In 1955, Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally murdered after allegedly flirting with a white woman. His lynching became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Related terms
Jim Crow Laws: Racial segregation laws enacted at both state and local levels in the United States between 1876 and 1965.
Civil Rights Movement: A social movement during the mid-20th century aimed at achieving legal rights and equality for African Americans.
Rosa Parks: An African American woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and further fueling the civil rights movement.