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Brown v. Boe
The landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning the 1896 "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. The case consolidated five separate lawsuits from across the country, with Chief Justice Earl Warren announcing the unanimous 9-0 decision on May 17, 1954. Brown was significant because it provided the legal foundation for dismantling Jim Crow segregation and energized the civil rights movement by demonstrating that institutional racism could be challenged through the courts. However, the Court's vague enforcement order of "with all deliberate speed" allowed massive resistance in the South, and meaningful integration didn't occur until the 1960s Civil Rights Act threatened federal funding.
Thurgood Marshal
The prominent African American lawyer who served as chief counsel for the NAACP and successfully argued the Brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court in 1954. Working alongside Charles Hamilton Houston and other NAACP attorneys since the 1930s, Marshall developed the legal strategy to systematically dismantle segregation through carefully chosen court cases. Marshall was significant because he became the most successful civil rights attorney in American history, winning 29 of 32 cases before the Supreme Court and laying the legal groundwork for ending Jim Crow segregation. In 1967, he became the first African American Supreme Court Justice, serving until 1991.
Little Rock Nine
The nine African American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957, following the Brown v. Board decision. When Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to prevent integration, President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students to school. The Little Rock Nine were significant because their courage in facing violent white mobs and daily harassment demonstrated the personal cost of desegregation and showed the federal government's willingness to enforce civil rights law. The crisis became a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, revealing both the resistance to integration and the power of federal intervention.
Emmet Till
A fourteen-year-old African American boy from Chicago who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in August 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white woman named Carolyn Bryant. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam kidnapped, beat, mutilated, and killed Till, throwing his body in the Tallahatchie River before being acquitted by an all-white jury despite overwhelming evidence. Till's murder was significant because his mother's decision to hold an open-casket funeral exposed the brutality of Southern racism to the nation, galvanizing support for the civil rights movement. The case became a defining moment that motivated a generation of young civil rights activists and demonstrated the urgent need for federal intervention to protect African Americans.
Rosa Parks
The African American seamstress and civil rights activist who refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, leading to her arrest and sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks was already an experienced civil rights worker and NAACP member when she made her stand against segregated public transportation. Parks was significant because her act of defiance became the catalyst for one of the most successful civil rights campaigns in American history, launching the career of Martin Luther King Jr. and demonstrating the power of organized, sustained resistance. Her courage transformed her into an enduring symbol of the civil rights movement and the fight against racial injustice.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The 381-day boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's segregated bus system from December 1955 to December 1956, organized by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) in response to Rosa Parks's arrest. Led by the young Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., the boycott involved nearly the entire African American community walking, carpooling, or finding alternative transportation rather than using the buses. The boycott was significant because it successfully ended segregation on Montgomery's buses when the Supreme Court ruled segregated public transportation unconstitutional, established King as a national civil rights leader, and proved that organized, nonviolent resistance could effectively challenge Jim Crow segregation. It became the model for future civil rights campaigns across the South.
SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a civil rights organization founded in 1960 by young activists who had participated in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters across the South. Led by students like John Lewis and Diane Nash, SNCC emerged from a conference organized by veteran civil rights activist Ella Baker at Shaw University. SNCC was significant because it brought a new generation of young, militant activists into the civil rights movement who were willing to take greater risks and challenge traditional leadership approaches. The organization played crucial roles in the Freedom Rides, voter registration drives in the Deep South, and the 1963 March on Washington, helping to radicalize and expand the civil rights movement.
Freedom Rides
The integrated bus trips organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and SNCC in 1961 to test the enforcement of Supreme Court decisions declaring segregated public transportation unconstitutional. The rides began in May 1961 when mixed groups of Black and white activists rode buses through the Deep South, facing violent attacks from white mobs in Alabama. The Freedom Rides were significant because they forced the federal government to intervene and protect interstate travelers, demonstrated the continued resistance to civil rights in the South, and showed the power of direct action protest. The rides led to stronger federal enforcement of desegregation laws and inspired further civil rights activism, particularly among young people.
MLK
The Baptist minister and civil rights leader who emerged as the most prominent spokesperson for the civil rights movement after leading the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956. Born in Atlanta in 1929, King became president of the Montgomery Improvement Association at age 26 and later co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. King was significant because he articulated a philosophy of nonviolent resistance that drew on Christian theology and Gandhi's methods, making civil rights morally compelling to white Americans. His leadership of major campaigns, culminating in the 1963 March on Washington and his "I Have a Dream" speech, helped secure passage of landmark civil rights legislation and established him as one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century.