In 1955 in the US, radio stations were playing Bill Haley's hit "Rock Around the Clock" around the clock, Billy Wilder's romantic comedy "The Seven Year Itch" starring Marilyn Monroe premiered in New York and the western series "Gunsmoke" launched on television. It was also the year that future celebrities Bill Gates, Bruce Willis and Whoopi Goldberg were born.

And it was the year that two white men brutally murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was Black, in Mississippi.

The event was seen as a catalyst for the emerging Civil Rights Movement, as protests followed the killers' acquittal in court.

At about the same time, an African American woman named Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama, sparking a protest campaign that would go down in history as the Montgomery bus boycott — another key moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

Racial segregation was widespread in the southern United States.

There were separate schools, park benches and even water fountains for Black people and white people.

There were also rules for public transportation. White people sat at the front of the bus, and Black people had to sit at the back. They were sometimes tolerated in the middle seats, provided they got up........

© Deutsche Welle