Today also is the anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till...

From wiki:

Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an
African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14
after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till was from Chicago,
Illinois, visiting his relatives in Money, Mississippi, in the
Mississippi Delta region, when he spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant,
the married proprietor of a small grocery store there. Several nights
later, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam arrived at
Till's great-uncle's house where they took Till, transported him to a
barn, beat him and gouged out one of his eyes, before shooting him
through the head and disposing of his body in the Tallahatchie River,
weighting it with a 70-pound (32 kg) cotton gin fan tied around his neck
with barbed wire. His body was discovered and retrieved from the river
three days later.

Till was returned to Chicago and his mother, who had raised him mostly
by herself, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to
show the world the brutality of the killing. Tens of thousands attended
his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were
published in black magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black
support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought
to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with
newspapers around the country critical of the state. Although initially
local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence
against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to
national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually
transformed into support for the killers.

The trial attracted a vast amount of press attention. Bryant and Milam
were acquitted of Till's kidnapping and murder, but only months later,
in a magazine interview, protected against double jeopardy, they
admitted to killing him. Till's murder is noted as a pivotal event
motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement.