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

Ebony, Nov, 1992

48) March 3,1991- Videotaped beating of motorist Rodney G. King by White Lost Angeles police officers sparks an international uproar. Four White officers were indicted on March 14.

49) June 27, 1991--Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announces his retirement and decries the inereasingly conservative direction of the Court. On July 1, President Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, a conservative Black on the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals, to fill the vacant seat. Thomas, who was opposed by major civil rights groups, was confirmed by a narrow 52 to 48 margin after Atty. Anita Hill, a Black woman who had worked for him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accused him of sexual harassment. Judge Thomas denied the charge but the Judiciary Committee hearing set the stage for the Year of the Woman political races in 1992.

50) April 29, 1992- Acquittal of four White police officers in the Rodney King case sparks biggest U.S. riot since the urban explosions during the Civil War. Federal troops were called out to quell rebellion. The L.A. Coroner's Office said 58 persons died during the disturbances.