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Brown v. Board of Education: May 1954
Led by Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer for the NAACP, who took the case to prove that the "separate but equal" clause decided in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional. He employed the doll test, where little children found that the white child was the smartest one. This prompted the Supreme Court to find that segregation in the school place was unconstitutional and should be put to a stop at a "deliberate speed". This phrase ultimately allows the southern states not to desegregate. -
Emmett Till Murder: August 1955
A 14-year-old African American boy visiting Mississippi was abducted and brutally killed by multiple white men. He was accused of offending a white woman in her shop. His death caused an uproar nationally and prompted the spread of the Civil Rights Movement. The people who killed him were later acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycotts: December 1955
This boycott was sparked by Rosa Parks, a secretary for the NAACP, who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man entering the bus. It was a 381-day boycott with mass participation, leading the Supreme Court to outlaw segregation on buses. This is where leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. started to become more prominent. -
Little Rock Nine: September 1957
The Little Rock Nine was employed in Arkansas in 1957, where nine African American students were sent to a white school to "desegregate". There were riots from the elder people of the town, with bombs and death threats screamed at the children. Eventually, the national guard steps in to escort them to and from class. This first attempt to desegregate is messy, but it is crucial in the steps taken later by other states to integrate.