1960

Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond — four Black students from North Carolina A&T — sat at the whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. Refused service, they remained until closing. The protest sparked sit-ins across the South within weeks.

On February 1, 1960, four Black freshmen from North Carolina A&T — Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond — sit at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro and ask to be served. When refused, they remain until closing. The next day 30 students join them; by the third day 60; by the fourth day 300. The sit-in spreads to 54 cities in nine states within two months. The students are spat upon, burned with cigarettes, and harassed. Their nonviolent discipline inspires a generation. By July, Woolworth's desegregates.

Throughout the 1960s, the Federal Housing Administration and private lenders maintained racially explicit underwriting guidelines that refused to guarantee mortgages in or near Black neighborhoods (redlining). Black applicants were denied loans at rates far exceeding white applicants with identical financials. The practice was federally endorsed until the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which was weakly enforced.

The FHA and private lenders maintained racially explicit guidelines refusing to guarantee mortgages in or near Black neighborhoods throughout the 1960s. Black applicants were denied loans at far higher rates than white applicants with identical financials. The practice was federally endorsed until the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which was weakly enforced.

On April 15-17, 1960, at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, student sit-in leaders from 58 cities meet under the guidance of Ella Baker to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Baker encourages the students to form their own organization independent of SCLC and NAACP control. SNCC elects Marion Barry as its first chairman. The organization adopts a consensus-based, decentralized structure reflecting Baker's organizing philosophy. SNCC goes on to lead voter registration in Mississippi, the Freedom Rides support, and eventually the Black Power movement.

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a state spy agency, compiled files on thousands of civil rights workers, provided information to the KKK, vetted jury pools, and paid informants. Commission files on Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were given to Neshoba County officials before their murders.

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a state spy agency funded by taxpayers, compiled files on thousands of civil rights workers and Black residents, provided information to the KKK, vetted jury pools to exclude Black-sympathetic whites, and paid informants to infiltrate civil rights organizations. Commission files on Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were given to Neshoba County officials.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Boynton v. Virginia that racial segregation in interstate bus terminal restaurants and waiting rooms was unconstitutional under the Interstate Commerce Act. The ruling provided legal grounding for the 1961 Freedom Rides.

Throughout the early 1960s, Mississippi and other Southern states used 'suitable home' regulations to disqualify Black mothers from receiving Aid to Dependent Children benefits, often targeting families of civil rights activists. A 1961 HEW report found 23,000 children in Louisiana cut off from ADC in a single year under this pretext.

Four students' lunch-counter protest sparks a wave of sit-ins across the South.

Student activists form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

A six-year-old desegregates an elementary school under federal escort.