1. In 1865, Union General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

2. In 1939, Marion Anderson performed a historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. after being denied a performance at the segregated Constitution Hall in Virginia due to her race.

3. In 1949, the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the state's "white primary" system, which had excluded African Americans from participating in primary elections.

4. In 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Virginia held a statewide day of mourning in his honor.

5. In 1972, Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equal rights under the law regardless of sex. However, the amendment has yet to be added to the US Constitution.