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Desegregation in Austin

Five Decades of Social Change: A Timeline

This web project presents an annotated chronology of major events in the desegregation of Austin, Texas, from 1940 to 1980 as they appeared in local newspapers and other materials such as the Austin Files (AF) in the archives at the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. The timeline is intended as a guide to key events necessary for an understanding of this extraordinary time in the city’s history.

 

 

Key
Local African American firsts Local African American firsts
University of Texas at Austin (UT) facts University of Texas at Austin (UT) facts
Local desegregation facts Local desegregation facts
Statewide desegregation facts Statewide desegregation facts
National desegregation facts National desegregation facts

Note: The Austin American-Statesman newspaper had several name changes over the five decades covered in this timeline. The variations reflect usage for that time—Austin Statesman, The Austin Statesman, The Austin-Statesman, The Austin American, The Austin American-Statesman, American Statesman, The American-Statesman, Austin American-Statesman.

overview | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | all

1968

Local African American firsts Follow this link to Austin History Center photograph AR.2001.002 In April, Wilhelmina Fitzgerald Delco is elected to the Austin ISD Board of Trustees, becoming the first African American in Austin to be elected to such a position. [AF-Biography-Delco, Exalton Alfonso, Jr.]
National desegregation facts On April 4, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated while standing on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. [http://history1900s.about.com/cs/ martinlutherking/a/mlkassass.htm]
University of Texas at Austin (UT) facts Both black and white students hold a campus memorial service, honoring the life of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that includes a march to the Texas Capitol building and a service sponsored by the Austin Council of Churches at Municipal Auditorium. [Marsh Durden, Almetris. Overcoming: A History of Black Integration at The University of Texas at Austin. 1979; A 378.76431 DU]