Civil Rights Facts

Although African-Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population, they accounted for one half of the estimated new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2004.

The Beatles wrote into their contracts for American concerts that they would not play in front of segregated audiences.

A mother of three walked out of an Alabama Walmart with Cap'n Crunch, bread, and Christmas lights. The scanner froze. **Walmart had her arrested.** When the charge was dropped, they sent collection letters anyway - demanding $200 from a woman who owed them nothing. She sued. A unanimous jury handed her $2.1 million. The scanner was $48.

During a ride-along in 2018, Tahvio Gratton's white UPS supervisor called him "Boy" repeatedly. When Gratton told him to stop, the manager said: "I'm from the South." Gratton filed grievances. Three years later, UPS fired him. A Washington jury awarded him $238 million.

Garrett Morgan patented the safety hood in 1912 and had to hire a white actor to demo it - buyers refused to deal with a Black inventor. When an explosion trapped workers 120 feet under Lake Erie in 1916, Morgan descended into the tunnel at 3am wearing his hood and pulled 8 men out alive. The press barely named him. He later sold his traffic signal patent to GE for $40,000.

Ryan Ferguson spent nearly 10 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit - convicted after a witness claimed he 'remembered' the night through dream-like flashbacks. Both witnesses later admitted they lied. An appeals court freed him, then a jury handed him $37.9 million.

The Lincoln Memorial hid a secret room for over 100 years. It just opened to the public for the first time. The new $69 million museum has floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Visitors can walk past the columns holding up the memorial above. Lincoln's own signed Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment are inside.

Victor Robinson graduated Werner Enterprises' own truck driving school, earned his CDL, and obtained a federal exemption allowing him to drive commercially. When he applied to Werner for a job, their VP of Safety told him flat out they wouldn't hire him because he was deaf. A jury awarded him $36 million.