Sunday, March 7, 2021

History of These United States, the month of March since 1950

Selections from the Equal Justice Initiative History of Racial Injustice calendar.  I’ve chosen historical items from after 1950.   The last item (March 28, 1951) is well worth reading the story at the link.


From the month of March


March 3, 1991

Los Angeles police beating of Black motorist Rodney King is caught on tape.


March 7, 1965

Police use tear gas, whips, and clubs to attack supporters of Black voting rights marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama; dozens are hospitalized on “Bloody Sunday.”


March 11, 1965

Reverend James Reeb, a white supporter of Black voting rights, dies two days after he is beaten by angry white people in Selma, Alabama.


March 13, 2020

Louisville, Kentucky, police fatally shoot Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician, in her home while executing a no-knock warrant.


March 16, 1995

Mississippi legislature votes to ratify Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, after having rejected it in 1865.


March 28, 1951

Four white men abduct a 27-year-old Black man, Melvin Womack, from his home in Oakland, Florida, beat him, shoot him, and leave him to die days later from his injuries.


2 comments:

Melissa said...

I was listening to Fresh Air the other night. They interviewed the writer of a book about Wilmington, NC, which was a very integrated city before white supremacists had their way. It was terrifying and awful. And too easy to imagine happening again.

Common Household Mom said...

@Melissa - I heard that Fresh Air interview. The story of Wilmington, NC is one that I feel I need to remember well.