The Balance Agriculture with Industry program dated back to Governor Hugh L. White’s first administration (1936-1940) and sought to bring more industry to the state.
1965: Governor Johnson announces BAWI Program’s goal is achieved
1965: First Mississippi Arts Festival held
1965: New Stage Theatre founded in Jackson
January 15, 1965: Federal grand jury indicts 18 in Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner murders
Those indicted included Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey and Deputy Cecil Price.
February 25, 1965: U.S. District Judge Harold Cox of Jackson dismisses Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner indictment
March 10, 1965: U.S. District Judge Sidney Mize orders Jackson Public Schools to speed up desegregation
"Never" Desegregation Button
The same day, African American parents in Madison County and Canton file a lawsuit seeking desegregation of those schools.
Image: The “Never” button refers to the Citizen’s Council stance on desegregation. The button was sometimes worn upside down by civil rights supporters.
April 15, 1965: WLBT broadcasting license challenged
June 28, 1965: Schools in Greenville integrated without court order
July 1, 1965: Hancock County NASA facility renamed Mississippi Test Facility
July 9, 1965: Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965
The violent attack on civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on March 7 prompted Congress and President Johnson to act. On August 6 Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes and mandated federal control of the voter registration process.
August 7, 1965: Department of Justice files suit against Mississippi for the use of poll tax
August 25, 1965: Federal registrars sent to Mississippi to assist African Americans
Federal examiner C. A. Phillips posts sign outside rooms secured by a federal court order for voter registration in Prentiss, October 1965
September 24, 1965: President Johnson issues Executive Order #11246
The order enforced Affirmative Action for the first time.
October 19, 1965: House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings on Ku Klux Klan
Charred KKK Cross
Byron De La Beckwith and Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers of Laurel were among those later called to testify before the committee.
Image: Cross burned by the KKK as a protest against the civil rights movement.