The civil rights movement

The modern civil rights movement worked to end legal segregation and secure voting rights for African Americans. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, rejecting Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine in public education. Rosa Parks's arrest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott (1955-1956), which brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to national leadership, and in 1957 federal troops escorted the Little Rock Nine into a segregated high school. Activists used nonviolent direct action: student sit-ins at lunch counters (1960), Freedom Rides (1961), and the March on Washington (1963), where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. They faced violent resistance, including beatings, bombings, and murders. Their efforts helped win the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public accommodations and employment, and, after the brutal attack on marchers at Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices. Other leaders, like Malcolm X and the later Black Power movement, emphasized Black pride and self-determination, and the struggle against discrimination continued after these legal victories.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report