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The Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and marking a major legal victory for civil rights. -
14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The open-casket funeral and photos sparked national outrage. -
Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man led to a year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -
Nine Black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, under the protection of federal troops ordered by President Eisenhower. -
Four Black college students in Greensboro, NC, began a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter, sparking similar peaceful protests across the country. -
Civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings banning segregated buses and terminals. -
Dr. King wrote this powerful letter defending civil disobedience after being arrested during nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. -
Over 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., where MLK delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech advocating for racial justice and equality. -
A racially motivated bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young Black girls, shocking the nation. -
This amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned poll taxes in federal elections, removing a barrier that had kept many African Americans from voting. -
This landmark legislation outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations and employment. -
Peaceful protesters were violently attacked by law enforcement while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, drawing national attention to voting rights issues. -
This act banned racial discrimination in voting, eliminating literacy tests and allowing federal oversight in areas with a history of voter suppression. -
The Supreme Court struck down laws banning interracial marriage, declaring them unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.