Affirmative action includes policies and laws meant to give equal footing to minorities after historic discrimination and oppression. Learn about the history of affirmative action from just after the Civil War through important milestones of the civil rights movement and on to today. Enhanced with accessible text and historical photographs, this guide explains affirmative action through its background, key players, and Supreme Court decisions. The...

In August 1955, Emmett Till was a fourteen-year-old African American teenager on vacation. He had traveled to visit relatives in rural Mississippi. He would return home to Chicago to be buried. Emmett Till was murdered by two white men, making him a victim of racial violence that galvanized the unfolding civil rights movement. This account details the circumstances of his abduction, murder, and funeral, plus the subsequent trial. Readers will learn...

The Brown v. Board of Education decision comes to mind whenever the topic of landmarks of the American civil rights movement is discussed. The 1954 Supreme Court decision declared it unconstitutional to segregate public school students, opening the door for many other civil rights advances after that. This thoughtful and informative book details the history of the case as well as its impact on the quickly changing America of the 1950s and 1960s. The...

For decades leading up to the civil rights movement, African Americans faced segregation, danger, and humiliation while using public transportation and facilities. Interstate travel posed additional risks, until black as well as white nonviolent protesters challenged the status quo. In solidarity, they boarded public transportation, rode across state lines, and staunchly violated discriminatory laws. Harassed, beaten, and jailed, they pressed forward...

Few national figures have been as divisive as Malcolm X. Many revered the famous civil rights leader as a voice for equality and justice, many others saw him as a violent firebrand. This page-turning biography reveals how a man born Malcolm Little, harassed by white supremacists as a boy, fell into a life of crime. He emerged from prison as a convert of the Nation of Islam with the adopted name of Malcolm X. In stark contrast to the nonviolent teachings...

In fall of 1957, nine black students approached the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine, were testing a 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation illegal. Their actions led to a standoff, with the state National Guard ordered to bar the students' entry. Weeks later, federal troops sent by President Eisenhower arrived to escort them inside. Readers will find themselves...