The Civil Rights Movement encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. The most popular strategies used in the 1950s and first half of the 1960s were based on the notion of non-violent civil disobedience and included such methods of protest as boycotts, freedom rides, voter registration drives, sit-ins, and marches.
A series of critical rulings and laws, from the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education to the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation and unequal application of voter registration requirements.
A wave of inner city riots in black communities from 1964 through 1970 undercut support from the white community. The emerging Black Power movement, which lasted from about 1966 to 1975, demanded political and economic self-sufficiency.
During the March Against Fear in 1966, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Congress of Racial Equality fully embraced the slogan of Black Power to describe these trends toward militancy and self-reliance.
While most popular representations of the movement are centered on the leadership and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr., the movement was too diverse to be credited to one person, organization, or strategy.
Key Terms
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Landmark U.S. legislation that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Landmark U.S. legislation that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national, and religious minorities, and women.
Montgomery Bus Boycott: A legal and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the Montgomery, Alabama public transit system. It lasted from December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, until December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, leading to the Supreme Court decision declaring segregated busing in Alabama and Montgomery unconstitutional.
The Greensboro sit-ins: A series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the southern United States. While not the first sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement, they were an instrumental action, and also the most well-known sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement.
March on Washington: One of the largest political rallies for human rights in U.S. history, it demanded civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C., with thousands of participants making their way there on Tuesday, August 27, 1963.
Selma to Montgomery marches: A series of three 1965 marches that were part of the voting rights movement underway in Selma, Alabama. By highlighting racial injustice in the south, they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the Civil Rights Movement.
Brown v. Board of Education: A landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students as unconstitutional.
Black Power: A political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies aimed at achieving self-determination for people of African descent. In the United States, it was particularly prominent in the late 1960s and early 1970s, emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to nurture and promote black collective interests and advance black values.
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