January 1954

Beginning in 1954, Washington DC uses Berman v. Parker (a Supreme Court eminent domain ruling) to demolish the Southwest neighborhood, home to 23,549 people — 70 percent Black — and 1,500 businesses. The Supreme Court allows the project in 1954. Residents are displaced to inadequate housing, often far from jobs. The cleared land is rebuilt as government offices and middle-class housing largely inaccessible to former residents. The case becomes the legal foundation for urban renewal displacement nationwide.

The first White Citizens Council is founded in Indianola, Mississippi in July 1954, six weeks after Brown v. Board. Called 'the Klan in suits,' the Councils spread rapidly across the South, using economic pressure rather than physical violence: Black activists are fired from jobs, denied credit, evicted from land, and refused goods and services. By 1956 there are 250,000 members. The Councils coordinate with state governments to maintain segregation and compile dossiers on civil rights activists shared with state police.

In 1954, Medgar Evers becomes the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi, building the organization's presence in the most dangerous state for civil rights work. Evers investigates lynchings, documents the Emmett Till murder scene, attempts to desegregate the University of Mississippi, and registers voters despite constant death threats. His car is bombed. He is shot and killed in his driveway on June 12, 1963 by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, who is not convicted until 1994.

The first White Citizens Council is founded in Indianola, Mississippi in July 1954, six weeks after Brown v. Board. Called 'the Klan in suits,' the Councils spread rapidly across the South, using economic pressure rather than physical violence: Black activists are fired from jobs, denied credit, evicted from land, and refused goods and services. By 1956 there are 250,000 members. The Councils coordinate with state governments to maintain segregation and compile dossiers on civil rights activists shared with state police.

In 1954, Medgar Evers becomes the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi, building the organization's presence in the most dangerous state for civil rights work. Evers investigates lynchings, documents the Emmett Till murder scene, attempts to desegregate the University of Mississippi, and registers voters despite constant death threats. His car is bombed. He is shot and killed in his driveway on June 12, 1963 by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, who is not convicted until 1994.

In 1954, Chicago's City Council refuses to pass a fair housing ordinance that would prohibit racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals. Real estate lobbying by the Chicago Real Estate Board, which in 1917 had recommended expelling any member who sold to Black buyers in white areas, defeats the measure. Mayor Richard J. Daley supports the defeat. No municipal fair housing law passes in Chicago until 1963, and even then enforcement is minimal. The Real Estate Board's ethical code requiring racial steering is not challenged until the late 1960s.