Topic: Afghanistan War

Jul 14,

1798

First Sedition Act Passed

Mar 3,

1873

Comstock Act Passed – Era of Censorship Begins

Sep 14,

1879

Margaret Sanger, Birth Control Pioneer, is Born

Jan 21,

1884

Roger Baldwin, Founder of the ACLU, is Born

Dec 24,

1908

Protect the City’s Morals! NYC Mayor Revokes All Movie Licenses

Dec 2,

1911

Harriet Pilpel, Reproductive Rights Pioneer, is Born

Feb 4,

1913

Happy Birthday Rosa Parks!

Mar 29,

1913

Theodore Roosevelt Warns That U.S. Threatened by “European Extremists” — Artists

Apr 2,

1914

Post Office Bans Margaret Sanger’s “Woman Rebel”

May 16,

1914

Judge Learned Hand Rebukes Anti-Obscenity Crusader Anthony Comstock

Feb 8,

1915

“Birth of a Nation” Opens: A Century of Controversy Follows

Feb 23,

1915

Supreme Court: Movies Not Protected by First Amendment

Mar 3,

1915

Protests Greet “Birth of a Nation” Opening in New York City

Jun 16,

1915

University of Pennsylvania Fires Scott Nearing Over Radical Economic Views

Sep 21,

1915

Anthony Comstock Dies – Censorship Lives On

Oct 3,

1915

John Sumner to Continue Comstock’s Censorship Work

May 22,

1916

Margaret Sanger Speech Cancelled in St. Louis

Oct 16,

1916

Margaret Sanger Opens First Birth Control Clinic in America

Oct 25,

1916

Birth Control Pioneer Margaret Sanger Arrested For Opening First Birth Control Clinic in U.S.

Feb 2,

1917

Margaret Sanger Refuses to Obey New York Birth Control Law, Is Sentenced to Jail

Feb 10,

1917

Columbia University Bans Tolstoy’s Son as “Persona Non Grata”

Feb 17,

1917

Senators Denounce Proposed Espionage Bill as War Is Imminent

Feb 25,

1917

“Modesty” Ordered for Atlantic City Cabarets

Apr 7,

1917

President Wilson Issues Secret Loyalty Order

May 18,

1917

Congress Creates World War I Draft: Protests, Civil Liberties Violations Follow

Jul 2,

1917

Civil Liberties Bureau to Defend Conscientious Objectors, Free Speech in World War I Crisis

Jul 7,

1917

Government Repression Hits Socialist Opponents of War

Jul 7,

1917

Suppression of Dissent: “The Masses,” Anti-War Magazine, Held Non-Mailable

Jul 13,

1917

Activists Protest Post Office Censorship of Anti-War Publications

Sep 11,

1917

Emma Goldman Speech Banned in New York – Appears On Stage Gagged

Sep 26,

1917

Post Office to Ban Emma Goldman’s “Mother Earth”

Nov 1,

1917

National Civil Liberties Bureau Reports Sweeping Government Censorship

Nov 2,

1917

Post Office Ban on Anti-War “The Masses” Upheld – Repression of Dissent Expands

Dec 14,

1917

Kate Richards O’Hare Denounces World War I; Gets Five Years in Prison

Apr 18,

1918

Dyer Anti-lynching Bill Introduced in House

Apr 27,

1918

Hung Jury: “The Masses” Editors Not Convicted

Aug 31,

1918

DOJ Raids National Civil Liberties Bureau Office, Seizes Records

Sep 14,

1918

Eugene Debs Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Anti-War Speech

Sep 14,

1918

WW I Conscientious Objectors Chained in Solitary Confinement, Dark Unsanitary Cells

Oct 30,

1918

Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder, Sentenced to Prison – Delivers Famous Statement of Conscience

Jan 15,

1919

National Civil Liberties Bureau Condemns Deportation and Exclusion Laws

Feb 7,

1919

Society Women Oppose “Indecent” Evening Gowns

Feb 9,

1919

Suffragists Burn Effigy of President Wilson in Front of White House

Mar 1,

1919

National Civil Liberties Bureau Issues Comprehensive Report on WW I Rights Violations

Jul 4,

1919

Police Threats Cancel Civil Liberties Bureau Meeting at Carnegie Hall

Jul 19,

1919

Race Riot Erupts in Washington, DC

Jan 16,

1920

Prohibition Begins – Civil Liberties Abuses Follow

Jan 19,

1920

ACLU Founded – Fight For Civil Liberties Begins

Jun 5,

1920

Women’s Bureau is Created

Feb 14,

1921

Obscenity Charges for Publishing “Ulysses”

Mar 5,

1921

Will Hays Becomes Postmaster General; Ends Some, But Not All, Post Office Censorship

Mar 17,

1921

Dr. Marie Stopes Opens First Birth Control Clinic in England

Aug 1,

1921

New York Motion Picture Commission Begins Work – Censorship Ahead

Nov 1,

1921

Margaret Sanger Founds American Birth Control League

Nov 11,

1921

First American Birth Control Conference

Nov 13,

1921

New York Police Halt Birth Control Meeting at Town Hall

Jun 4,

1922

Will Hays Tells Film Industry to “Purify” Itself

Aug 12,

1922

Groups Launch “War on Censorship”

Sep 7,

1922

Post Office Lifts Ban on Alexander Berkman’s “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist”

Dec 8,

1922

“Birth of a Nation” Denied Permit in New York City

May 15,

1923

Upton Sinclair Arrested in LA for Reading the Bill of Rights

Feb 10,

1924

Police in Wilkes-Barre, PA Block Radicals’ Meeting

Mar 21,

1925

Tennessee Governor Signs Anti-Evolution Law – Sets Stage for Famous Scopes Case

Jul 10,

1925

Historic Scopes Monkey Trial Begins

Jul 20,

1925

Darrow Mercilessly Cross-Examines Bryan at Scopes Trial

Apr 5,

1926

H. L. Mencken Arrested in Boston in Arranged Censorship Case

Jan 15,

1927

Scopes Conviction is Overturned

Mar 26,

1927

Will Hays Asks for Constitutional Amendment to Protect Movies From Censorship

Oct 14,

1927

Do Pajamas = Nudity? NYC DA Threatens Theater Prosecutions

Oct 14,

1927

Irish-American Groups Seek Ban on Films That Offend Racial or Religious Groups

Feb 1,

1928

Post Office Bans “Protest Against the Marines in Nicaragua” Stickers on Envelopes

Jul 8,

1928

Crystal Eastman, Civil Liberties Pioneer, Dies

Dec 27,

1928

Post Office Bans Anti-Fascist Italian Language Newspaper

Apr 15,

1929

NYC Birth Control Clinic Raided, Dr. Hannah Stone Arrested

Apr 16,

1929

“An American Tragedy:” Obscenity Trial Opens in Boston

Apr 16,

1929

Margaret Sanger Appears on Stage Gagged in Boston

Apr 23,

1929

Mary Ware Dennett, Sex Education and Birth Control Pioneer, Found Guilty of Obscenity

May 23,

1929

ACLU Leaders Meet with NYC Police Commissioner, Demand Protection of Civil Liberties

Jul 26,

1929

Lesbian Themed “The Well of Loneliness” Held Not Obscene by U.S. Customs Court

Oct 13,

1929

Martial Law, Suppression of the Press in Oil-Boom Texas City

Jan 12,

1930

ACLU Demands Inquiry into Missing Files in Dismissed Birth Control and Censorship Cases

Jan 28,

1930

ACLU to Sue NYC Police Over Brutality, Fatal Shooting of Communist Party Member in Demonstration

Mar 3,

1930

Mary Ware Dennett, Birth Control, Sex Education Advocate, Is Vindicated

Mar 31,

1930

Hollywood Censorship: Early Production Code Adopted

Oct 2,

1930

Cleveland Police Club, Tear Gas 2,500 Protesting President Herbert Hoover

Mar 25,

1931

Scottsboro Case Begins: Nine Young African-Americans Arrested in Alabama

Apr 6,

1931

U.S. versus Married Love . . . . Really?

Aug 10,

1931

Wickersham Commission: First-Ever Report on Police Brutality

Nov 28,

1931

NYC Police Raid Anti-Fascist Newspaper’s Office – ACLU Protests

Oct 2,

1932

LA Police, American Legion Break Up Scottsboro Defense Meeting in Long Beach, CA

Dec 6,

1933

Classic Novel “Ulysses” Ruled Not Pornographic!

Feb 28,

1934

“The Nudist” Magazine Banned by NYC License Commissioner

Jun 13,

1934

Notorious Movie Censorship Code Adopted

Aug 7,

1934

Americans Can Finally Read “Ulysses” – Court Ends Ban

Oct 13,

1934

NYC Police Break Up Anti-Fascist Rally – NYCLU Demands Mayor Investigate

Nov 27,

1934

NYC Police Commissioner Tells Officers to “Muss Up” Known Criminals

Mar 20,

1935

NYC Mayor La Guardia Launches Investigation of Police Brutality in Harlem

Jul 27,

1935

“Ecstasy” is Burning!

Jan 11,

1936

Tulsa Bans Play “Tobacco Road”

May 2,

1936

YWCA to Include Sex Education in its Program

Jul 16,

1936

Westchester County Continues Ban on Men’s Topless Swim Suits

Dec 19,

1936

ACLU Charges Widespread Radio Censorship

Feb 20,

1937

National Lawyers Guild, Alternative to ABA, is Organized

Apr 6,

1937

Julia Sims First Woman Foreperson of a Federal Grand Jury

May 24,

1937

New York Law Allows Women as Jurors

Jun 13,

1937

“Cradle Will Rock” Defies Government Censorship, Opens in Different Theater

Mar 13,

1938

“Attorney for the Damned,” Clarence Darrow, Dies

Apr 11,

1938

“Birth of a Baby” Public Health Photographs Called Obscene

Feb 25,

1939

Once-Banned Film Opens; “Near-Adolescent Riot” Ensues

Apr 9,

1939

Marian Anderson Gives Historic Lincoln Memorial Concert

Apr 20,

1939

Billie Holiday Records “Strange Fruit”

Jun 19,

1939

American Library Association Adopts Library Bill of Rights

Aug 18,

1939

“The Grapes of Wrath” Banned in Kansas City, Kansas

Sep 15,

1939

Censor Ruling Reversed: OK to Show Film of Unmarried French Peasants

Nov 15,

1939

“Grapes of Wrath” Ordered Burned in East St. Louis, IL

Feb 21,

1940

Civil Rights Leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis is Born in Troy, Alabama

May 14,

1940

Emma Goldman, Anarchist, Anti-WW I Activist, Feminist, Birth Control Advocate, Dies

Jan 14,

1941

A. Philip Randolph Calls For a March on Washington

Jan 27,

1941

California Creates Un-American Activities Committee

May 6,

1941

Ernest Hemingway Denied Pulitzer Prize for “For Whom the Bell Tolls”

Jun 25,

1941

FDR Signs First-Ever Equal Employment Opportunity Order

Mar 9,

1942

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Founded

Apr 14,

1942

Attorney General Biddle OKs Censoring Father Coughlin’s “Social Justice” Magazine

Dec 7,

1942

“Native Son” Play, Temporarily Closed Under Catholic Pressure, Reopens in NYC

Feb 1,

1943

Supreme Court Upholds Connecticut Anti-Birth Control Law

Apr 17,

1943

First Sit-in Challenges Segregated Washington D.C. Restaurants

May 8,

1943

CORE Leads Early Sit-in in Chicago

Aug 1,

1943

Harlem Race Riot Signals Rising African-American Discontent

Sep 29,

1943

Six Conscientious Objectors Begin Hunger Strike in Lewisburg Penitentiary over Censorship of Reading Materials

Nov 18,

1943

Liberal, Racial Minority, and Labor Groups Urge Post Office Ban on Hate Mail

Jan 28,

1944

Teens Declare That Boogie-Woogie Does Not Cause Delinquency!

Apr 4,

1944

“Strange Fruit,” The Novel, Banned in Boston

Apr 22,

1944

Sit-in Challenges Restaurant Segregation in Washington, D.C.

May 27,

1944

First Television Censorship!

Jan 3,

1945

HUAC Made a Permanent Committee – Assault on Freedom of Belief and Association Continues

Jul 17,

1945

Congress Refuses to Extend Committee on Fair Employment Practices

Apr 27,

1946

Civil Rights Congress Formed

May 13,

1946

U.S. Occupying Forces Destroy Books in Germany

Feb 23,

1947

ACLU Urges NY Governor to Veto Film Censorship Bill

Mar 21,

1947

Guilt by Association: President Truman Launches Federal Loyalty Program

May 26,

1947

FBI Memo Attacks “It’s A Wonderful Life” As Subversive, Anti-Capitalist Propaganda

Jul 25,

1947

Mary Ware Dennett, Feminist, Birth Control Activist, and Civil Libertarian, Dies

Jan 12,

1948

Supreme Court Requires Oklahoma to Provide Equal Law School Opportunity for African-Americans

Mar 26,

1948

Philadelphia Police Seize 2,000 Books; Authors Protest

May 1,

1948

Senator Glen Taylor Arrested in Civil Rights Protest

Jul 13,

1948

Groups Protest NYC Public Schools Ban on “The Nation” Magazine

Oct 1,

1948

Guilty of Speaking in the Park

Dec 10,

1948

“Respectful Prostitute” Play Banned in Chicago Over Race Issues

Feb 20,

1950

Senator Joe McCarthy Claims List of 81 Communists in Government

Mar 14,

1950

Actress Ingrid Bergman’s Affair Provokes Scandal and a Civil Liberties Crisis

Aug 23,

1950

U.S. Senate Brands Famous Italian Film Director Rossellini a “Fascist”

Jan 26,

1951

No Liberal Magazines for Los Angeles Students

Aug 13,

1951

ACLU Defends Right of NYC Police to Form a Union

Sep 4,

1951

Ohio State Imposes Speaker Ban

Feb 11,

1952

Oklahoma City Burns Books for “Socialism and Sex”

Apr 10,

1952

Naming Names: Famed Director Elia Kazan Names 8 People Before HUAC

May 21,

1952

Playwright Lillian Hellman Famously Rebukes HUAC

May 26,

1952

“The Miracle!” Movies Protected by First Amendment

Dec 8,

1952

“I Love Lucy,” But Just Don’t Say She’s ‘Pregnant’

Jan 19,

1953

“Lucy Goes to the Hospital” – Just Doesn’t Say Why

Jul 8,

1953

Eeek! A Virgin! The Film “The Moon is Blue” Premiers in New York

Dec 23,

1953

AEC Suspends J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Security Clearance

Apr 21,

1954

Danger! Comic Books!

May 17,

1954

“Separate but Equal” Unconstitutional: Landmark “Brown v. Board of Education” Decision

Aug 12,

1954

New York Film Censors Okay Scene of Birth of a Calf in Disney Nature Movie

Oct 26,

1954

Save the Children! Comic Book Code Adopted

Jan 20,

1955

Sit-ins Integrate Baltimore Lunch Counters at Read’s Stores

Mar 2,

1955

Nine Months Before Rosa Parks: Four African-American Women Challenge Discrimination on Montgomery, Alabama, Bus

Apr 15,

1955

First Abortion Conference in the U.S.

May 22,

1955

Lock Up Your Teenagers! Fats is Coming

Aug 26,

1955

“Blackboard Jungle” Removed as U.S. Entry in Venice Film Festival

Sep 1,

1955

Huck Finn Whitewashed – No Slavery, No African-Americans in TV Movie

Oct 6,

1955

Allen Ginsberg Reads “Howl” for the First Time

Oct 22,

1955

Future Civil Rights Hero Frank M. Johnson Appointed District Court Judge in Alabama

Oct 24,

1955

Can We Say “Virgin”? Supreme Court Okays Film “The Moon is Blue”

Dec 1,

1955

Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat to a White Person– Inspires Historic Montgomery Bus Boycott

Dec 5,

1955

Rosa Parks Convicted for Refusing to Give Up Her Seat; Bus Boycott Begins

Dec 15,

1955

“Man With the Golden Arm” Opens Without Hollywood Seal of Approval – Challenges Censorship Code

Jan 19,

1956

“Dragnet” Episode Attacks CA Supreme Court Exclusionary Rule Decision

Feb 7,

1956

Samuel Roth (“the Prometheus of the Unprintable”) is Convicted

Jun 13,

1956

Court Orders Montgomery, Alabama, Buses Desegregated

Jun 21,

1956

Playwright Arthur Miller Testifies Before HUAC – Refuses to Name Names

Aug 23,

1956

Stamp Out Orgasms! Government Seizes and Burns the Work of Dr. Wilhelm Reich

Sep 9,

1956

From the Waist Up: Elvis Censored on Ed Sullivan Show

Mar 25,

1957

Stop that Poem! Customs Seizes Copies of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

May 23,

1957

Cleveland Police Raid Dolree Mapp’s House: Case Leads to Exclusionary Rule

May 26,

1957

Paul Robeson Denied Passport – Gives London Concert by Phone

Jun 3,

1957

You Can’t Read “Howl”! Publisher of Now-Classic Poem Arrested

Oct 3,

1957

You Can Now Read “Howl”– Publisher Acquitted of Obscenity Charges

Oct 11,

1957

“Don’t Put the Tilet Set On TV”

Nov 16,

1957

Catholic Bishops Adopt Plan to Fight Obscenity

Jun 30,

1958

Supreme Court Establishes Right of Freedom of Association

Jul 19,

1958

1958 Wichita Sit-In Challenges Segregation

Sep 18,

1958

Cincinnati Public Library Bans “Lolita,” Acclaimed Novel

Apr 16,

1959

“Just Don’t Mention Gas Chambers;” CBS Censors TV Program on Nuremberg Trials

May 6,

1959

New York Post Office Seizes “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”

Jun 11,

1959

“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” Banned From the Mails

Jan 20,

1960

Hollywood Blacklist Broken – Producer Otto Preminger Credits Dalton Trumbo for “Exodus” Script

Jan 24,

1960

A. Philip Randolph Calls for Mass Movement; Sit-Ins Begin a Week Later

Feb 1,

1960

Greensboro, NC Sit-In — Civil Rights Struggle Enters Historic New Phase

Feb 13,

1960

Nashville Students Begin Sit-ins

Mar 15,

1960

Julian Bond Leads Atlanta’s First Sit-In

Mar 29,

1960

The Ad That Produced a Landmark First Amendment Case

Apr 15,

1960

SNCC Founded by Sit-In Leaders

Apr 28,

1960

Newly Formed SDS Holds “Act Now” Conference on Human Rights in the North

May 11,

1960

FDA Approves First Birth Control Pill, Sexual Revolution Begins

May 12,

1960

Major Anti-HUAC Protest Begins in San Francisco; Police Brutality the Next Day

Jul 25,

1960

Greensboro, North Carolina, Lunch Counters Integrated

Oct 17,

1960

Major Sit-in Victory: Four Chain Stores Desegregate 150 Lunch Counters in 112 Cities

Jan 9,

1961

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, First African-Americans to Enroll at University of Georgia

Jan 25,

1961

Controversy Sparked Over “Managed News” by the Kennedy Administration

Jan 26,

1961

California Loyalty Oath for Organizations Using School Facilities Struck Down

Feb 2,

1961

Civil Rights “Jail-in” in Rock Hill, South Carolina

Mar 6,

1961

President Kennedy Issues Equal Employment Opportunity Order

Mar 7,

1961

Sit-In Victory: Atlanta Stores Desegregate Lunch Counters

May 4,

1961

Freedom Ride Begins, Challenges Segregation in Interstate Travel

May 14,

1961

Folk Singing Returns to NYC Washington Square Park

May 14,

1961

Jim Peck, Freedom Rider, Assaulted in Alabama

May 20,

1961

President Kennedy Fails to Support Freedom Ride

May 24,

1961

Freedom Riders Immediately Arrested in Jackson, MS – Secret Deal by AG Robert Kennedy

May 30,

1961

“We’ve Been ‘Cooling Off’ for 350 Years!” Civil Rights Leader Rebukes AG Kennedy’s Call for Halting the 1961 Freedom Ride

Jun 19,

1961

Justice Harlan II’s Historic Dissent on a Right to Privacy

Aug 11,

1961

Justice Department Lifts 30-Year Customs Ban on “Tropic of Cancer”

Oct 4,

1961

Lenny Bruce, Pioneering Comedian, Arrested for Obscenity in San Francisco

Oct 15,

1961

Hunter College Denies Permit to Conservative “National Review” – ACLU to Defend Magazine

Nov 10,

1961

Estelle Griswold Arrested – Road to a Right to Privacy Begins

Nov 17,

1961

U.S. Civil Rights Commission Finds Police Brutality “A Serious Problem” Nationwide

Dec 11,

1961

“Garner v. Louisiana” – Early Sit-In Victory

Jan 2,

1962

Weavers Refuse to Sign Loyalty Oath – Are Banned by NBC

Jan 26,

1962

Catholic Bishop Bans The Twist

Feb 9,

1962

Police Chiefs Hold 5-day Closed Meeting on Desegregation; Agree that Federal Law is Supreme

Mar 14,

1962

Bridgeport, CT, Police Chief Bans Novel, “The Carpetbaggers” – Connecticut ACLU to Sue

Jun 28,

1962

John Henry Faulk Wins $3.5 Million Damages Award for Being Blacklisted

Jan 14,

1963

Governor George Wallace: “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever”

Mar 20,

1963

Joan Baez Boycotts “Hootenanny” Over Blacklist

Apr 3,

1963

“B” Day – Rev. Martin Luther King Launches Birmingham Demonstrations

Apr 12,

1963

Martin Luther King Arrested in Birmingham Demonstration: Writes Famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Apr 16,

1963

Martin Luther King, Jr., Writes Famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

May 2,

1963

“D” Day in Birmingham – Martin Luther King Mobilizes Children for Demonstrations

May 3,

1963

Fire Hoses and Police Dogs Attack Birmingham Civil Right Demonstrators

May 10,

1963

“Bombingham:” Racists Bomb Birmingham Motel

Jun 11,

1963

George Wallace “Stands in the Schoolhouse Door” to Block Integration; Then Steps Aside

Jun 25,

1963

North Carolina Passes Campus Speaker Ban

Sep 10,

1963

Alabama Fights School Integration – JFK Mobilizes National Guard

Sep 14,

1963

Pete Seeger Refuses to Sign Loyalty Oath, Is Barred from “Hootenanny” TV Show

Sep 15,

1963

“Bombingham” – Birmingham Church Bomb Kills Four African American Girls

Sep 16,

1963

“A Time to Speak:” Chuck Morgan, White Birmingham Resident, Denounces Racist Bombing

Feb 8,

1964

House Debates Adding Sex Discrimination to Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act

Mar 2,

1964

“Fish-In” Challenges Limits on Native-American Fishing Rights

Apr 3,

1964

Malcolm X Gives Famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” Speech in Cleveland

Jun 9,

1964

CIA Pressures Publisher of Second-Ever Book on Agency

Jun 22,

1964

“Tropic of Cancer” Ruled Not Obscene

Jul 29,

1964

Civil Rights Groups Split on Suspending Protests Because of Riots

Sep 16,

1964

Berkeley Bans Off-Campus Political Advocacy on Campus, Sparks Free Speech Movement

Oct 1,

1964

Jack Weinberg Arrested; Berkeley Free Speech Movement Escalates

Nov 4,

1964

Lenny Bruce, Radical Comedian, Convicted of Obscenity in New York City

Dec 2,

1964

Free Speech Movement Historic Moment – Mario Savio Denounces “The System”

Mar 7,

1965

“Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama: John Lewis, Other Marchers Beaten and Tear Gassed

Mar 16,

1965

LBJ Sends Federal Troops to Guard Selma Voting Rights March

Mar 21,

1965

Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March Begins Again

Mar 24,

1965

First Vietnam War Teach-in at University of Michigan

Mar 25,

1965

1965 Voting Rights March Reaches Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery

Apr 17,

1965

First Big Anti-Vietnam War March on Washington

Apr 17,

1965

Mattachine Society Pickets White House to Demand Equal Rights for Homosexuals

Apr 21,

1965

Ohio State Bans Marxist Speaker, Herbert Aptheker

Jun 7,

1965

A Constitutional Right to Privacy: “Griswold v. Connecticut”

Jul 2,

1965

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Established

Nov 2,

1965

First Federally Supported Birth Control Clinic Opens

Nov 27,

1965

Tens of Thousands of Vietnam War Protesters Picket the White House

Dec 3,

1965

All-White Jury Convicts KKK Members for Murder of Viola Liuzzo

Feb 9,

1966

NYC Police Commissioner Opposes Civilian Review of the Police in Letter to Mayor

Mar 1,

1966

President Johnson Endorses Federal Aid for Family Planning

Mar 9,

1966

Other Side of the Wall: Speakers Defy North Carolina Speaker Ban

Sep 6,

1966

Margaret Sanger, Birth Control Pioneer, Dies at Age 86

Nov 8,

1966

NYC Voters Abolish Civilian Complaint Review Board for the Police

Jan 15,

1967

Let’s Spend “Some Time” Together – Rolling Stones Censor Themselves on Ed Sullivan Show

Mar 29,

1967

Court Ends Philadelphia Police Advisory Board

Apr 6,

1967

Bill Baird Arrested for Giving Contraceptive to Unmarried Woman

May 8,

1967

“Redrup:” Supreme Court Gives Up Trying to Define Obscenity

May 17,

1967

Tennessee Repeals Anti-Evolution Law — 42 Years After the Scopes Case

Jun 15,

1967

Governor Reagan Signs Liberal California Abortion Law – Then Regrets It

Oct 20,

1967

1,000 Draft Cards Turned in to Justice Department in Vietnam War Protest

Oct 21,

1967

100,000 March on Pentagon to Protest Vietnam War

Nov 8,

1967

President Johnson Ends Barriers to Promoting Women in Military

Jan 5,

1968

Dr. Spock, Four Others, Indicted for Anti-War Conspiracy

Jan 15,

1968

“Sisterhood is Powerful”: Women’s March for Equality Led by 87-year old Jeannette Rankin

Feb 25,

1968

Pete Seeger Performs “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” on Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Feb 29,

1968

Kerner Commission Report on 1960s Riots Warns: “Two Societies, One Black, One White”

Jun 10,

1968

Supreme Court Okays Police Stops and Frisks

Aug 28,

1968

“Police Riot” at Democratic Party Convention

Sep 4,

1968

CIA Delivers “Restless Youth” Report on U.S. Peace Groups

Nov 1,

1968

Rated “X” – New Movie Ratings System Goes Into Effect

Dec 1,

1968

Walker Report Finds “Police Riot” at Democratic Party Convention

Jan 7,

1969

Governor Reagan: Drive “Anarchists” and “Latter Day Fascists” Off California Campuses

Feb 5,

1969

“Nude-In:” Grinnell College Students Protest Playboy Magazine

Feb 14,

1969

NARAL, Abortion Rights Group, Founded

Mar 10,

1969

Civil Rights Demonstrations Upheld: “Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham”

Apr 4,

1969

CBS Cancels Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Jun 28,

1969

Stonewall Inn Riots – Lesbian, Gay Rights Movement Born

Jul 11,

1969

Dr. Spock’s Conviction for Conspiracy to Oppose Vietnam War Draft Overturned

Oct 15,

1969

First Vietnam War Moratorium – Massive Protests Across the Country

Nov 15,

1969

Second Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium – Massive Protests

Dec 4,

1969

President Nixon, Vice-President Agnew Ponder Causes of “Generation Gap”

Dec 22,

1969

Native-American Protest: Radio Free Alcatraz Broadcasts

Jul 1,

1970

New York Abortion-Reform Law Takes Effect

Feb 26,

1970

Army to End Monitoring Peaceful Protests

Apr 1,

1970

Grateful Dead Provokes First-Ever FCC Indecency Fine

Apr 11,

1970

Governor Rockefeller Signs NY Abortion Reform Law

May 1,

1970

Massive Nationwide Student Strike Protests Cambodian Invasion in Vietnam War

May 10,

1970

Protester Hangs American Flag Upside Down, With Peace Symbol, Heads to Supreme Court

Jun 5,

1970

President Nixon Demands Action on Anti-War Protests: Abuses Follow

Aug 26,

1970

March Commemorates Women’s Suffrage

Jan 12,

1971

First Abortion Case Is Argued Before U.S. Supreme Court

Jan 22,

1971

Congressional Black Caucus Boycotts President Nixon’s State of the Union Address

Apr 21,

1971

Vuitch: Supreme Court Rules in First-Ever Abortion Case

Jun 30,

1971

Landmark Freedom of the Press Victory: Supreme Court Strikes Down Pentagon Papers Injunction

Sep 3,

1971

FBI to Investigate Police Violence Against Latinos, African-Americans in Bridgeport, CT

Sep 9,

1971

Attica Prison Rebellion Begins

Sep 13,

1971

Massacre at Attica Prison, New York

Oct 22,

1971

“A Civil Liberties Disaster” – New York Civil Liberties Union Attacks Procedures in Police Corruption Probe

Nov 22,

1971

Breakthrough: Women Covered by Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

Mar 22,

1972

Unmarried Women Win Right to Contraceptives in Massachusetts

Apr 10,

1972

Charlie Chaplin Receives Honorary Oscar, 20 Years After Being Excluded From U.S.

Jan 22,

1973

A Constitutional Right to an Abortion: “Roe v. Wade”

Mar 2,

1973

George Carlin Records Famous “Seven Dirty Words” Monologue

Mar 23,

1973

U.S. Orders Beatle John Lennon Out of U.S. Within 60 Days

Jun 21,

1973

Help Wanted: Sex-Segregated Want Ads Unconstitutional

Oct 30,

1973

Cover Your Ears! George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words Broadcast

Nov 7,

1973

New Jersey Civil Rights Division Rules Little League Must Admit Girls

Feb 9,

1974

Chicago Bans “Impeach Nixon” Signs From Buses, Trains; ACLU Sues

Jan 21,

1975

Women Cannot be Excluded From Jury Duty: “Taylor v. Louisiana”

Oct 7,

1975

John Lennon Can Stay in U.S. – Court Ends Government Deportation Effort

Jan 22,

1976

Supreme Court Rejects Injunctions Against Police Misconduct

Feb 18,

1976

President Ford Bans Assassinations by CIA

Sep 15,

1976

ACLU Sues Memphis over Destroyed Police Spying Files

Jan 18,

1977

Indiana the Last State to Ratify the ERA for Women’s Rights

Jan 21,

1977

President Carter Pardons Vietnam War Protesters

Aug 26,

1977

Alice Paul Memorial March for Women’s Rights

Mar 20,

1978

Florida Supreme Court Rules Homosexuals Can Practice Law

Jul 3,

1978

Supreme Court Bans Comedian George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words

Aug 1,

1978

Midge Costanza, Carter Administration Rights Advocate, Resigns

Mar 9,

1979

“The Secret That Exploded” — The Progressive Magazine Enjoined from Publishing Article on Making an H-Bomb

Jul 2,

1979

Supreme Court: No Parental Consent Needed for Abortion

Jan 16,

1981

ACLU’s Roger Baldwin and Earl Warren Awarded Medal of Freedom

Mar 2,

1982

Wisconsin First State to Ban Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Aug 12,

1982

Long Island, NY, School Board Voluntarily Returns Banned Books to School Library

Sep 24,

1982

Banned Books Week Begins – Last Week of September

Sep 28,

1982

Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues Protests Low Number of Women at IRS

Dec 9,

1983

FBI Ordered to Pay Jim Peck $25,000 for Assault as Freedom Rider

Jan 30,

1984

Reagan Attacks ACLU: “I Wear Their Indictment Like a Badge of Honor”

May 1,

1984

Indianapolis Anti-Pornography Ordinance Signed

Feb 25,

1985

Ed Meese Becomes Attorney General; Leads Assault on Civil Liberties

Mar 27,

1985

Supreme Court Limits Police Use of Deadly Force

Apr 23,

1985

Farley Mowat, Canadian Author, Denied Entry into U.S.

Jun 4,

1985

Alabama “Moment of Silence” Law Unconstitutional

Oct 1,

1985

Annual Free Speech Day in California: Commemorates Free Speech Movement

Mar 10,

1987

ACT UP, HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group, Founded

May 4,

1987

ACT UP Demands Action on HIV / AIDS Crisis

Oct 6,

1990

Robert Mapplethorpe and Gallery Curator Indicted for Obscenity in Cincinnati

Feb 2,

1991

Pentagon Bans Media Coverage of Military Casualties Returning to U.S.

Mar 3,

1991

L.A. Police Beat Rodney King; Video Tape Provokes National Outrage

Apr 23,

1991

Harriet Pilpel Dies; Civil Libertarian, Reproductive Rights Pioneer

Apr 5,

1992

March for Women’s Lives in Washington

Apr 29,

1992

LAPD Officers Acquitted in Rodney King Beating: Los Angeles Erupts in Riots

Jun 29,

1992

Supreme Court Preserves Right to Abortion; Defines “Undue Burden” Standard

May 12,

1994

Abortion Clinic Access Law (FACE) Passes in Congress

Sep 13,

1994

Violence Against Women Act Passed

Sep 13,

1994

Violent Crime Control Act Addresses Police Abuse, Violence Against Women

Jul 19,

1995

President Clinton on Affirmative Action: “Mend it, Don’t End It”

Sep 5,

1995

“Women’s Rights are Human Rights” – Hillary Clinton Speaks In Beijing

Feb 8,

1996

President Clinton Signs Communications Decency Act; ACLU Immediately Sues

May 12,

1996

Three Federal Judges Visit Internet Porn Sites in Communications Decency Case

Apr 16,

1997

Consent Degree to End “Pattern or Practice” of Abuse by Pittsburgh Police

Jun 10,

1999

Supreme Court Declares Chicago Anti-Gang Law Unconstitutional

Feb 2,

2001

John Ashcroft, Hostile to Civil Liberties, Becomes Attorney General

Jul 31,

2001

Ten Commandments Installed in Alabama Court House

Nov 1,

2001

President Bush Limits Access to Past Presidents’ Papers

Jan 11,

2002

Guantanamo Bay Detention Center Opens – Abuses Follow

Jan 18,

2002

President Bush Declares Guantanamo Bay Detainees Not Prisoners of War

Sep 24,

2003

New York City Police “Stop and Frisk” Practices Unconstitutional — But Practices Continue

Jan 13,

2004

Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Begins

Apr 28,

2004

“60 Minutes II” Broadcasts Exposé of Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse

May 2,

2004

Taguba Report Confirms Abuse by U.S. Military at Abu Ghraib Prison

Oct 24,

2005

Rosa Parks, Hero of Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dies

May 29,

2007

Supreme Court Denies Lily Ledbetter Remedy for Unequal Pay

Jan 21,

2008

John Lewis Returns to Scene of 1961 Freedom Ride Beating; Reconciles with Attacker

Jan 22,

2009

President Obama Orders Closing of Guantanamo Bay

May 31,

2009

Dr. George Tiller, Abortion Provider, Shot and Killed

Sep 30,

2009

International Blasphemy Day Founded

Jan 29,

2010

Too Much Anne Frank Sexuality! Virginia Parents Object

Jun 27,

2011

Supreme Court Invalidates California Video Games Censorship Law

Feb 21,

2012

Censorship Foe Barney Rosset Dies

Jun 17,

2012

Silent Marches Protest Police “Stop and Frisk” Policies

Aug 12,

2013

NYC Police’s Stop and Frisk Practices Ruled Unconstitutional

Jul 17,

2014

“I Can’t Breathe:” Eric Garner Choked to Death by NYPD Police Officers

Aug 9,

2014

Unarmed Michael Brown Shot and Killed by Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer – Nationwide Protests Follow

Mar 4,

2015

DOJ Issues Blistering Report on Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department

Mar 4,

2015

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Releases Interim Report

Oct 23,

2015

FBI Director James Comey Blames Police Critics For Recent Rise in Violent Crime

Apr 16,

2016

Washington Post Wins Pulitzer for Path-Breaking Reporting on People Shot by the Police

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