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The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American male teenagers accused of raping a young white woman and a 17-year old white girl in 1931.
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Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that unanimously declared state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional, violating the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, and overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson, paving the way for the desegregation of schools and inspiring the Civil Rights Movement.
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While visiting his relatives in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins, and may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant. Her husband Roy Bryant, and brother in law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie river.
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The Little Rock 9 were nine African American students who became famous in 1957 for integrating Little Rock central high school, a pivotal event in the American Civil Rights Movement, facing mobs and state obstruction before President Eisenhower sent federal troops to ensure their entry, demonstrating federal commitment to desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
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Six-year-old Ruby Bridges famously desegregated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, becoming the first African American child to attend the all-white school, escorted by federal marshals amidst violent protests, to enforce the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Her bravery, facing threats and isolation, paved the way for others, with her family enduring severe backlash, and she later founded the Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed due to immense pressure from the Civil Rights Movement's nonviolent protests, President Lyndon B. Johnson's forceful push after JFK's assassination, significant bipartisan congressional maneuvering, overcoming a historic Senate filibuster, and the moral urgency created by televised brutality against protestors, all culminating in a landmark bill outlawing segregation and discrimination.
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Malcolm X was killed due to escalating tensions after his split from the Nation of Islam (NOI), stemming from his criticisms of NOI leader Elijah Muhammad and his growing independence, leading the NOI to view him as a traitor and order his death; while three NOI members were convicted, recent exonerations and ongoing lawsuits suggest possible involvement or cover-ups by government agencies like the FBI and NYPD who surveilled him intensely.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, due to a combination of deep-seated racial hatred, his opposition to the Vietnam War, and his shift toward economic activism. While James Earl Ray pled guilty to the murder and is widely considered the shooter, debate persists regarding whether he acted alone or as part of a broader conspiracy.