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Brown v Board Education
Oliver Brown, father of Linda Brown, was a NAACP lawyer who worked on cases in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, ultimately helping to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson with a 9-0 decision. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Two Mississippians bludgeoned and killed 14-year-old Emmett Till for allegedly whistling at a white woman in 1955. Despite their crime, they were acquitted by an all-white jury. Later, they openly boasted about the murder. The brutal killing and the injustice sparked outrage and became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. -
Rosa parks and the bus boycott
Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for over 13 months and ended with a Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional. -
Southern Christian leadership conference
The SCLC, formed by 60 black ministers and led by Martin Luther King Jr., focused on nonviolent activism for citizenship, education, and desegregation. It played key roles in the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Campaign, including the March to Montgomery.