-
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a Supreme Court case decided on May 17, 1954. It was brought by Oliver Brown on behalf of his daughter, Linda Brown, who was denied entry to a white school in Topeka, Kansas. The Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, stating that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling and was a major step in the Civil Rights Movement. -
Murder of Emmet Till
The murder of Emmett Till occurred in 1955 in Money, Mississippi. The 14-year-old African American boy was allegedly accused of whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two white men, abducted, tortured, and killed him. They were acquitted by an all-white jury, but Till’s open-casket funeral, organized by his mother, Mamie Till, brought national attention to racial violence and became a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement.