During one of the most turbulent decades in
the past fifty years, Charlotte's African Americans are active participants
in the battle for civil rights. Urban renewal begins in earnest with
the demolition of Charlotte's Ward neighborhoods. Learn about the
push for desegregation in Charlotte's hotels and restaurants, as well
as other public facilities. The enforcement of court-ordered school
desegregation and the impact of the Swann case are predominant
news.
January 1960 - City
and county schools combine.
January 18, 1960 -
Bishop C.M. "Daddy" Grace dies.
February 1960 - Greensboro
sit-in sparks protests that spread across the South.
November 21, 1960
- "Stay" goes to the top of the charts.
1960 - The demolition
of Second Ward begins.
Summer 1961 - Hawkins
leads protest against the school board.
May 4, 1961 - The
Congress of Racial Equality begins Freedom Rides.
March 1, 1962 - M
& F Bank, NC's first black run bank, opens a branch on Beatties
Ford Rd.
1962 - James Meredith
desegregates University of Mississippi.
1962 - Fred Alexander becomes the first black
member of the Chamber of Commerce.
March 1962 - Hawkins
pickets Memorial Hospital.
May 1963 - King speaks
to Charlotte's black high schools.
January 16, 1963 -
Gantt desegregates Clemson College.
May 1963 - Charlotte
hotels and restaurants begin to desegregate.
June 12, 1963 - Civil rights activist Medgar
Evers is murdered in Mississippi.
August 28, 1963 -
The March on Washington.
November 22, 1963
- President Kennedy is assassinated.
1963 - Separate campuses
are built for UNC Charlotte and Carver College.
May 13, 1964 - Hawkins
protests at the YMCA.
July 2, 1964 - President Johnson signs the
Civil Rights Act.
August 4, 1964 - The
bodies of three civil rights workers are found in Mississippi.
1964 - Once-segregated hospitals across the
state begin to open their doors to black doctors and patients.
January 19, 1965
- The Swann Case is opened.
1965 - The Voting
Rights Act is passed.
January 24, 1965 -
Dynamite destroys Julius Chambers' car.
February 21, 1965
- Malcolm X is murdered.
April 18, 1965 -
Friendship Baptist Church is demolished.
August 1965 - Blacks in the Watts section
of Los Angeles riot for six days.
November 22, 1965
- The homes of four local civil rights leaders are bombed in Charlotte.
December 1965 - Christmas
with Anita Stroud.
1965 - Fred Alexander
is elected to the Charlotte City Council.
June 6, 1966 - The
new AME Zion Publishing House is dedicated.
Fall 1966 - King brings
the civil rights movement to the North and opposes the War in Vietnam.
1967 - The demolition
of First Ward begins.
1967 - Johnson C.
Smith University celebrates its 100th birthday.
June 3, 1967 - Aretha Franklin records Otis
Redding's song "RESPECT."
July 20-23, 1967- The Black Power conference
is held in New Jersey and attracts a diverse group of black leaders.
August 30, 1967 -
Marshall is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
February 16, 1968
- Johnson C. Smith students protest the deaths of three students.
April 4, 1968 - Martin
Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.
1968 - Jackie Harrison
graduates from predominantly white Harding High School.
1968 - Swann Case
is reopened.
June 5, 1968 - Robert Kennedy is shot and killed
in California while running for president.
January 7, 1969 -
The fence dividing Elmwood Cemetery is taken down.
April 23, 1969 - Judge
McMillan orders the Charlotte school board to eliminate segregated
schools.
1969 - A student is killed when police and
National Guard fire upon North Carolina A&T students.
May 1969 - The Concerned
Parents Association responds to the integration ruling.
July 20, 1969 - Astronauts
aboard the Apollo 11 land on the moon in the lunar module the Eagle.
October 16, 1969
- Vietnam War protest at Johnson C. Smith.