Social Studies

1896  (May 18) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate-but-equal facilities were constitutional.

1921  (May 31-June 1) In the Tulsa race massacre, white mobs attacked the prosperous Black Wall Street community, killing 300 Black people and leaving thousands homeless.

1942  (March 9) The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded to work towards ending racial discrimination and segregation through nonviolent direct action, civil disobedience, and peaceful protests. 

1947  (February 15) Willie Earle, a 25-year-old black man, was arrested and put in the Greenville County Jail after being accused of stabbing a taxi driver during a robbery attempt.

1947  (February 16) Willie Earle was the victim of the last recorded lynching in South Carolina. A mob of 31 white men forcibly took Earle from his cell, beat him, tied him to a tree, and shot him multiple times. 

1947  (April 15) Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier by starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in their season opener.

1950  (September 4) Oliver Brown attempted to enroll his daughter Linda Brown in the all-white Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas.

1951  (February 28) A group of African American parents filed the lawsuit Brown v. Board of Education in the United States District Court challenging the constitutionality of segregation in public schools.

1954  (May 17) Linda Brown's landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, resulted in a unanimous Supreme Court decision declaring that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

1955  (August 28) Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. 

1955  (September 6) Emmett Till's mother decided to leave her son's casket open during his funeral despite his badly disfigured face so that people could see the brutality of his murder. 

1955  (September 23) Despite overwhelming evidence of their guilt, Emmett Till's killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were found not guilty by an all-white jury.

1955  (December 1) Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person.

1955  (December 5) The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and Martin Luther King Jr. organized a boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's city's bus system.

1956  (December 20) The Montgomery bus boycott ended after the United States Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

1957  (September 4) Nine African American students were prevented from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by the National Guard after facing obscenities and objects thrown by a hostile crowd.

1957  (September 25) President Eisenhower ordered federal troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the Little Rock Nine to classes at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1957  (September 27) Governor Orval Faubus ordered the closure of all public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, following the integration of Central High School.

1960  (February 1) Four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a whites-only lunch counter and refused to leave until they were served.

1960  (April 15) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded at Shaw University, in Raleigh, North Carolina with Ella Baker as its first director.

1960  (November 14) Ruby Bridges started school in New Orleans, Louisiana becoming the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. 

1961  (January 12) Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in an attempt to block the enrollment of two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood.

1961  (May 14) In Anniston, Alabama, a white mob attacked a bus carrying Freedom Riders, firebombing it and brutally beating the passengers as they tried to escape.

1961  (May 14) A second bus carrying Freedom Riders was attacked by a white mob in Birmingham, Alabama. The passengers were violently beaten and the bus was severely damaged. 

1962  (September 30): James Meredith becomes the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, after being escorted onto campus by federal marshals.

1962  (October 1) The Mississippi riot occurred following the enrollment of James Meredith, an African American student, at the University of Mississippi. The riot resulted in two deaths and many injuries. 

1963  (January 28) Harvey Gantt, an African American student, was admitted to Clemson University, making him the first African American student to attend the previously all-white university in South Carolina. 

1963  (August 28) The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington D.C. It concluded with Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

1963  (September 15) The Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young African American girls and injuring many others.

1964  (July 2) President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, education, and public accommodations.

1965  (February 21) Thirty-nine-year-old Malcolm X was assassinated by three men from the Nation of Islam, a group he had left to form the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).

1965  (March 7) "Bloody Sunday" refers to the violent confrontation between Civil Rights activists and Alabama State Troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. 

1965  (August 6): The Voting Rights Act is signed into law, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting practices.

1968  (February 1) The Greenville Eight, a group of African American students from Sterling High School, were arrested in Greenville, South Carolina for protesting against segregation at the public library. 

1968  (April 4) Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. 

1968  (April 11) The Fair Housing Act was signed into law prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, and advertising of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. 

1970  (February 17) Greenville County Schools integrated all of its schools with a mid-year student reassignment plan, achieving a racial balance of approximately 80% white and 20% black students and teachers.

1975 (April 4) Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, laying the foundation for the personal computing revolution.

1975 (April 30) The Fall of Saigon marks the end of the Vietnam War and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.

1976 (July 4) The U.S. celebrates its bicentennial 

1976 (November 15) Apple Computer is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, and introduces the Apple I personal computer.

1977 (May 25) The original Star Wars movie is released in theaters.

1978 (April 3) The first cellular telephone network is launched in Illinois by Ameritech Mobile Communications.

1979 (March 28) A nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania causes a partial meltdown of a reactor and releases radioactive gases into the air.

1979 (November 4) Iranian militants seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American hostages and holding them for 444 days.

1979 (December 24) The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, beginning a decade-long conflict that would involve the U.S. and other countries.

1980 (May 18) The eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state kills 57 people.

1981 (March 30) John Hinckley Jr. attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.

1981 (August 12) IBM introduces the IBM Personal Computer, setting the standard for modern personal computing.

1985 (November 20) Microsoft releases its first Windows operating system.

1986 (January 28) The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all seven crew members.

1986 (April 26) The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster occurs in Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, releasing a massive amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

1989 (June 4) Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds.

1990 (August 2) Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War.

1991 (January 16) The U.S. military begins its operation to liberate Kuwait from Iraq in what becomes known as the Persian Gulf War.

1991 (August 6) The first website goes online, marking the beginning of the World Wide Web.

1993 (February 26) - World Trade Center bombing in New York City, USA, kills six and injures more than 1,000.

1995 (April 19) Oklahoma City bombing, USA, kills 168 people and injures more than 500.

1995 (August 30) NATO launches a bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb military targets in Bosnia and Herzegovina in support of the Dayton Accords.

1997 (December 3) IBM's Deep Blue defeats chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match, demonstrating the power of artificial intelligence.

1998 (August 7) - Bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania kill 224 people and injure over 4,500.

1998 (September 4) Google is founded, quickly becoming the dominant search engine and changing the way we access information online.

2000 (October 12) USS Cole bombing, in which a suicide bomber attacked the US Navy destroyer USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.

2001 (September 11) Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the USA kill nearly 3,000 people.

2001 (October 7) The U.S. military begins its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks.

2001 (October 23) Apple releases the iPod, which revolutionizes the music industry and paves the way for the iPhone and other mobile devices.

2003 (March 20) The U.S. and its allies launch a war on Iraq with the stated goal of toppling Saddam Hussein's regime and destroying weapons of mass destruction.

2003 (December 13) Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured by U.S. forces near his hometown of Tikrit.

2004 (February 4) Facebook is launched, transforming social networking and changing the way we connect with each other online.

2005 (February 14) YouTube is launched, revolutionizing online video sharing and transforming the entertainment industry.

2005 (August 29) - Hurricane Katrina makes landfall causing widespread destruction and devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and other states.

2006 (December 30) Saddam Hussein was executed after being convicted by an Iraqi court for crimes against humanity.

2007 (June 29) The iPhone is released, sparking a revolution in mobile computing and ushering in the era of the smartphone.

2008 (November 4) Barack Obama is elected President of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the office of President.

2009 (January 20) Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

2010 (April 3) The iPad is released, revolutionizing the tablet computer market and changing the way we consume media and do work.

2011 (May 2) Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, is killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in a raid on his compound in Pakistan.

2011 (June 15) The first Chromebook is released.

2011 (October 5) The world's population reaches 7 billion.

2011 (December 15) United States formally declared an end to its military operations in Iraq.

2012 (August 6) NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars.

2015 (April 24) Apple releases the Apple Watch.

2019 (December 31) The World Health Organization (WHO) is alerted to cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China.

2020 (January 30) The WHO declares the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

2020 (March 11) The WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic, acknowledging its widespread impact across multiple countries and continents.

2020 (March 13) United States declares a national emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 (March 15) South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ordered all schools to close immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (News Story)

2020 (April 22) South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced that all schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year. 

2020 (May 25) George Floyd, a black man, is killed by police in Minneapolis sparking nationwide protests and a renewed focus on racial justice and police brutality.

2020 (Oct 7) Greenville County schools announced that it would soon transition elementary students to five-day in-person instruction with plexiglass barriers. Each student would be seated with three others, separated by plexiglass on two sides. Second to fifth-grade students must wear masks while seated.

2020 (November 16) Greenville County Schools announced the start of a five-day-a-week return to in-person instruction for middle school students who choose this option. (News Story)

2020 (December 11) The United States authorizes emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech).

2020 (December 17) 

2021 (January 6) Supporters of President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

2021 (September 19) The U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking the end of America's longest war.