P age C 2 1
T he P ortland O bserver • J anuary 11, 1995
King Joins In Other Causes, Vietnam War Protest
Equality (CORE), leaves shortly af
ter the Supreme Court has outlawed
segregation in interstate transporta
tion terminals The bus is burned
outside of Anniston, Alabama, on
May 14. A mob beats the Riders
upon their arrival in Birmingham.
The Riders are arrested in Jackson,
Mississippi, and spend forty to sixty
days in Parchman Penitentiary.
1962
King is tried an convicted for
leading the December march in A l
bany.
King is invited to join the Bir
mingham protest.
King is arrested at an Albany
city hall prayer vigil and jailed on
charges of failure to obey a police
officer, obstructing the sidewalk and
disorderly conduct.
James Meredith makes his first
attempt to enroll at the University of
Mississippi. He is actually enrolled
by Supreme Court order and is es
corted onto the Oxford, Mississippi,
campus by U.S. marshals on October
1, 1962.
King meets with President John
F. Kennedy at the W hite House for a
'one-hour conference.
1963
The Kings’ fourth child Bernice
Albertine, is born.
Sit-in demonstrations are held
in Birmingham to protest segrega
tion of eating facilities. Dr. King is
arrested during a demonstration.
King writes the “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” while imprisoned
for demonstrating.
Eugene (“Bull”) Connor, direc
tor of public safety of Birmingham,
orders the use of police dogs and fire
hoses upon the marching protestors
(young adults and children).
The Supreme Court of the United
States rules Birmingham's segrega
tion ordinances unconstitutional.
G overnor George C. Wallace
tries to stop the court-ordered inte
gration of the University of Alabama
by “standing in the schoolhouse door”
and personally refusing entrance to
black students and Justice Depart
ment officials. President
John F. Kennedy then federal
izes the Alabama National Guard,
and Governor Wallace removes him
self from blocking the entrance of the
Negro students.
The March on W ashington, the
first large integrated protest march,
is heldin W ashington,D C . Dr. King
delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech
on the steps of the Lincoln Memo
rial, and afterward he and other civil
rights leaders meet with President
John F. Kennedy in the W hite House.
President Kennedy is assassi
nated in Dallas, Texas.
King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy
visits W est Berlin at the invitation of
Mayor Willy Brandt.
King has an audience with Pope
Paul VI at the Vatican.
King receives the Nobel Peace
Prize in Oslo, Norway.
congress in two days and uses the
slogan of civil rights movement, "We
Shall Overcome.”
Black and white demonstrators
are beaten by sheriff’s deputies and
police on horseback in Montgomery.
Over three thousand protest
1966
King rents an apartment in the
black ghetto of Chicago.
K ing m eets w ith E lijah
M uhammad, leader o f the Black
Muslims, in Chicago.
King takes over a Chicago slum
building and is sued by its owner.
The Supreme Court of the United
State rules any poll tax unconstitu
tional.
King makes a tour of Alabama
to help elect black candidates.
The Alabama primary is held,
the first time since Reconstruction
that blacks have voted in any num
bers.
An antiwar statement by Dr.
King is read at a large W ashington
rally to protest the war in Vietnam.
Dr. King agrees to serve as cochair
man of Clergy and Laymen Con
cerned about Vietnam.
James Meredith is shot soon af
ter beginning his 220-mile “March
Against Fear” from Memphis, Tenn.,
to Jackson, Miss.
King launches a drive to make
Chicago an “open city” in regard to
housing.
King is stoned in Chicago as he
leads a march through crowds of
angry whites in Gage Park section of
Chicago’s southwest side.
1964
Council of Federated Organiza
tion (COFO) initiates the Mississippi
Summer Project, a voter-registration
drive organized and run by black and
white students.
King joins other SCLC workers
in demonstrations for the integration
of public accom m odations in St.
Augustine, Fla. He is jailed.
Three civil rights w orkers -
James Chaney (black) and Andrew
Goodman and Michael Schwerner
(white) - are reported missing after a
short trip to Philadelphia. Mississippi.
King attends a signing of the
Public Accommodations Bill, part of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by
President Lyndon B. Johnson in the
W hite House.
Riots occur in Harlem. One black
man is killed.
Riots occur in New Jersey, Illi
nois, and Pennsylvania.
The bodies of civil rights work
ers Ja m e s C h a n e y , A ndrew
Goodman, and Michael Schwener
are discovered by FBI agents buried
n ear the tow n o f P h iladelphia,
Mississippi. Neshoba County Sher
iff Rainey and his deputy, Cecil Price,
are allegedly implicated in the mur
ders.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act is
signed by President Johnson.
In Watts, the black ghetto of Los
Angeles, riots leave thirty-five dead,
of whom twenty-eight are black.
King is stoned by white homeowners in a Chicago suburb during an
August 1966 protest march for desegregated housing.
1965
M alcolm X, leader o f the O r
g a n iz a tio n o f A fro -A m e ric a n
U nity and form er B lack M uslim
lead er, is m u rdered by black s in
N ew Y ork C ity.
President Johnson addresses the
nation and Congress. He describes
the voting rights bill he will submit to
marchers leave Selma for a march to
Montgomery, protected by federal
troops. They are joined along the
way by a total of 25,000 marchers.
Upon reaching the Capitol they hear
an address by Dr. King.
Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, wife of a
Detroit Teamsters Union business
agent, is shot and killed while driving
a carload of marchers back to Selma.
1967
King writes his book Where Do
We Go from Here? while in Jamaica.
Ala. is ordered to desegregate
all public schools.
King attacks the governm ent's
Vietnam policy in a speech at the
Chicago Coliseum.
King makes a statement about
the war in Vietnam, “Beyond Viet
nam,” at the Riverside Church, New
York City.
One black student is killed in
rioting on the campus of all-Negro
Jackson State College, Jackson, Miss.
The Justice Department reports
that more than 50 percent of all eli
gible black voters are registered in
Mississippi, Ga., Alabama, Louisi
ana, and South Carolina.
Twenty-three people die, 725
are injured in riots in Newark, N.J.
Forty-three die, 324 are injured
in the Detroit riots, the worst of the
century.
Black leaders Martin Luther
King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy
Wilkins, and Whitney Young appeal
for an end to the riots, “which have
proved ineffective an damaging to
the civil rights cause and the entire
nation.”
1968
Sanitation w orkers strike in
Memphis, Tenn.
King leads six thousand protest
ers on a march through downtown
Memphis in support of striking sani
tation workers. Disorders break out
during which black youths loot stores.
One 16-year-old is killed, 50 people
are injured.
King’s last speech, entitled “I ’ve
Been to the Mountain Top,” is deliv
e re d at the M em p h is M asonic
Temple.
King is assassinated by a sniper
as he stands talking on the balcony of
his second-floorroom at the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis. He dies in St.
Joseph’s Hospital from a gunshot
wound in the neck. James Earl Ray is
later captured and convicted of the
murder.
P residential Senator R obert
Kennedy is shot in Los Angeles. He
dies the next day.
1986
Following passage of Public Law
98-144, President Ronald Reagan
signs proclamation declaring the third
Monday in January of each year a
public holiday in honor of the birth
day of Martin Luther King Jr.
Margaret Carter salutes all the residents
of Dist. 18 during celebration of Martin
Luther King's birthday.
Let's all keep
hope alive!
Contact Margaret Carter in Salem
at 1-800-332-2313
Paid for by Friends of Margaret Carter,
2 9 4 8 NE 10th Ave., Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 2