Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1863 Mary Church Terrell, a founding member of the NAACP and pioneering African American civil rights and women's suffrage activist, was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
BirthOn this day — September 23 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1863 
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons An all-white jury in Mississippi acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam of the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, sparking national outrage that helped galvanize the civil rights movement.
HistoryModibo Keïta became the first president of the newly independent nation of Mali.
Politics
Photo by Robert S. Oakes — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy nominated civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, though segregationist senators delayed his confirmation for nearly a year.
History