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Landmark Supreme Court case in which racial segregation in public schools was declared unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
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14-year-old Emmett Till was abducted, tortured, and murdered in Mississippi after allegedly whistling at a white woman. His open-casket funeral drew national attention to racial violence.
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Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest, African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama boycotted buses to protest segregated seating. The boycott ended with a Supreme Court ruling desegregating public buses.
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Nine African American students faced violent resistance as they integrated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, requiring intervention by federal troops.
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our African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina began a nonviolent sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter, sparking a nationwide sit-in movement.
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Interracial groups rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings banning segregated public transportation.
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A strategic campaign of nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Images of police brutality shocked the nation and built support for civil rights legislation.
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Over 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to advocate for civil and economic rights. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
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- A voter registration and education campaign in Mississippi led by civil rights organizations. Marked by violence and the murder of three civil rights workers.
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Landmark legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination.
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Three protest marches highlighting Black disenfranchisement in the South. The violent suppression of the first march prompted national outrage and federal action.
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Banned racial discrimination in voting, outlawing literacy tests and other barriers. Empowered federal oversight in states with histories of voter suppression.