Day in the History of Racial Injustice

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes walk up Broad Street in Athens on Jan. 9, 1961, to enter the UGA campus to become the first African Americans to attend the university.

January 9, 1961 ~Mobs of white students riot and school officials suspend Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes after they become the first Black students to integrate the University of Georgia.

Covid Train

One of the things that I promised myself is that I would finish the stack of digital stories that I started yet had not finished in 2021. This is the first.

I took the train on Thanksgiving morning from Boston to Wilmington, Delaware to visit my youngest at college.

Covid Train by Robin Sallie

I recorded sound and video with an IPhone SE (2020). I used the built-in microphone with the Voice Memos application. I used Adobe Premiere Rush to create the project.

Day in the History of Racial Injustice

Author and historian Leon Waters speaks on the 1811 Slave Revolt. He is descended from the rebels. Photo: San Francisco Bay View

January 8, 1811 ~ Largest slave insurrection in U.S. history, 1811 Slave Revolt, began in Louisiana Territory; after their defeat many of the enslaved people were mutilated, decapitated or burned alive.

Day in the History of Racial Injustice

Mildred and Richard Loving in 1967 CREDIT: BETTMANN/GETTY

January 6, 1959 ~Richard and Mildred Loving plead guilty to violating Virginia las against interracial marriage and received one-year sentences in prison unless they leave the state for 25 years.


A mob of supporters of then-US President Donald Trump climb through a window they broke as they storm the US Capitol Building in Washington on January 6, 2021 [File: Leah Millis/Reuters]

January 6, 2021 ~ A day when American democracy died a little. Trump had lost, but he had also won – the “big lie” had firmly taken root.

Day in the History of Racial Injustice

A black resident’s home is shown in flames during the race riots in 1923. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

January 05, 1923 ~ A mob of over 200 white men attacked the Black community in Rosewood, Florida, killing over 30 Black women, men, and children, burning the town to the ground, and forcing all survivors to permanently flee Rosewood.

Day in the History of Racial Injustice

January 4, 1876 ~ Mississippi “pig law” passed to punish farm animal theft with 5 years in prison and to allow the state to lease prisoners to private employees.


January 4, 2008 ~ A SWAT team kicked in the door at the Lima, Ohio, home of Tarika Wilson, 24, shot and killed her while she was holding her 14-month-old son. The baby was shot in the arm and shoulder and survived but his finger was amputated.

Day in the History of Racial Injustice

January 2, 1944 ~ William James Howard, a black 15-year-old, was lynched by three white men in Suwannee County, Florida, after one of the men accused Howard of writing a love note to his daughter.

He was lynched for having given Christmas cards to all his co-workers at the Van Priest Dime Store, including Cynthia Goff, a white girl, followed by a letter to her on New Year’s Day.