Search

This essay details Jimmie Lee Jackson’s involvement in the voting rights movement and his violent death at the hands of Alabama state troopers.

This essay details James Reeb’s calling to become a minister and—eventually—to join the march in Selma. Although he was tragically murdered following the march, his death had a profound impact on the civil rights movement.

This essay highlights Viola Liuzzo’s involvement in the civil rights movement and her tragic murder while shuttling marchers between Montgomery and Selma, Alabama.

In the matter of Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court upheld practices that perpetuated Jim Crow segregation, declaring that “separate but equal” accommodations were legal. Nearly 60 years later, the Court overturned the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

In this speech, President Obama celebrates legislation that provides legal protection from crimes based on gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. In his remarks, Obama looks forward to further legislation that helps “the bells of freedom ring out a little louder.”

This essay details Medgar Evers’ involvement in the civil rights movement as a pivotal member of the Mississippi NAACP. It also addresses his tragic murder at the hands of a White Citizens Council member.

In 1942, “For My People” won the Yale Series of Younger Poets award, and Margaret Walker became one of the youngest black writers to have published poetry in the 20th century. Her poem makes tangible the African American struggle, yet also brings to the forefront a hope for all people to “rise and take control” during a dark period in American history.