50 events that changed black America - Special Issue: 50 Years of JPC - JPC and the New World of Black America

Ebony, Nov, 1992

29) July 2, 1964--Civil Rights Bill, with public accommodations and fair employment sections, is signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

30) August 20, 1964-- President Johnson signs Economic Opportunity Act, initiating the "war on poverty."

31) Feb. 21, 1965--Malcolm X, charismatic Black nationalist leader, is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Three Blacks were later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

32) March 21, 1965--Thousands of marchers, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and protected by federal troops, complete the first leg of the Selma to Montgomery march.

33) August 6, 1965--President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Bill which authorized the suspension of literacy tests. Federal examiners were sent to the South under provisions of the bin.

34) August 11, 1965--An insurrection starts in the Watts section of Los Angeles and rages for six days. The Watts insurrection was the first in a wave of major disturbances that forced a national reappraisal of racism in America.

35) January 18, 1966 Robert Weaver is sworn in as secretary of housing and urban development and becomes the first Black member of a presidential cabinet.

36) October 2, 1967-- Thurgood Marshall becomes the first Black member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

37) Nov. 7, 1967--Carl Stokes of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher of Gary become the first Blacks elected mayors of major U.S. cities.

38) Feb. 29, 1968--The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) says in formal report that White racism is the root cause of the riots in American cities.

39) April 4, 1968---Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by White sniper in Memphis. The assassination triggered a national crisis with rioting in more than 100 cities and calls for racial renewal and repentance. President Johnson declared a day of mourning.

40) April 10, 1968--U. S. Congress passes Civil Rights Bill banning racial discrimination in the housing market and making it a crime to interfere with civil rights workers.

41) Jan. 23-30, 1977--The ABC-TV dramatization of Alex Haley's Roots becomes the highest-rated drama in TV history and sparks a national "roots" craze.

42) Nov. 2, 1983--President Ronald Reagan changes his mind and signs a hill designating the third Monday in January of each year as a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Millions celebrated the first holiday on January 20, 1986.

43) Nov. 3, 1983--The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president of Operation PUSH, announces that he will run for U.S. president. His campaign generated unprecedented fervor. In his second bid for the presidency in 1988, he captured four state primaries.

44) Sept. 20, 1984--The Cosby Show premieres on NBC-TV and changes the image of African-Americans and the viewing habits of White Americans.

45) Sept. 21, 1989--Gen. Colin L. Powell is confirmed by the Senate as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

46) Nov. 7, 1989--L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes the first Black elected governor.

47) Jan 24, 1991- The spreading AIDS epidemic is called a major health threat to AfricanAmericans by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Officials said the disease, which foreed a major re-evaluation of sexual relationships, was the leading cause of death among African-American women 15 to 44 years old in New York State and New Jersey. African-American leaders cited the danger to addicts using infected needles and called for safe sex practices.