Four white men rape Annette Butler, a Black 16-year-old, in Tylertown, Mississippi, and are later acquitted by all-white, all-male juries, despite a confession.
May 12, 2010
Schools in Tucson, Arizona, are barred from teaching Mexican American Studies this week after governor signs bill banning all ethnic studies courses.
May 11, 1868
Convict leasing begins in Georgia when governor leases 100 Black prisoners to Georgia and Alabama Railroad for $2500 per year; 16 prisoners die in the first year alone.
May 10, 1740
South Carolina enacts Negro Act of 1740, allowing slave owners to whip and kill slaves who violate the law by growing their own food, learning to read, assembling in groups, or earning money.
May 9, 1961
Freedom Rider John Lewis, future U.S. Congressman from Georgia, is assaulting for attempting to enter the white waiting room at the Greyhound bus terminal in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
May 8, 2009
Members of the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross in an African American neighborhood in Ozark, Alabama, to intimidate Black residents.
May 7, 1955
In Belzoni, Mississippi, NAACP member Rev. George Lee is fatally shot after angering local white people by attempting to register to vote.
May 6, 1913
This week, California enacts legislation barring Asian immigrants from owning land; 15 other states later pass similar laws.
May 5, 1887
A Black man named Richard Goodwin and a Black man named Gracy Blanton are kidnapped from a jail by a masked white mob and hanged from a tree in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana.
May 4, 1992
Riots in Los Angeles, California, sparked by acquittal of white police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King, end, leaving 53 people dead, 200 injured, and $1 billion in damage.