Page 20 - Spelman50thReunionBook

• Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4. In the
wake of the assassination, 125 cities in 29 states experience uprisings. By April 11, 46

people are killed and 35,000 are injured in these confrontations.

• April 6-8 The body of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., in State, Sisters
Chapel.

• In April Congress enacts the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which outlaws discrimination in

the sale and rental of housing.

• April – Spelman Juniors were recognized at the annual Blue and White Honor Student
Banquet. The list included the following students:

Marilyn Arnold, Cynthia Brown, Zara G. Buggs, Aundrelia Bunyan, Bettieanne Childers,

Ernestine Clowers, Carolyn Davenport, Mildred Ingram Dean (Mrs.), Delores Dennard, Patricia
Eason, Barbara Forte, Faith George, Brenda Griffin, Zelma Harris, Marilyn Hunt. Sonja King,

Cynthia Lemon, Evanda McDowell, Allie B. Petty, Sandra Ponds, Bonni Rucker, Starlett Russell,

Fannie Smith, Myrtle Smith, Marva Strickland, Ivy Tembo, Pamela Vaughn, Gail Williams,
Brenda Wright, Lydia Wynn.

• President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an executive order prohibiting sex discrimination

by government contractors and requiring affirmative action plans for hiring women.

• May – Marian E. Wright (Edelman) Founder’s Day speaker.

• SSGA officers for 1968-69: Bettianne Childers, President; Danese Wilcox Secretary;
Marilyn Bryant, Treasurer; Mary Susan Parker, Parliamentarian; Marilyn Hunt, Editor

of the Spotlight, and Lonna Cleveland, Editor of the Reflections.