"The years from 1955 to 1965 are at the heart of the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans fighting to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere. The year 1955 saw a range of events that brought attention to the civil rights movement. Nonviolent protest became a cornerstone of the movement as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired more people to take up the cause. In August, Emmett Till, a Black teenager, was brutally murdered in Mississippi. In December, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a bus in Alabama. Parks's segregation challenge resulted in the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted throughout 1956 and brought transformational change to the city. These events and more sparked a movement that in the following years would bring Black youth to the forefront of much needed reform in the nation. This detailed account explains why 1955 was such a critical year in the civil rights movement"--.
