Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Air Indiana Flight 216 crash occurred on December 13, 1977, at 19:22 CST, when a Douglas DC-3, registration N51071 carrying the University of Evansville basketball team, the Evansville Purple Aces, lost control and crashed shortly after takeoff at the Evansville Regional Airport in Evansville, Indiana. The plane was on its way to Nashville International Airport, taking the team to play the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the crash on the pilot's failure to remove gust locks on the right aileron and the rudder before takeoff, as well as an overloaded baggage compartment. The NTSB report said that the plane might have been able to stay airborne had only one of the problems existed. As it was, the extra baggage shifted the plane's center of gravity to the rear, and the locked rudder and aileron made it impossible to control the overweight aircraft. Head coach Bobby Watson was the only coach on board the flight as his assistant coaches were on scouting assignments at the time. Athletic director Jim Byers had planned to board the plane but stayed behind to interview a candidate for the baseball program. Four of the passengers were still breathing when found by rescuers, with three dying on the scene and one dying hours after the accident. The only member of the Purple Aces who did not die in the crash was 18-year-old freshman David Furr; he was out for the season with an ankle injury and thus was not on the plane that day. Two weeks after the crash, Furr and his younger brother Byron were killed in a car accident near Newton, Illinois, leaving the entire 1977 Evansville team dead. After consideration, the rest of the season was cancelled. A memorial has been constructed at the University of Evansville known as the "Weeping Basketball." On stone slabs are engraved the names of the players who were killed, including Furr (the final name on the monument is that of Charles Goad of the Goad Equipment Company, invited on the flight by his friend Bob Hudson). Also engraved is an excerpt from the eulogy delivered by school president Wallace Graves at a memorial service: "Out of the agony of this hour we will rise." A memorial is also at the Ford Center, where the Purple Aces currently play their home games.
Robert Lee Watson (August 8, 1942 – December 13, 1977) was an American basketball coach. He was in his first season as a head coach for the Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team when he and his team were killed in the 1977 Air Indiana Flight 216 crash. Watson was a college basketball player for the VMI Keydets and began his coaching career at a Virginia high school. His early coaching career was interrupted by two stints in the Vietnam War but he returned as an assistant coach for the Xavier Musketeers. Watson first came to prominence as the head coach for the Ferrum Panthers from 1971 to 1973. He worked as an assistant coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Watson was hired as the head coach of the Purple Aces in 1977 for their first season as a member of NCAA Division I competition and had amassed a 1–3 record at the time of his death.
Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was an international flight that was hijacked by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) en route from Mumbai to Tokyo on 28 September 1977.
Richard Shafle Freeman (June 22, 1907 – February 6, 1941) was a United States Army Air Corps officer and pilot. An early participant in the Army's 1934 air mail operations, a crew member of the 1939 Boeing XB-15 mercy flight to Chile that received the Mackay Trophy, and the first commanding officer of Ladd Field, Alaska, Freeman was killed in the crash of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in Nevada in 1941. Freeman Army Airfield near Seymour, Indiana, later the site of the Freeman Field mutiny, was named in his honor.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
