Lifestyles

& Social
American civil rights movement  Issues
 Human
Rights

Table of Contents
American

Introduction & Top Questions civil rights
Abolitionism to Jim Crow
movement
Du Bois to Brown

Montgomery bus boycott to the

Voting Rights Act
Ask the  More Actions
Chatbot
From Black power to the a
assassination of Martin Luther Question
King

Into the 21st century

Black Lives Matter and Shelby

County v. Holder

References & Edit History

Quick Facts & Related Topics

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March on Washington Martin Luther
King, Jr. (center), with other leaders and
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Facts

Date:
 Date:
c.
1950

Location:
United
States

Context:
civil
rights

Major
Events:
Brown
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Key
People:
James
Baldwin
(Show more)

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civil rights
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start?

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figures of
the
American 
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movement?

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Ameri
can
civil
rights
move
ment,
mass
protest
movem
ent
against
racial
segrega
tion
and
discri
minati
on in
the
southe
rn
United
States
that
came
to
nation
al
promin
ence
during
the
mid-
1950s.
This
movem
ent had
its
roots
in the
centuri
es-long
efforts
of
enslave
d
African
s and
their
descen
dants
to
resist
racial
oppres
sion
and
abolish
the
institut
ion of
slavery
.
Althou
gh
enslave
d
people
were
emanci
pated
as a
result
of the
Americ
an
Civil
War
and
were
then
grante
d basic
civil
rights
throug
h the
passag
e of the
Fourte
enth
and
Fifteen
th
amend
ments
to the
U.S.
Constit
ution,
struggl
es to
secure
federal
protect
ion of
these
rights
contin
ued
during
the
next
centur
y.
Throug
h
nonvio
lent
protest
, the
civil
rights
movem
ent of
the
1950s
and
’60s
broke
the
pattern
of
public
facilitie
s’
being
segrega
ted by
“race”
in the
South
and
achieve
d the
most
import
ant
breakt
hrough
in
equal-
rights
legislat
ion for
African
Americ
ans
since
the
Recons
tructio
n
period
(1865–
77).
Althou
gh the
passag
e in
1964
and
1965 of
major
civil
rights
legislat
ion
was
victori
ous for
the
movem
ent, by
then
militan
t Black
activist
s had
begun
to see
their
struggl
e as a
freedo
m or
liberati
on
movem
ent not
just
seeking
civil
rights
reform
s but
instead
confro
nting
the
enduri
ng
econo
mic,
politica
l, and
cultura
l
conseq
uences
of past
racial
oppres
sion.

(Read
Henry
Louis
Gates,
Jr.’s
Britan
nica
essay
on
“Monu
ments
of
Hope.”
)

Abolitionism
to
Jim
Crow

Declaration of Independence Image of

the Declaration of Independence (1776)
taken from an engraving made by printer
...(more)

Americ
an
history
has
been
marke
d by
persist
ent and
determ
ined
efforts
to
expand
the
scope
and
inclusi
veness
of civil
rights.
Althou
gh
equal
rights
for all
were
affirme
d in
the
foundi
ng
docum
ents of
the
United
States,
many
of the
new
countr
y’s
inhabit
ants
were
denied
essenti
al
rights.
Enslav
ed
African
s and
indent
ured
servant
s did
not
have
the
inalien
able
right to
“life,
liberty,
and the
pursuit
of
happin
ess”
that
British
colonis
ts
asserte
d to
justify
their
Declar
ation
of
Indepe
ndence
. Nor
were
they
include
d
among
the
“Peopl
e of the
United
States”
who
establi
shed
the
Constit
ution
in
order
to
“prom
ote the
general
Welfar
e, and
secure
the
Blessin
gs of
Liberty
to
ourselv
es and
our
Posteri
ty.”
Instead
, the
Constit
ution
protect
ed
slavery
by
allowin
g the
import
ation
of
enslave
d
person
s until
1808
and
providi
ng for
the
return
of
enslave
d
people
who
had
escape
d to
other
states.

As the
United
States
expand
ed its
bound
aries,
Native
Americ
an
people
s
resiste
d
conque
st and
absorp
tion.
Individ
ual
states,
which
determ
ined
most of
the
rights
of
Americ
an
citizen
s,
general
ly
limited
voting
rights
to
white
propert
y-
owning
males,
and
other
rights
—such
as the
right to
own
land or
serve
on
juries
—were
often
denied
on the
basis of
racial
or
gender
distinct
ions. A
small
propor
tion of
Black
Americ
ans
lived
outside
the
slave
system
, but
those
so-
called
“free
Blacks”
endure
d racial
discri
minati
on and
enforce
d
segrega
tion.
Althou
gh
some
enslave
d
person
s
violentl
y
rebelle
d
against
their
enslave
ment
(see
slave
rebelli
ons),
African
Americ
ans
and
other
subord
inated
groups
mainly
used
nonvio
lent
means
—
protest
s, legal
challen
ges,
pleas
and
petitio
ns
addres
sed to
govern
ment
official
s, as
well as
sustain
ed and
massiv
e civil
rights
movem
ents—
to
achieve
gradua
l
improv
ements
in their
status.
 1 of 5


Nat Turner Wood engraving

depicting Nat Turner (left), who in
1831 led the only effective slave

During
the
first
half of
the
19th
centur
y,
movem
ents to
extend
voting
rights
to non-
propert
y-
owning
white
male
labour
ers
resulte
d in
the
elimina
tion of
most
propert
y
qualific
ations
for
voting,
but
this
expans
ion of
suffrag
e was
accom
panied
by
brutal
suppre
ssion
of
Americ
an
Indian
s and
increas
ing
restrict
ions on
free
Blacks.
Owner
s of
enslave
d
people
in the
South
reacted
to the
1831
Nat
Turner
slave
revolt
in
Virgini
a by
passing
laws to
discour
age
antisla
very
activis
m and
preven
t the
teachin
g of
enslave
d
people
to read
and
write.
Despit
e this
repress
ion, a
growin
g
numbe
r of
Black
Americ
ans
freed
themse
lves
from
slavery
by
escapin
g or
negotia
ting
agreem
ents to
purcha
se their
freedo
m
throug
h wage
labour.
By the
1830s,
free
Black
commu
nities
in the
Northe
rn
states
had
becom
e
sufficie
ntly
large
and
organiz
ed to
hold
regular
nation
al
conven
tions,
where
Black
leaders
gathere
d to
discuss
alterna
tive
strategi
es of
racial
advanc
ement.
In
1833 a
small
minori
ty of
whites
joined
with
Black
antisla
very
activist
s to
form
the
Americ
an
Anti-
Slavery
Society
under
the
leaders
hip of
Willia
m
Lloyd
Garriso
n.

Britannica
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Quiz:
15
Things
to
Know
Frederi
About
ck
Martin
Dougla
Luther
ss King,
becam
Jr.
e the
most
famous
of the
formerl
y
enslave
d
person
s who
joined
the
aboliti
on
movem
ent.
His
autobi
ograph
y—one
of
many
slave
narrati
ves—
and his
stirring
oration
s
heighte
ned
public
awaren
ess of
the
horrors
of
slavery
.
Althou
gh
Black
leaders
becam
e
increas
ingly
militan
t in
their
attacks
against
slavery
and
other
forms
of
racial
oppres
sion,
their
efforts
to
secure
equal
rights
receive
da
major
setback
in
1857,
when
the
U.S.
Supre
me
Court
rejecte
d
African
Americ
an
citizen
ship
claims.
The
Dred
Scott
decisio
n
stated
that
the
countr
y’s
founde
rs had
viewed
Blacks
as so
inferio
r that
they
had
“no
rights
which
the
white
man
was
bound
to
respect
.” This
ruling
—by
declari
ng
uncons
titution
al the
Missou
ri
Compr
omise
(1820),
throug
h
which
Congre
ss had
limited
the
expans
ion of
slavery
into
wester
n
territor
ies—
ironica
lly
strengt
hened
the
antisla
very
movem
ent,
becaus
e it
angere
d many
whites
who
did not
hold
enslave
d
people.
The
inabilit
y of the
countr
y’s
politica
l
leaders
to
resolve
that
dispute
fueled
the
success
ful
preside
ntial
campai
gn of
Abraha
m
Lincol
n, the
candid
ate of
the
antisla
very
Republ
ican
Party.
Lincol
n’s
victory
in turn
prompt
ed the
Southe
rn
slave
states
to
secede
and
form
the
Confed
erate
States
of
Americ
a in
1860–
61.

Emancipation
Proclamation Emancipation Proclamation,
1863.

Althou
gh
Lincol
n did
not
initiall
y seek
to
abolish
slavery
, his
determ
ination
to
punish
the
rebelli
ous
states
and his
increas
ing
relianc
e on
Black
soldier
s in the
Union
army
prompt
ed him
to
issue
the
Emanc
ipation
Procla
mation
(1863)
to
deprive
the
Confed
eracy
of its
enslave
d
propert
y. After
the
Americ
an
Civil
War
ended,
Republ
ican
leaders
cement
ed the
Union
victory
by
gaining
the
ratifica
tion of
constit
utional
amend
ments
to
abolish
slavery
(Thirte
enth
Amend
ment)
and to
protect
the
legal
equalit
y of
formerl
y
enslave
d
person
s
(Fourte
enth
Amend
ment)
and the
voting
rights
of male
ex-
slaves
(Fiftee
nth
Amend
ment).
Despit
e those
constit
utional
guaran
tees of
rights,
almost
a
centur
y of
civil
rights
agitatio
n and
litigati
on
would
be
require
d to
bring
about
consist
ent
federal
enforce
ment
of
those
rights
in the
former
Confed
erate
states.
Moreo
ver,
after
federal
militar
y
forces
were
remove
d from
the
South
at the
end of
Recons
tructio
n,
white
leaders
in the
region
enacte
d new
laws to
strengt
hen the
“Jim
Crow”
system
of
racial
segrega
tion
and
discri
minati
on. In
its
Plessy
v.
Fergus
on
decisio
n
(1896),
the
Supre
me
Court
ruled
that
“separa
te but
equal”
facilitie
s for
African
Americ
ans did
not
violate
the
Fourte
enth
Amend
ment,
ignorin
g
eviden
ce that
the
facilitie
s for
Blacks
were
inferio
r to
those
intend
ed for
whites.
 Get
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The
Southe
rn
system
of
white
supre
macy
was
accom
panied
by the
expans
ion of
Europe
an and
Americ
an
imperi
al
control
over
nonwhi
te
people
in
Africa
and
Asia as
well as
in
island
countri
es of
the
Pacific
and
Caribb
ean
regions
. Like
African
Americ
ans,
most
nonwhi
te
people
throug
hout
the
world
were
coloniz
ed or
econo
mically
exploit
ed and
denied
basic
rights,
such as
the
right to
vote.
With
few
excepti
ons,
women
of all
races
everyw
here
were
also
denied
suffrag
e rights
(see
woman
suffrag
e).

Du
Bois
to
Brown
1 of 4


Booker T. Washington American

educator Booker T. Washington, c.
1906.

During
the
early
decade
s of the
20th
centur
y,
movem
ents to
resist
such
racial
and
gender
discri
minati
on
gained
strengt
h in
many
countri
es.
While
a Pan-
African
movem
ent
emerge
d in
respon
se to
Europe
an
imperi
alism,
African
Americ
ans
develo
ped
various
strategi
es to
challen
ge
racial
discri
minati
on in
the
United
States.
Educat
or
Booker
T.
Washi
ngton
empha
sized
econo
mic
develo
pment
withou
t
openly
challen
ging
the
Jim
Crow
system
,
Harvar
d
Univer
sity-
educat
ed
scholar
W.E.B.
Du
Bois
becam
ea
leading
advoca
te for
civil
rights
and
Pan-
African
unity
among
African
s and
African
descen
dants
elsewh
ere in
the
world.
In
1909
Du
Bois
and
other
African
Americ
an
leaders
joined
with
white
propon
ents of
racial
equalit
y to
form
the
Nation
al
Associa
tion for
the
Advanc
ement
of
Colore
d
People
(NAAC
P),
which
becam
e the
countr
y’s
most
enduri
ng civil
rights
organiz
ation.
Under
the
leaders
hip of
Du
Bois,
James
Weldo
n
Johnso
n,
Walter
White,
Thurgo
od
Marsh
all, and
others,
the
NAAC
P
publici
zed
racial
injustic
es and
initiate
d
lawsuit
s to
secure
equal
treatm
ent for
Black
Americ
ans in
educati
on,
employ
ment,
housin
g, and
public
accom
modati
ons.
 
1 of 2

Brown v. Board of Education (From

left) Lawyers George E.C. Hayes,
Thurgood Marshall, and James ...(more)
M.

The
NAAC
P faced
compet
ition
from
various
groups
offerin
g
alterna
tive
strategi
es for
racial
advanc
ement.
In 1941
labour
leader
A.
Philip
Randol
ph’s
threat
to
stage a
march
on
Washi
ngton,
D.C.,
prodde
d Pres.
Frankli
n D.
Roosev
elt to
issue
an
executi
ve
order
against
employ
ment
discri
minati
on in
the
wartim
e
defens
e
industr
ies.
The
interra
cial
Congre
ss of
Racial
Equalit
y
(CORE
) also
undert
ook
small-
scale
civil
disobe
dience
to
combat
segrega
tion in
Northe
rn
cities.

In the
afterm
ath of
World
War II,
African
Americ
an civil
rights
efforts
were
hampe
red by
ideolog
ical
splits.
Du
Bois
and
promin
ent
African
Americ
an
enterta
iner
Paul
Robeso
n were
among
the
leftist
leaders
advoca
ting
mass
civil
rights
protest
s while
opposi
ng the
Cold
War
foreign
and
domest
ic
policie
s of
Pres.
Harry
S.
Truma
n, but
Truma
n
prevail
ed in
the
1948
preside
ntial
electio
n with
critical
backin
g from
NAAC
P
leaders
and
most
African
Americ
ans
able to
vote.
Marsh
all and
other
NAAC
P
leaders
gained
additio
nal
Black
suppor
t when
the
Supre
me
Court
ruled
public
school
segrega
tion
uncons
titution
al in
1954 in
the
NAAC
P-
sponso
red
case of
Brown
v.
Board
of
Educat
ion.

Yet,
even as
the
NAAC
P
consoli
dated
its
nation
al
domin
ance in
the
civil
rights
field,
local
Black
activist
s acted
on
their
own to
protest
racial
segrega
tion
and
discri
minati
on. For
exampl
e, in
1951 a
studen
t
walkou
t at a
Virgini
a high
school
led by
Barbar
a
Johns,
age 16,
was
one of
the
local
efforts
that
culmin
ated in
the
Brown
decisio
n.
When
the
Supre
me
Court
did not
set a
time
limit
for
states
to
desegr
egate
their
school
system
s and
instead
merely
called
for
desegr
egation
“with
all
deliber
ate
speed,”
the
stage
was set
for
years
of
conflict
s over
public
school
desegr
egation
and
other
discri
minato
ry
practic
es.
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