Page 31 – Zinn Education Project

June 23, 1968: The Poor People’s Campaign Ended

The permit for the Poor People’s Campaign expired, ending the month long encampment.

GI Bill Denied LOC | Zinn Education Project

June 22, 1944: GI Bill Signed

President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (USA), known as the GI Bill, to provide financial aid to veterans returning from WW II. White supremacy prevented equal access to those benefits.

Missing persons poster created by the FBI in 1964, shows the photographs of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner.

June 21, 1964: Three Civil Rights Workers Murdered in Mississippi

James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were tortured and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

A Wichita Beacon article lists the ground rules for the game.

June 21, 1925: Black Baseball Team Beats Klan Players

The Wichita Monrovians bested a squad fielded by the white-supremacist Ku Klux Klan terrorist organization at the height of Jim Crow apartheid.

Southern Homestead Act | Zinn Education Project

June 21, 1866: Southern Homestead Act

The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 was signed, providing land to the formerly enslaved, lands which had been stolen from the Native American inhabitants.

Muhammad Ali June20 | Zinn Education Project

June 20, 1967: Muhammad Ali Convicted for Refusing the Vietnam Draft

Muhammad Ali was convicted for refusing induction in the U.S. armed forces.

Sugarcane during a controlled burn in South Florida.

June 19, 2015: Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign Begins

The Sierra Club launched the Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign to bring an end to the practice of sugarcane field burning which is harmful to the environmental and the health of local residents.

June 19, 1982: Vincent Chin Beaten to Death in Hate Crime

In Detroit, Michigan Chinese American man Vincent Chin was beaten to death in a hate crime by two white auto workers who blamed Chin for the massive lay-offs occurring in the auto industry. The judge gave the murderers three year’s probation.

June 19, 1865: “Juneteenth” Emancipation Day

Juneteenth — June 19th, also known as Emancipation Day — Juneteenth — is one of the many commemorations of people seizing their freedom in the United States.

June 18, 1964: St. Augustine Swim-In

Black and white protesters attempted to desegregate a pool in St. Augustine, Florida. The owner dumped acid into the protester-filled pool in an attempt to force them to leave. Police officers eventually dragged protesters out of the pool and took them to jail.

During the 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, the African American community organized free carpools, enabling protestors to go about their daily business while simultaneously showing they would no longer accept second-class citizenship.

June 18, 1953: Baton Rouge Bus Boycott Begins

Black leaders in Baton Rouge, Louisiana formed the United Defense League (UDL) to protest bus segregation and persuaded thousands of Black residents to boycott buses until an agreed upon compromise was met.

June 17, 2015: Charleston Church Massacre

Nine African American churchgoers were gunned down inside a church in an act of white supremacist terrorism.

Side entrance to the Governor’s mansion on Capital Street in Jackson on June 17, 1965.

June 17, 1965: Protest for Voting Rights in Jackson, Mississippi

Five-year-old Anthony Quin and his mother and siblings protested against the election of five Mississippi Congressmen from districts where Black people were not allowed to vote. Refused admittance, they sat on the steps and police-instigated mayhem ensued.

South Africa anti-apartheid Youth Day poster

June 16, 1976: Soweto Uprising

Student-led protests in South Africa that began in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools.

June 16, 1918: Eugene V. Debs Speech Against WWI

Eugene V. Debs made his famous anti-war speech protesting World War I, which was raging in Europe at the time.

June 15, 1982: Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court Decision

Striking down a Texas state law, the Supreme Court ruled that “all children, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to a free public education from kindergarten to 12th grade.”

June 15, 1955: Protest of Nuclear Attack Drills

When the Civil Defense Administration attempted to hold a drill simulating a nuclear attack, 27 activists in New York refused to take cover. They handed out pamphlets reading: “We will not obey this order to pretend, to evacuate, to hide... We refuse to cooperate.”