1961 Archives

Five Films for Teaching the Rebellions of the 1960s

Article. By greg wickenkamp. 2024.
A description of the top five films for teaching about the uprisings of the 1960s, plus a handful of honorable mentions.

July 1964: Founding of the Medical Committee for Human Rights

The Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) provided support to civil rights workers in Mississippi at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and raised awareness of the health care disparities due to racism in the United States.

June 9, 1964: Bloody Tuesday

Following months of protests to end segregation, Black residents of Tuscaloosa, Alabama were brutally attacked by police and the Klan inside the First African Baptist Church.

Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt

Book — Non-fiction. By Orisanmi Burton. 2023. 328 pages.
Drawing on oral history and applying Black radical theory in ways that center the intellectual and political goals of incarcerated people, this book argues that prisons are a domain of hidden warfare within U.S. borders.

Sept. 5, 1971: Unofficial Women’s World Cup

In 1971, Denmark beat Mexico in the second unofficial Women’s World Cup in front of a sold-out crowd of 112,500 fans at Mexico’s Aztec Stadium. As of 2024, it is still the most attended women’s sporting event on record.

Barrio Rising: The Protest That Built Chicano Park

Picture book. By María Dolores Águila and illustrated by Magdalena Mora. 2024. 40 pages.
The true story of how community members organized a massive protest in 1970, forcing the city council to change its plans.

Aug. 28, 1964: Columbia Avenue Uprising in Philadelphia

The Columbia Avenue Riot began in the predominantly African American neighborhoods of North Philadelphia after an altercation with the police and continued for three days.

June 8, 1966: Beltway March to Protest Segregated Housing

On June 8, 1966, protesters with the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation in the…

Nov. 28, 1973: Auto Workers Strike for Palestine

In solidarity with the Palestinian people, Detroit auto workers led a one-day strike protesting the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) support of Israel.

May 5, 2010: Red Dress Day Honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

A national day of awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people (MMIWG2S).

Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film

By Emilye Crosby

On each anniversary year of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act it helped inspire, national media focus on the iconic images of “Bloody Sunday,” the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the interracial marchers, and President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. This version of history, emphasizing a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day.”

Here are 10 points to keep in mind about Selma’s civil rights history.

Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle: What’s Missing When We Teach About Nonviolence

By Charles E. Cobb Jr.

The best way to understand this Mississippi movement episode is...as a story of organizers and the communities they were embedding themselves in during the Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Within this organizing experience, guns in the hands of supporters sometimes existed in tension with the nonviolence usually used to define movement philosophy and practice, but that more often existed in tandem with nonviolence. In other words, something more complex was at play.

April 26, 1968: Kiyoshi Kuromiya Led Protest of Vietnam War Napalm

Lifelong gay rights and anti-war activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya held a demonstration while in college against the use of napalm in Vietnam by announcing that a dog would be burned alive with napalm in front of the university library.

Aug. 21, 1971: Anti-war Protesters Raid Draft Offices

Twenty anti-war protesters were arrested for breaking into selective service offices and destroying draft records.

May 28, 1963: Woolworth Sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi

Students and faculty from Tougaloo College held a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi.

March 8, 1971: FBI’s COINTELPRO Exposed

A cab driver, a day care provider, and two professors broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole more than 1,000 classified documents.

Feb. 19, 1968: Florida Teachers’ Strike

Teachers and administrators from the Florida Education Association (FEA) walked out in what is reported to be the first statewide teachers’ strike.

March 7, 1965: Bloody Sunday

To protest the police murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson and for voting rights, more than 600 people began a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery.

March 19, 1968: Howard University Protest

Howard University students seized the Administration Building, demanding changes in the discipline policy, the addition of courses in African American history, and more.

April 23, 1968: Columbia Student Occupation

Students for a Democratic Society, Student Afro-American Society and others began a nonviolent occupation of campus buildings at Columbia University.

May 4, 1970: Kent State Massacre

During an anti-war protest at Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard shot unarmed college students, killing four. Students were also killed at Jackson State (May 15, 1970), and Orangeburg (February 8, 1968).

May 15, 1970: Jackson State Killings

College student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs (21) and high school student James Earl Green (17) were killed by the police during an anti-war protest at Jackson State College.

Sept. 20, 1962: James Meredith Attempts to Register at University of Mississippi

James Meredith attempted to register at the University of Mississippi.

Nov. 13, 1969: San Marcos 10 Protested War

A group of students were suspended at Southwest Texas State University for peacefully protesting the Vietnam War.

Feb. 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre

Two years before the Kent State murders, 28 students were injured and three were killed in Orangeburg, South Carolina — most shot in the back by the state police while involved in a peaceful protest.

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