Malawi becomes independent

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...

President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation prohibiting discrimination in specified public accommodations and employment and strengthening federal action against segregation. Years of organizing...

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...

SCLC joined the Dallas County Voters League, SNCC and local residents in an intensified voting-rights campaign. Black residents had long confronted obstruction when attempting to register. The new...