Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

You are here

Home

Turbulent Times 1960-1979

1970 - School Busing begins

September 9, 1970 - Busing has begun. Children are assigned to schools in an attempt to achieve integration, which removes barriers that separate people by race. Still, thousands of parents resist the changes and complain loudly to the school board. The board will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, and appeal Judge McMillan's decision to use busing to integrate the schools. The highest court in the nation will decide the Swann case. The outcome could affect every community in the country. Bus Ride to a New School

Date of Event:

1975 - President Ford in Charlotte

May 20, 1975 - President Gerald Ford draws a crowd estimated near 100,000 when he speaks at Charlotte's Freedom Park. He has come to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Long a topic of controversy, some believe the Meck Dec never existed. Others swear their ancestors witnessed or signed the document that proclaimed freedom from Britain in 1775. Ford Greets Crowd of Thousands at Freedom Park

Date of Event:

1971 - Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg

April 20, 1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court votes unanimously to uphold Judge McMillan's decision in the Swann case. Busing can be used to achieve racial balance in schools. But victory is not yet won. Tensions will get worse as fighting, bomb scares, and riots break out at Charlotte-Mecklenburg's schools.

Date of Event:

1965 - Attack on Justice

January 25, 1965 - A dynamite blast destroys the car that belongs to Julius Chambers. Luckily, he is not hurt. Chambers is the attorney who recently filed legal action against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board on behalf of the Swann family. He will be the target of violence again.

Date of Event:

1960 - King Richard

February 28, 1960 - On a half-mile dirt track at the Charlotte Fairgrounds, 22-year-old Richard Petty wins his first race. He will go on to become the winningest driver in the history of stock car racing, known as NASCAR. 

Date of Event:

1975 - Case Closed

July 11, 1975  - It has been seven long years since Julius Chambers first filed the legal case, Swann vs. the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Integration has worked for one year. Judge James B. McMillan is confident it will continue to do so and gives control of the schools back to the board. The judge who had endured threats against his life officially closes the case. The city that made integration work has earned another place in America's history books.

Date of Event:

1971 - Nixon and Graham

October 15, 1971 - President Richard Nixon visits the Queen City to help honor native Charlottean Reverend Billy Graham. The event becomes even more famous for the actions of officers, called the Secret Service, who protect the president. The Secret Service keeps out some men with long hair, because the officers suspect the men are activists, people who speak out against U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam.

Date of Event:

1965 - Dangerous Times

November 22, 1965Eight-year-old Kelly Alexander, Jr. lies asleep in his bed. Kelly's father has been working to obtain the same rights for black Americans that whites enjoy. But on this night, a bomb explodes in Kelly Jr.'s bedroom and in the homes of three other Charlotte civil rights workers. The victims are the families of Julius Chambers, Reginald Hawkins, Fred Alexander and his brother, Kelly Alexander, Sr. Miraculously, no one is killed. No one will be arrested for these crimes. House destroyed by fire

Date of Event:

1961 - Mayor Brookshire

May 8, 1961 - Charlotte businessman and journalist Stanford R. Brookshire begins his first of four terms as mayor. He will lead Charlotte through desegregation and preside over the re-development of downtown. Brookshire will be recognized nationally for his efforts and will serve as an advisor to President Lyndon Johnson. 

Date of Event:

1960 - Students Protest

February 9, 1960

Black students from Johnson C. Smith University join their fellow protesters from Greensboro when they, too, sit down at a whites only lunch counter at Charlotte's Kress store. Mayor James Smith responds by forming a committee to solve the problems of segregation. Soon, lunch counters will be integrated.

Date of Event: