The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. is the last living witness of the kidnapping of Emmet Till. Nearly 70 years later, he will still break down in tears when he describes what happened. Dr. Marvel Parker hide caption
The Civil Rights Generation The story of civil rights in America is the story of legends like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also the story of countless ordinary people who took extraordinary action in the fight for equality. These are there stories.
Special Series
The Civil Rights Generation
JoAnne Bland has been giving tours of Selma, Ala., for more than 30 years. Above, Bland is seen at her home in Selma on Dec. 15. Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR hide caption
She made civil rights history in Selma. Now, she guides visitors through its past
A view of downtown Oxford, N.C., near Main Street. Cornell Watson for NPR hide caption
Everyday people were civil rights heroes, too. This is the story of one town's fight
Fred Gray and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., break into laughter at a joke told by a speaker at a political rally in Tuskegee, Ala., on April 29, 1966. King once called Gray the "chief counsel" of the civil rights movement. Jack Thornell/Associated Press hide caption