'Today In 1968' Replays A Historic Year — On Twitter

NPR | By Kat Chow,

Danielle Nett, Candice Kortkamp, Lori Todd

Published February 21, 2018 at 6:00 AM EST

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games, raise their fists to protest the inequity and discrimination that black people in the U.S. face.

There's no question that 1968 was a pivotal year in civil rights history. In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis; the Fair Housing Act was passed; two U.S. athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, took a stand and raised their fists in a monumental salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics; and Star Trek aired the first intergalactic and interracial on-screen kiss. All this, while the U.S. was embroiled in the Vietnam War.

Now, 50 years later, a team of NPR research librarians, social media producers and reporters are capturing those moments and more with our Twitter project, @todayin1968. Through that account, we'll tweet news and articles from 1968 as if it were all happening today. In addition to major events, we'll share "everyday" parts of life — like the change in price for stamps or Billboard hits.

This is a revival of NPR's project from five years ago, @todayin1963.

Follow along on Twitter as we rediscover 1968. Let us know if there are any key dates, events or people that we should be on the lookout for. Send us a tweet at @todayin1968.

Here are some tweets from @todayin1968:

NPR interns Kevin Garcia and Kumari Devarajan are also contributing to @Todayin1968's research.