president. Nationalist organizing had challenged a colonial political and economic order. Independence...

Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and associated the recognition with the broader civil rights movement. His address stressed continuing racial injustice and the...