1990
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control releases figures on the
homicide rate for young black males. Between 1984 and 1988, the homicide rate
among black males ages 15 to 24 had risen 68 percent.
1990
A Syrian-backed, Arab League-mediated peace plan, which addresses the concerns of both Christians and Muslims, begins to be implemented in Beirut and rival militias withdraw from the city. Lebanese Army troops take full control for the first time since 1975 and the so-called "green line," which had split the city into Christian and Muslim sectors, is dismantled.
1990 January 3
Manuel Noriega surrenders to the U.S. and is sent to Florida to face charges of drug trafficking.
1990 January 9
The Quality Education for Minorities Project releases its report and recommendations aimed at making schools in the United States more responsive to the needs of minority students. The project concludes that minority students are taught in "separate and decidedly unequal" schools resulting in a "gap between minority and non-minority educational achievements."
1990 January 18
Washington Mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr. is arrested
after being videotaped purchasing and smoking crack cocaine. Following a split
verdict, Barry is sentenced to six months in prison. The arrest generates
speculation that the Reverend Jesse Jackson will enter the 1990 Washington, DC
mayoral race.
1990 January 31
McDonald's Corporation opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow.
1990 February 8
Black students in Selma, Alabama, stage a "sit-in" following the firing of the city's first black school superintendent, Norward Roussell, on February 5. The firing is viewed as a battle to control the city's school board — white school board members outnumber black members six to five, while 70 percent of Selma's student population is black. The conflict ends after six days of protest. The board amends its position to permit Roussell to stay on as superintendent until the end of his contract.
1990 February 23
Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, is sold at a bankruptcy auction. It was founded in 1881 by a group of freed slaves and was once the largest black college in the western United States,
1990 March 6
Clarence Thomas, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is appointed judge on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
1990 March 15
Gorbachev assumes the Soviet Union's new executive presidency and pledges to use his new powers to speed economic reform.
1990 March 18
East Germany holds its first democratic elections.
1990 April
The EC vows a "commitment to political union" - including a common foreign and defense policy by December 31, 1992.
1990 April 5
The first freely elected parliament declares East Germany a democracy.
1990 April 18
By a 5 to 4 majority, the United States Supreme Court upholds the authority of federal judges to order local governments to increase taxes to finance school desegregation in the case Missouri v. Jenkins. The cases arose when United States District Court Judge Russell G. Clark adopted a desegregation plan which would create magnet schools to lure whites back into the inner city. To support this plan, Clark ordered that 75 percent of the costs be paid by the state and 25 percent by the district.
1990 May
Boris Yeltzin resigns from the Communist party and is elected president of Russia.
1990 May 18
East and West German finance ministers sign a treaty merging the two national economies.
1990 May 29
Boris N. Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian republic in the third round of balloting by the Russian parliament.
1990 June 11
The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a federal law prohibiting desecration of the American flag.
1990 June 26
President George H.W. Bush, who has campaigned for office on a pledge of "no new taxes," concedes that tax increases would have to be included in any deficit-reduction package. His statement "read my lips" becomes a popular expression of cynicism.
1990 June 27
The United States Supreme Court, by a 5 to 4 majority, upholds federal affirmative action policies created to increase the number of broadcast licenses held by minorities and women in the case Metro Broadcasting v. FCC.
1990 July 2
East and West Germany declare both economic and social union, and the West German mark becomes the sole legal tender.
1990 July 12
Russian republic president Boris N. Yeltsin shocks the 28th congress of the Soviet Communist Party by announcing he is resigning his party membership.
