← All State Chapter Presidents

TN

State Chapter President

Jamaryen J.

Tennessee

Their civil rights story

The 1975 Menominee Warrior Society Occupation of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate (Gresham, Wisconsin)

Native American rights

The 1975 Menominee Warrior Society Occupation of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate (Gresham, Wisconsin)

On New Year's Day 1975, the Menominee Warrior Society occupied the former Alexian Brothers' Novitiate near Gresham, Wisconsin, demanding that the property be returned to the Menominee people during the difficult period following federal termination and tribal restoration.

Read & listen to the story →

stella-k-wisconsin

the-1975-menominee-warrior-society-occupation-of-the-alexian-brothers-novitiate

Hawks Nest Workers Memorial and Grave Site (Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster)

Workers' rights

Hawks Nest Workers Memorial and Grave Site (Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster)

This small hillside cemetery holds the graves of Black migrant workers who died building the Hawks Nest Tunnel in 1930–31, in what one landmark study titled "America's Worst Industrial Disaster."

Read & listen to the story →

leon-t-west-virginia

hawks-nest-workers-memorial-and-grave-site

The "Tacoma Method" — the 1885 Expulsion of Tacoma's Chinese Community (Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park)

Immigrant rights

The "Tacoma Method" — the 1885 Expulsion of Tacoma's Chinese Community (Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park)

In 1885, a mob led by Tacoma's own mayor forced the city's entire Chinese community out of town in an event so infamous it became known as the "Tacoma Method." Today the waterfront Chinese Reconciliation Park sits near the site to remember what happened and to apologize for it.

Read & listen to the story →

sasha-g-washington

the-tacoma-method-1885-expulsion-of-tacomas-chinese-community

Vermont Equality for Same-Sex Couples Marker at the Vermont State House

Vermont Equality for Same-Sex Couples Marker at the Vermont State House

This is where Vermont became the first U.S. state to give same-sex couples legal recognition, first through civil unions in 2000 and then marriage in 2009. A green-and-gold state historic marker on the State House lawn tells the story.

Read & listen to the story →

hazel-b-vermont

vermont-equality-for-same-sex-couples-marker-at-the-vermont-state-house

The Grave of Robert Marshall — Marker for the Last Documented Lynching in the American West

Racial violence & lynching

The Grave of Robert Marshall — Marker for the Last Documented Lynching in the American West

Robert Marshall, a Black coal miner, was lynched by a mob near Price, Utah, in 1925 in what is often called the last lynching in the American West.

Read & listen to the story →

nathaniel-l-utah

the-grave-of-robert-marshall-marker-for-the-last-documented-lynching-in-the-american-west

Highlander Folk School

Civil rights education & organizing

Highlander Folk School

The Highlander Folk School near Monteagle, Tennessee, trained many of the people who led the civil rights movement, including Rosa Parks.

Read & listen to the story →

jamaryen-j-tennessee

highlander-folk-school-highlander-folk-school-library-building

Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973

Indigenous rights

Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973

This is the place where, in 1973, American Indian Movement activists and Oglala Lakota traditionalists took over the tiny town of Wounded Knee for 71 days to protest the treatment of Native Americans.

Read & listen to the story →

shan-south-dakota

wounded-knee-occupation-of-1973

The Orangeburg Massacre — South Carolina State University

First Amendment rights

The Orangeburg Massacre — South Carolina State University

On February 8, 1968, state police shot into a crowd of unarmed Black student protesters at South Carolina State College, killing three young men and wounding 28. It was the first deadly campus shooting of student protesters in U.S. history, and the campus now holds several memorials to the victims.

Read & listen to the story →

lilli-r-south-carolina

the-orangeburg-massacre-south-carolina-state-university

The Old State House and the Dorr Rebellion

The Old State House and the Dorr Rebellion

In the 1840s Rhode Island still let only landowning men vote, so Thomas Wilson Dorr and thousands of shut-out residents wrote their own constitution and set up a rival government.

Read & listen to the story →

julian-b-rhode-island

the-old-state-house-and-the-dorr-rebellion-rhode-islands-fight-to-expand-the-vote

Pennhurst State School and Hospital — Birthplace of the Disability Rights Movement

Disability rights

Pennhurst State School and Hospital — Birthplace of the Disability Rights Movement

Pennhurst was a Pennsylvania state institution where thousands of people with disabilities were locked away and mistreated.

Read & listen to the story →

gina-p-pennsylvania

pennhurst-state-school-and-hospital-birthplace-of-the-disability-rights-movement

1887 Massacre of Chinese Gold Miners

Anti-Asian violence and immigrant rights

1887 Massacre of Chinese Gold Miners

This quiet cove on the Snake River is where a gang of white horse thieves murdered as many as 34 Chinese gold miners in 1887.

Read & listen to the story →

deshona-w-oregon

chinese-massacre-cove-hells-canyon-site-of-the-1887-massacre-of-chinese-gold-miners

Oklahoma's "Crown Jewel" All-Black Town

Black self-government & voting rights

Oklahoma's "Crown Jewel" All-Black Town

Boley is the largest and best-known of the more than fifty all-Black towns founded in Oklahoma, where Black settlers and Creek freedmen built and governed their own community during the Jim Crow era. Its downtown business district is a National Historic Landmark.

Read & listen to the story →

isabelle-m-oklahoma

boley-historic-district-oklahomas-crown-jewel-all-black-town

The Flooding of Fort Berthold

Indigenous land & water rights

The Flooding of Fort Berthold

In the 1950s a federal dam flooded the best land on the Fort Berthold Reservation and forced most of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people out of their homes.

Read & listen to the story →

addyson-r-north-dakota

the-flooding-of-fort-berthold-the-garrison-dam-and-the-taking-of-the-mandan-hidatsa-arikara-homeland

The 1967 Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid

Chicano civil rights

The 1967 Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid

In 1967, armed activists raided this small-town New Mexico courthouse to fight for land they said was stolen from Hispano families.

Read & listen to the story →

lloyd-d-new-mexico

the-1967-tierra-amarilla-courthouse-raid

Ruby Duncan and the 1971 Welfare Rights March

Welfare rights & economic justice

Ruby Duncan and the 1971 Welfare Rights March

On March 6, 1971, welfare mother Ruby Duncan led a march of poor mothers and children down the Las Vegas Strip and into Caesars Palace, shutting down the casino's gaming floor for hours to protest Nevada's welfare cuts.

Read & listen to the story →

analeiyah-r-nevada

storming-caesars-palace-ruby-duncan-and-the-1971-welfare-rights-march

Meyer v. Nebraska and the Zion Lutheran Schoolhouse

Language rights & religious freedom

Meyer v. Nebraska and the Zion Lutheran Schoolhouse

In 1920 a teacher near Hampton, Nebraska, was arrested for teaching a Bible lesson in German.

Read & listen to the story →

meyer-v-nebraska-and-the-zion-lutheran-schoolhouse-hampton-nebraska

Montana State Capitol — Where the Nation's Harshest Sedition Law Was Passed

Montana State Capitol — Where the Nation's Harshest Sedition Law Was Passed

This is the Montana State Capitol in Helena, where lawmakers passed the country's harshest World War I sedition law in 1918.

Read & listen to the story →

olivia-a-montana

montana-state-capitol-where-the-nations-harshest-sedition-law-was-passed-and-88-years-later-undone

Homer G. Phillips Hospital

Healthcare segregation

Homer G. Phillips Hospital

For decades this was the only public hospital where Black St. Louisans could get care, and where Black doctors and nurses could train, during segregation. The huge building still stands in The Ville neighborhood and is now senior apartments.

Read & listen to the story →

serita-w-missouri

homer-g-phillips-hospital

Camp Savage and the Military Intelligence Service Language School

Japanese American incarceration & military service

Camp Savage and the Military Intelligence Service Language School

During World War II, the U.S. Army secretly trained thousands of Japanese American soldiers to speak, read, and write Japanese at Camp Savage, Minnesota. Many of them served the country as translators and interrogators while their own families were locked up in incarceration camps.

Read & listen to the story →

mattea-h-minnesota

camp-savage-and-the-military-intelligence-service-language-school-misls

Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School

Indigenous rights

Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School

This is the last standing federal Indian boarding school in Michigan, where Native American children were taken from their families and forced to give up their language and culture.

Read & listen to the story →

kenneth-f-michigan

mount-pleasant-indian-industrial-boarding-school

Old Indian Meeting House, Mashpee

Indigenous rights & religious freedom

Old Indian Meeting House, Mashpee

The center of the 1833 Mashpee Revolt, when the Mashpee Wampanoag demanded the right to govern themselves.

Read & listen to the story →

ziva-t-massachusetts

old-indian-meeting-house-mashpee-indigenous-rights-and-religious-freedom-of-the-mashpee-wampanoag

Malaga Island — Maine's 1912 Forced Eviction of a Mixed-Race Island Community

Racial discrimination & forced displacement

Malaga Island — Maine's 1912 Forced Eviction of a Mixed-Race Island Community

Malaga Island is a small island off Phippsburg, Maine, where a mixed-race fishing community lived until the state forced everyone off the island in 1912. Today it is a public preserve and a place to remember what happened there.

Read & listen to the story →

malaga-island-site-of-maines-1912-forced-eviction-of-a-mixed-race-island-community

Buchanan v. Warley Marker

Housing discrimination

Buchanan v. Warley Marker

In 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court used a court fight over a lot at 37th Street and Pflanz Avenue in Louisville to strike down a city law that forced Black and white families to live on separate blocks.

Read & listen to the story →

ishimwe-k-kentucky

buchanan-v-warley-marker-where-a-supreme-court-case-struck-down-housing-segregation

Dockum Drug Store Sit-In

Dockum Drug Store Sit-In

In 1958, a group of Black students in Wichita held one of the country's first successful lunch counter sit-ins at the Dockum Drug Store.

Read & listen to the story →

dockum-drug-store-sit-in-1958-wichita-kansas

Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home

Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home

This is the farmhouse near Charles City, Iowa, where Carrie Chapman Catt grew up.

Read & listen to the story →

carrie-chapman-catt-girlhood-home-where-a-future-suffrage-leader-first-questioned-voting-inequality

Freeman Field Mutiny

Freeman Field Mutiny

In April 1945, Black officers of the Tuskegee Airmen were arrested at this Indiana air base for challenging its segregated officers' clubs, leading to 162 separate arrests in all. A state historical marker now stands at the spot, in front of the Freeman Army Airfield Museum.

Read & listen to the story →

freeman-field-mutiny-freeman-army-airfield-museum-seymour-indiana

Minidoka National Historic Site

School desegregation

Minidoka National Historic Site

Nearly 13,000 Japanese Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, were imprisoned in the Idaho desert during World War II simply because of their ancestry.

Read & listen to the story →

minidoka-national-historic-site

The Atlanta Student Movement

Marches & sit-ins

The Atlanta Student Movement

Students from Atlanta's Black colleges published a manifesto against segregation, then backed it up with sit-ins that got even Dr. King arrested.

Read & listen to the story →

the-atlanta-student-movement

The Monson Motor Lodge "Swim-In"

Marches & sit-ins

The Monson Motor Lodge "Swim-In"

When Black and white protesters jumped into a whites-only motel pool together, the owner poured acid into the water to force them ou

Read & listen to the story →

isabella-m-florida

the-monson-motor-lodge-swim-in

The 1968 Occupation of Wilmington

Marches & sit-ins

The 1968 Occupation of Wilmington

After MLK Jr.'s assassination, a two-day riot in Wilmington turned into a nine-month military occupation of the city's Black neighborhoods — the longest of any American city.

Read & listen to the story →

zanthia-o-delaware

the-1968-occupation-of-wilmington

The Crusade for Justice

The Crusade for Justice

A former boxer turned activist built one of the country's most influential Chicano civil rights organizations out of a Denver building that police later riddled with bullets and set ablaze.

Read & listen to the story →

christa-t-colorado

the-crusade-for-justice

Little Rock Central High School

School desegregation

Little Rock Central High School

In 1957, nine Black students tried to enroll at an all-white high school in Little Rock, and the governor called in the National Guard to keep them out — so President Eisenhower ended up sending in federal troops to make sure they could go to school safely.

Read & listen to the story →

eddie-g-arkansas

little-rock-central-high-school

Gonzales v. Sheely Court Case

School desegregation

Gonzales v. Sheely Court Case

Three years before Brown v. Board, Mexican American families in Tolleson, Arizona sued to end their kids' segregation into a separate "Mexican school" — and won, in one of the most decisive rulings against school segregation in the country's history.

Read & listen to the story →

gonzales-v-sheely-court-case

The A.G. Gaston Motel

Marches & sit-ins

The A.G. Gaston Motel

The only first-class motel in Birmingham that accepted Black guests — and in 1963, it became command central for Dr. King and the campaign that helped push the Civil Rights Act into law.

Read & listen to the story →

regina-b-alabama

the-a-g-gaston-motel

The Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945

The Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945

After growing up seeing signs that read "No Natives Allowed," Elizabeth Peratrovich stood before Alaska's legislature and helped pass the first anti-discrimination law in the country — almost 20 years before the federal Civil Rights Act.

Read & listen to the story →

harley-g-alaska

the-alaska-anti-discrimination-act-of-1945

Dover Mill Girls Strike of 1828

Dover Mill Girls Strike of 1828

Four hundred teenage mill workers walked out, becoming the first all-women strike in U.S. history.

Read & listen to the story →

tegan-w-new-hampshire

dover-mill-girls-strike-of-1828

Greensboro Sit-Ins

Marches & sit-ins

Greensboro Sit-Ins

Four college freshmen sat down at a whites-only lunch counter and refused to leave — sparking a movement that spread to over 55 cities in just three months.

Read & listen to the story →

jace-j-north-carolina

greensboro-sit-ins

Moton School Strike

School desegregation

Moton School Strike

A school walkout that led to desegregated schools across the country.

Read & listen to the story →

jayce-j-virginia

moton-school-strike

Honouliuli Internment Camp

Japanese American incarceration

Honouliuli Internment Camp

The largest and longest-used confinement site during World War II.

Read & listen to the story →

celeste-k-hawaii

honouliuli-internment-camp

The Black Panther Party

Black Power movement & community organizing

The Black Panther Party

Like other Panther chapters across the United States, the Cleveland group focused on community organizing and political education.

Read & listen to the story →

the-black-panther-party

The Amistad Trial

Slavery & abolition

The Amistad Trial

A landmark moment in the fight against slavery, unfolding in Connecticut between 1839 and 1841. In 1839, a group of 53 Africans, mostly from the Mende people of present-day Sierra Leone, were kidnapped and illegally sold into the Spanish slave trade.

Read & listen to the story →

charlie-s-connecticut

the-amistad-trial

Marian A. Spencer Statue

Public accommodations desegregation

Marian A. Spencer Statue

Spencer was a civil rights activist, nicknamed “Ms. Civil Rights”, politician and Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council.

Read & listen to the story →

marian-a-spencer-statue

Sandy Spring Slave Museum & African Art Gallery

Slavery & abolition

Sandy Spring Slave Museum & African Art Gallery

Founded in 1988 by Dr. Winston Anderson, a Howard University scientist and educator, the museum was created to educate visitors about African heritage, slavery, emancipation, and the achievements of African Americans.

Read & listen to the story →

sydney-m-maryland

sandy-spring-slave-museum-african-art-gallery

Construction of the Stephen E. Howe Elementary School

School desegregation

Construction of the Stephen E. Howe Elementary School

In 1964, the Cleveland Board of Education's plan to build Stephen E. Howe Elementary School in the Glenville neighborhood became a flashpoint in the city's civil rights struggle.

Read & listen to the story →

construction-of-the-stephen-e-howe-elementary-school

Hough Uprising

Racial violence & urban unrest

Hough Uprising

The Hough Uprising was a major civil disorder that occurred from July 18 to July 23, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio. It begins after a white bar owner refused to serve a glass of water to African American customers. This incident was widely perceived as an act of racism and triggered anger among African Americans residents.

Read & listen to the story →

hough-uprising-cleveland-oh

Stonewall National Monument

Stonewall National Monument

The Stonewall National Monument is an encapsulated memory of the uprising on June 18, 1969, where both gay and lesbian people got tired and angry of the often discriminatory police raids.

Read & listen to the story →

shema-a-new-york

stonewall-national-monument

The Forty Acres

Farm workers' rights

The Forty Acres

This site was absolutely foundational for farmers civil rights in California. It was the birthplace of the United Farm Workers (UFW) which is the longest-running, most influential farm labor union in the U.S., founded in 1966 by Larry Itliong, César Chávez, and Dolores Huerta. It has a list of necessary ideals that they advocate for including “better wages, safer working conditions, and immigration reforms for agricultural workers through strikes, boycotts, and political lobbying” (National Farm Worker Ministry, 2018...

Read & listen to the story →

isabella-h-california

the-forty-acres

Elbert P Tuttle Courthouse

Judicial civil rights enforcement

Elbert P Tuttle Courthouse

The Elbert P Tuttle Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia played an important part in the CivilRights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. When the building was completed in 1910, it wasused as both a courthouse and a post office, but later it became the United States Court ofAppeals for the 5th Circuit. During the Civil Rights Movement, this court ensured thatdesegregation and voting rights laws were upheld in Georgia....

Read & listen to the story →

aleksi-u-georgia

elbert-p-tuttle-courthouse

Women's Suffrage Monuments and Mural

Women's suffrage

Women's Suffrage Monuments and Mural

Wyoming became the first U.S. territory to grant women the right to vote in 1869, and the first state to give women the right to vote when it became the 44th state in the Union in 1890. Wyoming was also the first territory and later state to allow women to hold public office....

Read & listen to the story →

fiona-m-wyoming

womens-suffrage-monuments-and-mural

The 16th Street Baptist Church

Racial violence & lynching

The 16th Street Baptist Church

The 16th Street Baptist Church located in Birmingham Alabama is a key historic landmark which served as a central meeting place for civil rights activists and was the first ever black baptist church. During the 1950s and 1960s, the church led and organized protests, marches, and campaigns to end segregation....

Read & listen to the story →

the-16th-street-baptist-church

Rensalier and Huntoon Underground Railroad Memorial

Underground Railroad & abolition

Rensalier and Huntoon Underground Railroad Memorial

The Rensalier and Huntoon Underground Railroad Memorial honors one of the more overlooked yet important factors of the early Civil Rights Movement. Beginning in the wake of American independence from the British Empire, the Underground Railroad was one of the earliest but largest acts of resistance to slavery and civil inequality, ...

Read & listen to the story →

henry-s-new-jersey

rensalier-and-huntoon-underground-railroad-memorial

Dooky Chase Restaurant

Civil rights education & organizing

Dooky Chase Restaurant

Dooky Chase in New Orleans, Louisiana is a world-renowned restaurant and one of the first African American-owned establishments to offer fine dining in the United States. Built in 1941 by Edgar "Dooky" Chase Sr., it began humbly as a sandwich shop and numbers parlor, but through the musical talent and entrepreneurial vision of his son, Edgar "Dooky" Chase Jr.,....

Read & listen to the story →

chase-k-louisiana

dooky-chase-restaurant

Ellis Island

Immigrant rights

Ellis Island

Ellis Island was the major immigration station in the United States between 1892 and 1954 during which time it processed over 12 million immigrants most of whom were escaping poverty, persecution, and lack of opportunity in their native lands. As such, it was the location where many peoples’ hopes and dreams of a better future were either realized or cut short...

Read & listen to the story →

shania-s-new-york

Ellicott City Colored School

School desegregation

Ellicott City Colored School

The Ellicott City Colored School was established during a time when racial segregationshaped every aspect of life, especially education. In 1879, the Secretary of the Board ofEducation was directed to acquire land for an African American school within the SecondDistrict of Howard County. The following year, John G. Rogers and his wife, Rebecca, sold aparcel of land to the Board of Education. ...

Read & listen to the story →

sydney-m-maryland

ellicott-city-colored-school

The History & Significance of the 1977 National Women’s Conference

The History & Significance of the 1977 National Women’s Conference

In November of 1977, Houston became the center of a historic and deeply complex moment in the American struggle for equality. The National Women’s Conference was not just a large gathering—it was the first and only time the United States government formally supported a national conversation about women’s rights....

Read & listen to the story →

the-history-significance-of-the-1977-national-womens-conference

Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market

Racial violence & lynching

Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market

In 1955, you could buy two cents’ worth of bubble gum at Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market—but for a fourteen-year-old boy from Chicago, that small transaction cost him his life. Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market is a landmark connected to Emmett Till. This is where Till was accused of behaving inappropriately toward a white woman named Carolyn Bryant....

Read & listen to the story →

lakisha-h-mississippi

bryants-grocery-and-meat-market

Meet all the presidents →