Beginning of the civil rights movement

• Born 25/7/1941 in Illinois
• August 1995 (aged 15) he went to a shop in Mississippi and "harrassed" a white woman called Carolyn Bryant
• She told her husband Roy Bryant and his half brother J.W. Milam who went to Till's cousins house, where Till was staying at the time 
• They dragged Till out and drove him to the Tallahatchie river where they tortured him, shot him in the head and dumped his body in the river
• Bryant and Milam charged with murder
• The trial began on the 19th September 1955
• Despite there being a lot of evidence against the two, the all white jury declared them innocent
• The men openly admitted to killing him a year later, but due to a law in America they could not be trialed again

Better education for some - Better education for black people (especially in the North) led to more professional people who used their education to challenge inequality and change white views.

Television - Televisions were becoming more and more popular which meant more and more Americans were becoming aware of racist injustice around America.

Second world war - America was the only country to have segregation. Black soldiers experienced intergration abroad and whites were more open to civil rights after the war.

Cold war (criticism) - America was criticised for fighting for "freedom" in other countries when they didn't even give their own citizens equal rights. America was very sensitive, especially to the Soviet Union's criticism.

Migration - Liberal whites began to move South looking to fight Jim Crow laws and protest with black Americans.

New job opportunities in the South - White people saw more of the black population in jobs of importance such as lawyers, helping them change their views.

National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

• Set up by WEB Dubois in 1919
• Campaigned to end racial segregation and get laws passed against lynching
• Main aim was to reverse the Plessy v Ferguson case
• Set up the Legal Defence Fund (LDF) to help wrongly convicted black people fight their case
• Went through legally - followed the law
• Most famous lawyer - Thurgood Marshall
• Provided evidence that facilities were not equal and focused on prosecuting whites in the South who murdered blacks

Congress Of Racial Equality

• Open to anyone, white or black
• Non violent protests e.g. boycotts and sit-ins
• Didn't follow the legal system
• Trained it's members not to react if provoked by someone (spitting/swearing etc)
• "All people are created equal "

Churches were the centre of most black communities

Churches were often use as bases for campaigns and peaceful protests

Black clergymen were leaders and involved with the CRM as they were highly educated and effective speakers

Non-violent and stressed forgiveness as well as peace

The church paid the leader's salary so they could not lose their job if they spoke out against whites