Black History Month 2025
1967 1968 1969
35 John F. Kennedy | 36 Lyndon B. Johnson | 37 Richard M. Nixon
Jim Crow Black Power Affirmative Action
Kerner Report Published
Washington, D. C. - The President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders wrote the Kerner Report.
On July 28, 1967, the Detroit uprising caused President Lyndon Baines Johnson to form the commission. It was led by Governor Otto Kerner, of Ohio. The report took his name.
The report gave a cause for the Black uprisings in the country. There were more than 150 riots or major disorders between 1965 and 1968. 83 people killed and 1,800 injured, and most were Black. $100 million in property was damaged or destroyed.
The 426-page report named “white racism” for the violence, not a conspiracy by Black political groups.
1970 Kerner Report Revised
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Killed
Memphis, Tennessee - Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. King was shot at the Lorraine Hotel, on a Thursday, at 6:01 p.m. A 30-06 rifle was used. Only one shot was fired and it hit King in the throat.
The prior year, King condemned the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Johnson turned his back on King, as a result. The war continued, non-stop. Anti-war demonstrations began to increase, the rest of 1967.
On January 30, 1968, a major attack began against the United States in Vietnam. It was the 'Tet Offensive.' The United States military and President Johnson saw that the enemy had no plan to quit.
On March 28, 1968, the Tet offensive ended. The same day, King arrived in Memphis. King led a march, for Black American sanitation workers. The workers had been on strike since February, 1968.
The marchers walked down Beale street. In the back, store windows were broken. As the marchers turned onto Main street, riot police waited. The police attacked. Riot clubs and tear gas were used. King was led away, safely. Hundreds were arrested. A Black American teenager was killed by police.
On Sunday, March 31, 1968, President Johnson went on television, and spoke for 40 minutes. He began with peace talks for the war. At the end, Johnson said he would not run for re-election.
Four days later, King was killed, in Memphis.
Joseph Louw, a 28 year-old South African, took the photograph just before the murder. Some suspect Louw was there working with the FBI and CIA as surveillance of the Black Rights (civil rights) leader.
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Black Fists Raised at Mexico Olympics
Mexico City, Mexico - Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) each raised a fist at the award podium for the 200m race, at the 1968 Olympic Games.
Smith and Carlos were shoeless on the platform to show their black socks, which represented Black American poverty. Carlos wore a bead necklace to represent lynchings in the United States.
Carlos and Smith raised their gloved hand, when the Star Spangled Banner played, at the awards ceremony and bowed their heads.
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