1961
Jan 9

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

Jan 25

Controversy Sparked Over “Managed News” by the Kennedy Administration

Jan 26

California Loyalty Oath for Organizations Using School Facilities Struck Down

Jan 27

Activist Frank Kameny Brings First Gay Rights Case to the Supreme Court

Feb 2

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

Feb 9

Sit-in Arrestees Refuse Bail in Georgia, Choose “Jail-In”

Feb 23

National Council of Churches Endorses Birth Control

Mar 6

President Kennedy Issues Equal Employment Opportunity Order

Mar 7

Sit-In Victory: Atlanta Stores Desegregate Lunch Counters

Mar 27

ACLU Opposes Legislative Investigation of Right-Wing John Birch Society

Mar 28

Senate Committee Examines Rights of the Mentally Ill

Mar 29

23rd Amendment Ratified, District of Columbia Residents Get to Vote in Presidential Elections

Apr 6

Highlander Center, Labor, Civil Rights Advocate, Loses License Revocation Case

Apr 11

No Folk Singing Allowed in the Park!

Apr 27

President Kennedy Asks Press to Self-Censor National Security News: Uproar Follows

May 1

Frank Wilkinson, Anti-HUAC Activist, Sent to Prison for Contempt of Congress

May 3

Harvard Bans Pete Seeger From Singing – Faculty Protest

May 4

Freedom Ride Begins, Challenges Segregation in Interstate Travel

May 9

Freedom Rider John Lewis Beaten in Rock Hill, South Carolina

May 14

Burning Buses in Alabama – Racists Attack Freedom Riders

May 14

Folk Singing Returns to NYC Washington Square Park

May 14

Jim Peck, Freedom Rider, Assaulted in Alabama

May 19

President Kennedy to Seek “Men and Women of Unquestioned Ability” as Judges

May 19

Supreme Court Rules Sunday “Blue” Laws Constitutional

May 20

President Kennedy Fails to Support Freedom Ride

May 23

Emergency Civil Liberties Committee Denounces HUAC Investigation

May 24

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

May 28

Amnesty International Founded

May 30

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

Jun 6

Notre Dame President Hesburgh: Civil Rights More Important Than Anti-Communism

Jun 9

Berkeley Bans Activist Student Organization — Free Speech Movement Ahead

Jun 16

Freedom Ride Leader Diane Nash Rebuffs AG Robert Kennedy

Jun 19

Exclusionary Rule for the Police: “Mapp v. Ohio”

Jun 19

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

Jun 19

Religious Test For Political Office Ruled Unconstitutional

Jul 1

New York Civil Liberties Union Fights NY “English Only” Voting Requirement

Jul 11

Maryland Apologizes to African Envoys Denied Service at Segregated Restaurants

Jul 25

National Police Association Warns of ACLU’s “Subversive Activities”

Aug 4

Clarence Gideon Convicted – Begins Road to Supreme Court

Aug 11

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

Aug 18

Learned Hand, Judge in Rare World War I Free Speech Victory, Dies at Age 89

Sep 22

ICC Bans Segregation in Interstate Travel Facilities

Oct 1

Christian Broadcast Network Begins Broadcasting

Oct 4

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

Oct 11

Student Activist Tom Hayden Beaten in McComb, Mississippi

Oct 15

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

Nov 10

Estelle Griswold Arrested – Road to a Right to Privacy Begins

Nov 11

CORE “Freedom Motorcade” in Maryland Cancelled

Nov 11

Rep. Moss Charges Government Agencies Hide More Information Than They Release

Nov 17

Albany, Georgia, Civil Rights Campaign Begins – Kennedy Administration Fails to Support

Nov 17

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

Nov 19

Rash of Speaker Bans at City University in New York City, Hits Left, Right Speakers

Nov 20

Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Exclusion of Women From Juries

Nov 29

JFK Press Conference Remarks Prompt IRS Investigation of Right-wing Groups

Dec 1

Northern California ACLU Releases “Operation Correction” Film Rebutting Distorted HUAC Film

Dec 4

Commodore Hotel Bars Bill of Rights Dinner in NYC

Dec 11

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

Dec 14

President Kennedy Creates Commission on the Status of Women

Dec 20

Justice Department Orders IRS to Investigate 18 Right-Wing Political Groups

Dec 27

Chicago Revises its Film Censorship Procedure

1961

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