#OnThisDay in 1963, a 1,000 Black Mississippians defied arrest by authorities and threats by the Ku Klux Klan to cast protest votes in the Mississippi Delta. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/06/1...

#OnThisDay in 1968, Franklin Armstrong, the 1st Black character in the “Peanuts” comic strip, returned a beach ball that Charlie Brown had lost. 11 days after #MLK assassination, a schoolteacher urged Charles Schultz to add the Black character in hopes of improving racial understanding.

#OnThisDay in 1919, a melee began after a Black youth mistakenly swam into “white” territory in Chicago. 6 days later, 38 were dead, 500+ had been injured, 1,000 Black families lost their homes to mob violence. That violence spread across the US in “Red Summer.” mississippitoday.org/2024/07/27/1...

#OnThisDay in 1964, Unita Blackwell became a delegate for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which fought to replace Mississippi’s all-white delegation at the 1964 DNC. “We had no idea that we were changing the whole political future of America.” mississippitoday.org/2024/07/25/1...

OnThisDay in 1958, Dockum Drug Store in downtown Wichita KS refused to serve Black patrons at its lunch counter. NAACP teens protested this policy through sit-ins. They endured insults, threats until Rexall drugstore chain ended discrimination. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/19/1...

#OnThisDay in 1961, future Congressman John Lewis was released after 40 days from Mississippi’s Parchman prison. Jackson police arrested him and other Freedom Riders who entered a “whites-only” area of a bus station. mississippitoday.org/2025/07/07/1...

#OnThisDay in 1827 -- a day after those enslaved were freed in the state of New York -- 4,000 Black Americans marched down Broadway in victory. The 5th of July is still celebrated in NYC. mississippitoday.org/2025/07/05/1...

#OnThisDay in 1964, Clyde Kennard — railroaded and imprisoned in 1960 because he dared to try to enroll at an all-white college in Mississippi — died of cancer just months after being freed from prison. In 2006, he was finally exonerated. mississippitoday.org/2025/07/04/1...

#OnThisDay in 1941, Stokely Carmichael was born in Trinidad and grew up in Harlem. A leader in SNCC, he popularized the term “black power,” which became a movement. He died of prostate cancer in 1998 at the age of 57. mississippitoday.org/2025/06/29/o...

Happy Birthday, James Meredith! On his birthday in 1962, the 5th Circuit appeals court ordered his admission as 1st known Black student to University of Mississippi. Four years later, civil rights leaders flocked to Mississippi to finish his March Against Fear. mississippitoday.org/2025/06/25/1...

#OnThisDay in 1909, the “Mother of Black Dance,” Katherine Dunham, was born in Joliet IL. Directed the only self-supported Black dance company in US at time. After discovering Black Americans were not allowed to buy tickets to one show, she refused to perform. mississippitoday.org/2025/06/22/1...

#OnThisDay in 1960, renowned singer and actor Harry Belafonte became the 1st Black American to win an Emmy. He had already won a Tony Award in 1954. He decided to forego making a fortune, saying, “I chose to be a civil rights warrior instead.” mississippitoday.org/2025/06/20/1...

#OnThisDay in 1967, #LBJ nominated the 1st Black American, then-Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, to the Supreme Court, saying it was “the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” mississippitoday.org/2025/06/13/1...

#OnThisDay in 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer and other activists were arrested when they rode in the “white” section of a Greyhound bus & sat at the “whites-only” lunch counter in Winona, Mississippi. Inside the jail, they were beaten and tortured. mississippitoday.org/2025/06/09/1...

#OnThisDay in 1875, Peter Crosby, a Black sheriff, was shot in the head in the wake of the Vicksburg Massacre in which armed White Leagues overthrew the Reconstruction government in Mississippi, killing as many as 300 Black Americans they regarded as a threat. mississippitoday.org/2023/06/07/1...

James Meredith believes his 1966 March Against Fear was more important than becoming the 1st Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. A program commemorating that event is set for 2 today at Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson. mississippitoday.org/2026/06/03/j...

#OnThisDay in 1967, Aretha Franklin, “Queen of Soul,” hit #1 on Billboard singles chart with her cover of Otis Redding’s song, “Respect.” She changed the lyrics and transformed the tune, which became a powerful anthem for both women and the civil rights movement. mississippitoday.org/2025/06/03/1...

#OnThisDay in 1980, civil rights leader Vernon Jordan survived an assassination attempt in Fort Wayne, Indiana, by racist serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, who killed at least 22 people and was executed in 2013 in Missouri. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/29/1...

#OTD 1892, crusading journalist Ida B. Wells exposed the lynchings of Black men. Upset by her words, a white mob destroyed her presses & threatened to kill her. She fled to Chicago & continued to expose lynchings, calling for legislation to make lynching a crime. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/21/1...

Mississippi College School of Law has given an honorary law degree to Medgar Evers, who was barred from enrolling at the University of Mississippi law school in 1954 and was assassinated in Jackson nine years later. Reena Evers-Everette said she is overwhelmed by this award for her father.

#OnThisDay in 1862, Robert Smalls pretended to be a Confederate officer steering a Confederate ship north. He had actually commandeered the ship, helping free 18 people from slavery, including his wife, Hannah. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/13/1...

#OnThisDay in 1968, the Poor People’s Campaign arrived in the nation's capital and erected “Resurrection City” to honor #MLK. He had conceived the campaign before his assassination.(Photo by Bob Fitch) mississippitoday.org/2025/05/11/1...

#OnThisDay in 1969, the Black Psychiatrists of America interrupted APA trustees to express concerns. Their prez, Charles Pierce, was especially concerned about TV. He became a senior adviser for “Sesame Street,” the most successful children's show of all time. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/08/1...

Couldn't be more pleased with the work that our investigative team at Mississippi Today has done — work now honored by IRE: "The characters seem like they’re from Central Casting & the stories read as if they belong in an Elmore Leonard novel.” www.ire.org/2026/05/05/a...

#OnThisDay in 1917, Eugene Jacques Bullard became 1st Black American combat pilot, fighting for the French Aéronautique Militaire in WWI. He became one of France’s most decorated war heroes, earning the French Legion of Honor. mississippitoday.org/2025/05/05/1...

#OnThisDay in 1945, “Black Boy,” Richard Wright’s memoir about his upbringing in Roxie, Mississippi, became the #1 selling book in US. Reading became his refuge, and he wrote. His works played a role in changing white Americans’ views on race. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/29/1...

#OnThisDay in 1951, Ruby Hurley opened 1st permanent NAACP office in South. Helped Medgar Evers investigate Emmett Till's murder & helped Autherine Lucy become 1st Black student at University of Alabama. Portrayed in ABC miniseries, “Women of the Movement.” mississippitoday.org/2025/04/28/1...

#OnThisDay in 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois called for active resistance to racist policies, helped found the NAACP & waged protests against the lynchings of Black Americans. He died on the eve of the 1963 March on Washington. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/27/1...

#OnThisDay in 1892, civil rights pioneer Vernon Johns was born in Darlington Heights VA. In 1948, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery hired Johns, but he butted heads when he pressed civil rights issues. In 1953, he resigned. His successor? #MLK. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/22/1...

#OnThisDay in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the 1st Black player in #MLB in the 20th century. Active in Civil Rights Movement. 1st Black TV analyst in #MLB & 1st Black VP of major American corporation. Awarded #POTUS Medal of Freedom & Congressional Gold Medal. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/15/1...