The Night They Took Emmett Till
On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was abducted from his great-uncle's Mississippi home — a murder that would galvanize the civil rights movement.
Tagged: justice
"As Innocent as the Child Unborn": Salem's First Hanging
On June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop became the first person hanged in the Salem witch trials, the opening act of a panic that still warns against justice without evidence.
Freedom Wins: The Amistad Africans and the Supreme Court
On March 9, 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court set the kidnapped Africans of the Amistad free, after a former president pleaded their case.
Zola's 'J'Accuse' Sets France Ablaze
On January 13, 1898, novelist Émile Zola's front-page open letter "J'Accuse" in L'Aurore charged the French state with railroading Captain Alfred Dreyfus — and split France in two.
The Right Man in the Right Place: Thurgood Marshall's Historic Nomination
On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court, putting the first Black justice on America's highest court.