On this day in 1865, Confederate troops hanged a young Black woman on the courthouse lawn in Darlington, South Carolina, for "conduct unbecoming a slave" weeks before the end of the Civil War.
Charles "Sonny" Burton did not pull the trigger nor see the fatal 1991 shooting he was convicted of and sentenced to death for. This week, Alabama plans to execute him, exposing the arbitrariness of the state's death penalty.
We are thrilled that Montgomery Square is now open. This space is dedicated to the Montgomery decade that changed the world. From 1955 to 1965, Black people with extraordinary courage sparked a movement in Montgomery that transformed our country and world.
Montgomery Square is now open. Visit and learn more: montgomerysquare.eji.org
On this day in 1892, a white mob in Memphis, Tennessee, lynched three Black men who had opened a grocery store earlier that year, threatening the racial order by forcing white business owners to economically compete.
Montgomery Square is now open.
Explore Montgomery Square.
Racially discriminatory strikes during jury selection violated Michael Sockwell's rights under the Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court paved the way for Mr. Sockwell to receive a new trial 36 years after a Montgomery judge sentenced him to death.
On this day in 1965, police brutally attacked hundreds of civil rights activists during a march in Selma, Alabama, now known as Bloody Sunday.
The Dred Scott ruling denied citizenship to all Black people in America and enshrined racist ideology that continues to haunt our nation today.
Their case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Black people were not American citizens and had no right to sue in federal court. calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...
In 1846, enslaved spouses Dred and Harriet Scott sued for their freedom after their enslaver brought them to territories where slavery was outlawed.
Montgomery Square is now open. Visit and learn more: montgomerysquare.eji.org
We are thrilled that Montgomery Square is now open. This space is dedicated to the Montgomery decade that changed the world. From 1955 to 1965, Black people with extraordinary courage sparked a movement in Montgomery that transformed our country and world.
On this day in 1959, 21 Black teenagers burned to death in a building fire at a segregated and neglected “reform” school in Arkansas after being left alone and locked inside their dorm.
On this day in 1921, a white lynch mob hunting a Black man saw a different Black man walking down a road and killed him instead. The mob claimed mistaken identity and faced no punishment.
Last week, local community members working with EJI dedicated a historical marker in Hamilton County, Tennessee, memorializing Ed Johnson, a young Black man lynched by a mob in 1906.
On this day in 1819, Congress allocated funds to "civilize" Native American people and force Indigenous children to replace their tribal cultures with white Christianity.
On this day in 1948, white residents of Johnson County, Georgia, waged a terror campaign of violent intimidation to keep Black voters from an upcoming election.
On this day in 1921, Idaho broadened its ban on interracial marriage to bar a white person from marrying any Black person. The state's population at the time was less than .02% Black.
On this day in 1942, mobs of local white residents threatened and harassed Black families moving into new housing in Detroit. Many of these families had fled racial violence and inequality in the rural South, in a wave known as the Great Migration.
The Grio explains how Elevation Convening Center and Hotel in Montgomery, Alabama is the perfect place for Legacy Sites visitors to stay while they're in town.
On this day in 1869, Congress refused to seat John Willis Menard, the first Black man elected to the House of Representatives. Future president James Garfield argued it was “too early” to elect a Black person.
On this day in 2012, George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin while he was walking home from a store. Zimmerman claimed he looked "suspicious" because he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
On this day in 1886, white citizens in Boise, Idaho, organized an anti-Chinese convention and voted to expel Chinese citizens, who had moved to the area for work in mining and construction.
On this day in 1865, the Kentucky General Assembly refused to endorse an end to slavery in America. Kentucky did not officially ratify the Thirteenth Amendment until 1976.
On this day in 2020, two white men killed Ahmaud Arbery, a young unarmed Black man out jogging. Local officials lied and did not hold the men accountable for months, until a video was released.
On this day in 1898, a white mob attacked Frazier Baker, the first Black postmaster of Lake City, South Carolina, and his family. Both Mr. Baker and his infant daughter were killed in the attack.
On this day in 1965, Malcolm X, an outspoken critic of racism and white supremacy, was assassinated in New York City. He was just 39 years old and left behind his wife and six young daughters.
"I thought my childhood was normal. I was happy. I played games and I had friends and we hung out. And I went to jail. I thought all the children all over the world were doing the same thing that I was doing."
