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The Scottsboro Boys were nine Black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931, leading to highly publicized trials that exposed systemic racism, denied fair legal rights (like counsel and impartial juries) for decades, and became a pivotal case for the NAACP and Communist Party, ultimately highlighting deep-seated injustices in the American legal system and shaping civil rights. -
In August 1955 two Mississippians bludgeon and kill Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, for whistling at a white woman; their acquittal and boasting of the atrocity spur the civil rights cause. -
The Little Rock Nine were nine African American students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, becoming pivotal figures in the Civil Rights Movement by facing down segregationist mobs and state opposition with federal military assistance