The American civil war was fought in the United States of America between the northern states,

popularly referred to as the "Union", and the seceding southern states (in the U.S., The South), calling
themselves the Confederate States of America or the "Confederacy". There is considerable debate about
causes that may have motivated the states to war, such as state's rights with respect to the federal
government, taxation, and imbalance of trade. But there is no question that the salient issue in the
minds of the public and popular press of the time, and the histories written since, was the issue of
slavery. Slavery had been abolished in most northern states, but was legal and important to the
economy of the Confederacy, which depended on cheap agricultural labor.

Segregation was the way of life in the Southern States. Segregation,

enforced by Jim Crow Laws’ passed in state legislatures meant separate
restaurants and entertainment facilities, separate waiting rooms in bus
stations, separate launderettes and drinking fountains. More serious, was
the segregated education system. As a result, Schools for black children
were inferior to those for white students. Black pupils never had equal
education opportunities.  

Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American born

July 25, 1941 on the south side of Chicago, Ill. He was murdered by
Roy Bryant and his half brother, John W. Milam, in Money,
Mississippi. on August 28, 1955 for "Wolf Whistling" at Carolyn
Bryant, wife of Roy Bryant.
On the 1st of December 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks, an African-American
seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for not standing
and letting a white bus rider take her seat. When asked to move to
let a white bus rider to be seated Mrs. Parks refused. She did not
argue and she did not move. The police were called and Mrs. Parks
was arrested.