on (1896), in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that "separate but equal" accommodations were constitutional. However, in 1952, the Supreme Court heard a number of school-segregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas. It decided unanimously in 1954 that segregation was unconstitutional, overthrowing the 1869 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had set the "separate but equal" precedent.As desegregation progresses, the membership of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grew. The KKK used violence or threats against anyone who was suspected of favoring desegregation or black civil rights. Klan terror, including intimidation and murder, was widespread in the South in the 1950s and 1960s, though Klan activities were not always reported in the media. One terrorist act that did receive national attention was the murder of Emmit Till, 14-year-old black boy slain in Mississippi by whites who believed he had flirted with a white woman. The trial and acquittal of the men accuse of Till's murder were covered in the national media, demonstrating the continuing racial bigotry of Southern whites. To protest segregation, blacks created new national organizations. The National Afro-American League was formed in 1890; the Niagra Movement in 1905; and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. In 1910, the National Urban League was created to help make blacks make the transition to urban, industrial life. The NAACP became one of the most important black protest organizations of the 20th century. It relied mainly on legal strategy that challenged segregation and discrimination in courts to obtain equal treatments for blacks. During the Civil Rights Movement, many political protests took place. Despite the threats and violence, the struggle quickly moved beyond school segregation in other areas. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a member of the Montgomery, Alabama, branch of the NAACP, was told...
