The Civil Rights Movement, which occured from around 1955 to about 1968, was a great reform movement that aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African-Americans and restoring sufferage.

Many people and organizations who were active during the Civil Rights Movement preferred to called this period the Southern Freedom Movement because the whole struggle was much deeper than just rights; it was also about freedom, respect, dignity, and equality.

The post-Reconstruction era had some horrible characteristics first among them being racial segregation. By law all public facilities were divided into white and colored areas. Secondly, disenfranchisment, which was where whit democrats passed laws that basically banned blacks from any form of voting rights was another problem. Another horrible characteristic was exploitation, which increased the economic oppression of blacks and employment discrimination. Lastly, this era brought about violence from police, individuals, and organizations towards blacks. Many organizations were founded to protect blacks during this time. It wasn’t until May 17, 1954 when Brown vs. Board of education overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson which maintained “separate but equal” doctrine. They declared it unconstitutional to have colored children be forced to attend different public schools. Rights for blacks improved greatly all over the nation other than the South. There was a great migration of over seven million blacks from the South in what was known as the Great Migration. Brown’s victory only infuriated southerners who refused to desegregate. There was a massive resistance in the South. Blacks responded with non-violent civil disobedience.

After the Brown case, the Civil Rights Movement shifted to an idea of direct action. This consisted of boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides, and civil right’s marches. Many grass-roots churches volunteered to help with these actions. The Montgomery Improvement Association who led the Montgomery Bus Boycott kept the boycott going for over a year until the federal court required Montgomery to desegregate its buses. The Montgomery Improvement Association was led by a young, black baptist minister named Martin Luther King jr. This inspired many other boycotts. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to make room for a white person. Parks was arrested, tried, and convicted. This is what initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

On September 4, 1957, the govenor of Arkansas called the National Guard to prevent nine African-American students who had sued for the right to enter an integrated school. They had been chosen to attend the school because of their excellent grades. Only one of the nine students showed up for school on the first day because they did not recieve a call about the extent of the danger. So when she arrived, she was greeted by hundreds of white protesters outside the school. She had to be escorted home by police. Every following day all nine students had to carpool to school with military personnel in jeeps. Out of the nine students, only one graduated.

On August 28, 1963, Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King held the march on Washington. This march was a collaborative effort of all anti-racist organizations. The march was a success. King delivered his “I have a Dream” speech to about 300,000 people in front of the Lincoln statue. After the march, King met at the White House with president Kennedy and other civil rights leaders.

Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10,1964. He was the youngest man to ever recieve that award at 35 years of age.

On August 6, 1965 Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act suspended poll taxes and literary tests which hindered blacks from voting. If voting discrimination continued, the Attorney General of the United States had the right to send a Federal examiners to replace local registrars. The act had a very positive effect on African-Americans.

One day after King delivered his famous “Mountaintop” sermon, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Riots broke out in more than 110 cities in the days following this tragedy. The day before his funeral on April 8, Coretta Scott King led 20,000 marchers through the streets of Memphis. The following day she led 150,000 marchers on a funeral procession through the streets of Atlanta.

The american jewish community supported the civil rights movement and many were more actively involved in it than most whites. Jews were a major part of most civil rights organizations and they would stand and even be arrested with blacks. By the end of World War II, more than half the black population in the country lived in northern cities rather than southern rural areas. Most lived in these areas for better job oppurtunities, education, and to escape segregation. Although the KKK wasn’t as prevalent in the civil rights era, there was problems for blacks getting jobs because they were the last to enter the industrial field. Also since they did not make as much money, they often ended up in the lowest ranked schools academically that hardly contained whites. Many riots broke out. One thing that often stirred up riots was the unfair treatment of white officers to blacks.

In the mid-1960’s a new idea came about – Black Power. Black Power expressed a range of goals ranging from the defense against racial oppression to the establishment of separate, distinct social societies and a self-suffucient economy. The first person to use the term “Black Power” to refer to these goals was Kwame Ture. Several people who started engaging in this movement took on a sense of black pride. They started demanding that whites start referring to them as “Afro-Americans” instead of “Negroes”. Black Power really took of when supported by a extremist group called the Black Panthers. This group was led by the ideaology of Malcolm X and Nation of Islam. They followed an “any means necessary” doctrine. They sought to rid the nation of police brutality and used the saying “Power to the People”. The civil rights movement took place in other places than just neighborhoods and towns. It had a huge effect on prisons and jails also. Many jails had trustee systems which was where some prisoners were given power over others. This led to hundreds of rapes, beatings, and murders in jails and prisons. So in a decisive case named Gates vs. Collier, four inmates sued their superintendent for violating their constitutional rights. The court ruled in favor of the inmates, and all jails and prisons were desegregated and the trustee system was abolished.