"The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country."
The legal and political efforts to ensure equal treatment and opportunities for diverse groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
The Civil Rights Movement: The social movement in the 1950s and 1960s that aimed to secure legal and social equality for African Americans.
The Jim Crow Era: The period of segregationist policies and laws that were enacted to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans in the southern United States.
Brown v. Board of Education: The 1954 Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
Voting Rights Act: A landmark piece of legislation passed in 1965 that prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
Affirmative Action: Policies designed to provide opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups, particularly people of color and women, in education and employment.
Segregation and Desegregation: The separation of racial groups in public accommodations, transportation, education, and other areas of life, and the efforts to end that separation.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: A law that banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, public accommodations, and federally funded programs.
Black Lives Matter Movement: A social movement that gained prominence after the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin and advocates for fairness and justice for black people who have been victims of police violence.
Intersectionality: A framework that recognizes that individuals experience multiple forms of oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, class, and other factors, and that these intersecting identities shape their experiences of discrimination.
Hate Crimes: Violent acts or offenses that are committed against a person or group because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Reparations: Compensation or amends for past injustices, particularly those committed against African Americans through slavery and segregation.
LGBTQ+ Rights: The movement for equal rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer individuals, including marriage equality, anti-discrimination laws, and protection from hate crimes.
Voting Rights: The right to vote in public elections without discrimination based on race, color, or prior condition of servitude.
Education Rights: The right to equal education opportunities without discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
Housing Rights: The right to fair housing and protection against discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, gender, religion, familial status, or disability.
Employment Rights: The right to employment without discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or disability.
Freedom of Speech: The right to express one's opinions, ideas, or beliefs without fear of censorship, restraint or legal sanction.
Freedom of Religion: The right to practice one's religion without interference or repression from the state, government, or other individuals.
Due Process Rights: The right to a fair and impartial trial, access to legal counsel, and protection against unlawful detention or imprisonment.
Anti-Discrimination Rights: The right to live, work, and play without discrimination based on factors such as age, gender, race, and sexual orientation.
Privacy Rights: The right to privacy and protection of personal information from unwarranted government or private intrusion.
Right to Bodily Integrity: The right to decide what happens to one's own body and protection against invasive procedures or practices without consent.
Immigration Rights: The right to fair and just treatment for all immigrants regardless of their legal status and protection against racial profiling, detention and deportation.
"The movement had its origins in the Reconstruction era during the late 19th century and had its modern roots in the 1940s."
"The movement made its largest legislative gains in the 1960s after years of direct actions and grassroots protests."
"African Americans were subjected to discrimination and sustained violence by white supremacists in the South."
"At the culmination of a legal strategy pursued by African Americans, in 1954 the Supreme Court struck down many of the laws that had allowed racial segregation and discrimination to be legal in the United States as unconstitutional."
"The Warren Court made a series of landmark rulings against racist discrimination, including the separate but equal doctrine, such as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964), and Loving v. Virginia (1967) which banned segregation in public schools and public accommodations."
"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly banned all discrimination based on race, including racial segregation in schools, businesses, and in public accommodations."
"The Voting Rights Act of 1965 restored and protected voting rights by authorizing federal oversight of registration and elections in areas with historic under-representation of minority voters."
"The Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing."
"The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1965 to 1975, challenged Black leaders of the movement for its cooperative attitude and its adherence to legalism and nonviolence."
"Its leaders demanded not only legal equality, but also economic self-sufficiency for the community."
"Martin Luther King Jr. was the most visible leader of the movement."
"From 1964 through 1970, a wave of riots and protests in black communities dampened support from the white middle class, but increased support from private foundations."
"African Americans who had seen little material improvement since the civil rights movement's peak in the mid-1960s, and still faced discrimination in jobs, housing, education and politics."
"The movement was characterized by nonviolent mass protests and civil disobedience following highly publicized events such as the lynching of Emmett Till. These included boycotts such as the Montgomery bus boycott, 'sit-ins' in Greensboro and Nashville, a series of protests during the Birmingham campaign, and a march from Selma to Montgomery."
"After the American Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery in the 1860s, the Reconstruction Amendments to the United States Constitution granted emancipation and constitutional rights of citizenship to all African Americans, most of whom had recently been enslaved."
"Various efforts were made by African Americans to secure their legal and civil rights, such as the civil rights movement (1865–1896) and the civil rights movement (1896–1954)."
"These included boycotts such as the Montgomery bus boycott..."
"Loving v. Virginia (1967) which banned segregation in public schools and public accommodations, and struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage."
"However, some scholars note that the movement was too diverse to be credited to any particular person, organization, or strategy."