Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement
Part of Cold War
Protesters at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963
Date	May 17, 1954 – April 4, 1968
Location	United States
Caused by	Racism Racial segregation
Goals	Racial integration
Methods	Nonviolence Protests Civil disobedience Lawsuits
Status	Concluded
Concessions given	Brown v. Board of Education Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting Rights Act of 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1968
Parties to the civil conflict
Civil Rights Movement Federal government of the United States Black Power movement
Lead figures
Martin Luther King Jr. † Rosa Parks John Lewis Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy † Lyndon B. Johnson J. Edgar Hoover Elijah Muhammad Malcolm X † Huey P. Newton
Units involved
SCLC SNCC NAACP Police forces FBI KKK NOI BPP

The Civil Rights Movement was a social movement in the United States that tried to gain equal rights for African Americans that white people had. The movement is famous for using non-violent protests and civil disobedience (peacefully refusing to follow unfair laws). Activists used strategies like boycotts, sit-ins, and protest marches. Sometimes police or racist white people would attack them, but the activists never fought back.

However, the Civil Rights Movement was made up of many different people and groups. Not everyone believed the same things. For example, the Black Power movement believed black people should demand their civil rights and force white leaders to give them those rights.

The Civil Rights Movement was also made of people of different races and religions. The Movement's leaders and most of its activists were African-American. However, the Movement got political and financial support from labor unions, religious groups, and some white politicians, like Lyndon B. Johnson. Activists of all races came to join African-Americans in marches, sit-ins, and protests.

The Civil Rights Movement was very successful. It helped to get five federal laws and two amendments to the Constitution passed. These officially protected African Americans' rights. It also helped change many white people's attitudes about the way black people were treated and the rights they deserved.