May 1961

Interracial groups organized by CORE boarded interstate buses into the Deep South to challenge segregation in bus terminals. Riders were beaten by mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. The rides forced the Kennedy administration to enforce desegregation of interstate travel facilities.

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory that put Alan Shepard into space on America's first human spaceflight, and later verified the computer calculations for John Glenn's orbital mission. Her work was central to the Mercury and Apollo programs; she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and was depicted in the 2016 film 'Hidden Figures.'