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Margret Sanger opens first Birth Control Clinic
Margret Sanger, with her sister and another activist, opened americas first birth control clinic in Brooklyn. While it was insanely popular, the police shut it down and arrested the three women after 9 days. This was the start of what is now known as Planned Parenthood. -
Start of Japanese Internment Camps
Shortly after the bombing of Pear Harbor, the US government forced nearly 120,000 Japanese people on the pacific coast (2/3 of which were American citizens) into internment camps with Executive Order 9066. Most people remained imprisoned for almost 3 years during WWII and the treatment of the prisoners was brutal and horrific.(beaten, starved, overworked, no medical treatment, etc.) -
Sweatt v Painter
In 1946 Heman Sweatt applied to the University of Texas Law School and was rejected only because he was black. He asked the Texas Courts to require his admission and they offered a 'separate but equal' school. The Supreme Court unanimously decided he should be admitted and that a separate school would be extremely unequal. This decision ended 'separate but equal' graduate schools and set the precedent for the future case Brown v Board of Education. -
Emmett Tills Murder
While visiting family in Mississippi, this 14 year old was kidnapped, tourtured and lynched by 2 white men after accused of flirting with a white woman . After his mother got him back in Chicago and saw him, she decided to have an open casket funeral so people could what racism can do. The magazine 'Jet' published the photo and soon it was in mainstream media. His death was one of the most significant events that sparked the civil rights movement. -
Sri Lanka elects first woman prime minister in the world
Sirimavo Bandaranike was elected by a landslide for prime minister in Sri Lanka in 1960 after unanimously winning the party president chair of the Freedom Party just 2 months earlier. She served 3 total terms as prime minister and helped Sri Lanka find its political independence. -
Stonewall Riots
On June 28, police raided the Stonewall Inn (a bar well known to be a safe space for the LQBTQ+ community). This led to protests which escalated into riots that lasted until July 3, 1969. Stonewall is regarded as one of the first major protest for equal gay rights and was a catalyst for a new wave of activism. -
First Gay Pride Parade in America
On the first anniversary of Stonewall Riots the first Gay Liberation Marches (now known as pride parades) were held in New York City, Chicago, San Fransisco, and Los Angeles. -
Roe V Wade
This Supreme Court case (which is arguably one of the most impactful) decided in a 7-2 ruling that until a fetus is viable, abortion is a protected right in America. This case was from Texas and subsequently overturned Texas' abortion laws and ruled them unconstitutional. -
Berlin Wall Falls
The Berlin Wall built in 1961, was placed to keep western germans from entering East Germany and to keep people from feeling eastern Germany. The wall falling represented the symbolic end of the Cold War and the beginning of the end of communism (the iron curtain). -
Columbine School Shooting
On 4/20/1999, two seniors at Columbine High School killed 15 people (12 students, 1 teacher, themselves) and injured 24 others in one of the most well known school shootings. Although it was not the first, after Columbine schools started changing security measures, police departments started training differently, and gun violence and school shootings became much important socially/politically.