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Yalta Conference
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met to discuss the future of the post-WWII world and the end of the war. In exchange for land, Stalin agreed to join in the fight against Japan -
Fifth Pan-African Congress
Manchester conference that focused on independence for African countries due to the detrimental effects of English rule -
Truman Doctrine
Created a policy of intervention in foreign countries in order to contain the spread of communism -
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson joins the Dodgers: break in 'wall of segregation' due to success of groups lke CORE -
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Qutb in America
Sayyid Qutb traveled across America, forming an unfavorable impression of its culture that would shape anti-Western rhetoric for decades to come -
Kinsey Report
Alfred Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" is published, paving the way for more open discussion of sexuality and revealing the truth about American sexuality -
Apartheid Begins
The National Party is elected to South African government and immediately instates laws severely restricting the rights of black Africans -
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Berlin Airlift
After the creation of the Berlin Wall and subsequent blocks on shipping, etc., the US transported supplies by air to the Allied troops in West Berlin rather than give up their position -
Executive Order 9981
Truman desegregates the army -
NATO Formed
Created a military alliance between North American and several European nations to ensure mutual security and present a united front -
Mattachine Society
First gay rights activist group is founded in the US, focusing on gay men -
Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri, who would later become bin Laden's strategist and the leader of al-Jihad, was born -
O'Neill
John O'Neill, who would become the head of American efforts against al-Qaeda, was born -
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Defiance Campaign
Campaign of mostly nonviolent apartheid protest, including a "case of 24 who entered a railway waiting room in Cape Town and were acquitted when the magistrate found that facilities for whites and non-whites were unequal." -
Legal Firm
Nelson Mandela & Oliver Tambo open a legal firm by & for blacks -
Kinsey Report 2
Alfred Kinsey publishes the second volume of his reports, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female", completing the set. America is forced to confront the truth about sexuality present in all members of society -
Brown v. Board of Education
Overturned "separate but equal" and desegregated public schools -
Assassination Attempt
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood attempted, but failed, to assassinate Egypt's Prime Minister Gamel Abdul Nasser -
Warsaw Pact Formation
Created a military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states in direct opposition to NATO -
Daughters of Bilitis
First lesbian activist group in the US is founded -
Howl Obscenity Trial
The poem "Howl" was ruled not obscene. This was a landmark victory for freedom of speech and counterculture -
Rosa Parks
Refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
Black community refused to ride buses in soliditary with Rosa Parks -
Bus Segregation
Supreme Court ruled segregation on buses unconstitutional -
Treason
Nelson Mandela (with 155 others) was charged with treason -
bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, who would later become the face of terrorism in the Middle East, was born -
Prayer Pilgrimage
Nonviolent demonstration including a speech for voting rights by Martin Luther King, Jr. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine African-American children attempted to attend Central High School in order to test backing of the Brown v. Board ruling and were blocked by the state National Guard -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Established United States Civil Rights Commission to investigate civil rights violations -
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
UK movement that opposed nuclear weapons and later the Vietnam War. Also created the widely popular peace sign as their logo -
Pan Africanist Congress
African nationalist movement split away from the ANC and named itself the PAC. "We aim, politically, at government of the Africans by the Africans, for the Africans, with everybody who owes his only loyalty to Africa and who is prepared to accept the democratic rule of an African majority being regarded as an African." -
Greensboro Sit-In
Nonviolent protest upon refusal to serve black customers -
Sharpeville Massacre
A riot breaks out after a protest of a law requiring black Africans to carry identifying passbooks. 69 people are killed -
Unlawful Organizations Act
Both the PAC and the ANC are banned following the Sharpeville Massacre -
Boynton v. Virginia
Supreme Court ruled that segregation on interstate buses and waiting rooms was unconstitutional -
Freedom Ride
Freedom Ride begins. Its goal is to test enforcement of Boynton v. Virginia -
Firebomb
Freedom Ride buses are attacked by mobs and fireboms in Alabama -
Arrest
Riders are escorted to Jackson by troops and subsequently arrested for disturbing the peace, but their point was made -
Poqo
Poqo, an armed wing of the PAC, is formed to begin work on weaponized liberation efforts -
Spear of the Nation/MK/Umkhonto weSizwe
A military offshoot of the ANC known commonly as "MK" was launched in a move away from nonviolence -
Illinois Decriminalization
Illinois becomes the first state to decriminalize homosexuality -
Students for a Democratic Society
First meeting of the SDS, which would soon grow into a huge movement composed of tens of thousands of left-leaning student protesters, often concerned with peace and civil rights -
Arrest
Nelson Mandela is arrested for his role in ANC-planned bombings and given a life sentence for treason -
Ole Miss
James Meredith and Medgar Evers win a federal case to desegregate University of Mississippi -
James Meredith
James Meredith entered Ole Miss escorted by federal marshals. A riot ensued that injured 160 people -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
A tense period sparked by the discovery of missiles in Cuba, prompting immediate peace talks between Kennedy and Krushchev along with a naval blockade and culminating in the removal of the missiles in exchange for a non-invasion pact on the part of the US -
King's Arrest
Martin Luther King, Jr. joined marches in Birmighham despite a court order and was arrested, which didn't stop him from writing a compelling letter from jail -
Organization of African Unity
32 African states come together to create a unified voice for the nation. Its goals included removing white minority rule. -
Kennedy's Speech
President Kennedy called civil rights a "moral issue" and proposed broad legislation on the matter to Congress -
March on Washington
Nonviolent protest with 200,000+ protestors. Included King's "I Have a Dream" speech -
Birmingham Bombing
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, formerly SCLC headquarters, was destroyed by a bomb that killed four young girls -
Milestones
Sayyid Qutb's book "Milestones" is published. It contains plans to recreate the Muslim world according to Islamist practices and law -
24th Amendment
Poll tax prohibited -
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Filibuster on Civil Rights Act of 1964
The "Southern Bloc" of the Senate tried to block the passage of the bill through filibuster, but eventually enough votes were reached to end the blockade -
North Western Committee for Homosexual Law Reform
One of the UK's first gay rights movements is founded. It is later renamed to the Campaign for Homosexual Equality after male homosexuality is decriminalized -
UK Underground
British counterculture begins to form. Barry Miles describes the underground as "a catch-all sobriquet for a community of like-minded anti-establishment, anti-war, pro-rock'n'roll individuals, most of whom had a common interest in recreational drugs. " (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jan/30/underground-arts-60s-rebel-counterculture) -
Period: to
Freedom Summer
Large-scale attempt to register African-American voters in Mississippi which resulted in the murder of three civil rights workers and a failed attempt at forming a new Democratic party -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Banned public facility segregation and gave courts the right to prosecute people who discriminated/violated civil rights -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Passed by Congress, allowing President Lyndon Johnson to use any means necessary to defend South Vietnam, thus effectively approving the Vietnam War -
Free Speech Movement
Free Speech Movement is born at Berkeley -
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Operation Rolling Thunder
Bombing campaign in Vietnam -
LSD
Owsley begins to mass produce LSD, allowing the general public to begin forming a drug culture -
Bloody Sunday
Police attacked voting rights protestors in Selma -
Troops
First US combat troops arrive in Vietnam -
Voting Rights Act
Banned literacy tests and allowed the federal government to supverise voting registration to check for discrimination -
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Watts Race Riots
Violent race-based rioting in the West -
Hippie
The term "hippie" is coined by Michael Fallon, in an article referring to San Fransico counterculture, including a movement to legalize marijuana -
Draft Card
David Miller arrested for burning a draft card in protest -
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Summer of Love
A San Francisco hippie movement involving large gatherings of said hippies, free love, free drugs, and other such countercultural trappings -
Period: to
Six-Day War
Arab-Israeli conflict that ended in a victory for Israel along with their capture of Jerusalem. This war increased tension in the Middle East -
Sexual Offences Act 1967
Male homosexual activity is decriminalized in England and Wales, with some restrictions such as a higher age of consent -
Period: to
Prague Spring of 1968
Brief period of democratic growth in Czechoslovakia led by Alexander Dubček -
Tet Offensive
Vietcong & North Vietnamese troops strike back, proving that they will not give up and causing a loss of public support for continued US involvement in the war -
Kerner Commission Report
Report by the Kerner Commission revealed that racism was everywhere in the United States and caused violence -
King's Assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by James Earl Ray in the midst of planning for a "Poor People's Campaign" -
First Interracial TV Kiss
In the Star Trek episode "Plato’s Stepchildren", Uhura and Kirk kissed, marking the first time when a white man and an African-American woman had ever kissed on television -
Manifesto on Southern Africa
Conference of East & Central African states in Lusaka comes to the conclusion that South Africa must be aided in its " armed liberation struggles against white minority regimes". -
Period: to
Stonewall Riots
When police raid the Stonewall Inn, gay and trans youth begin to riot, sparking a more fervent approach to the movement -
Woodstock Festival
Huge concert described as “three days of peace, music, and love" (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/history/us-history-ii/the-new-frontier-and-the-great-society/the-counterculture-of-the-1960s). Also three days of drugs -
First Earth Day
Senator Gaylord Nelson created this event, claiming that "We only have one earth, so we need to take care of her." It sparked a grassroots (pun intended) environmentalist movement that directly opposed the consumerist/industrial nature of American society at the time