civil-rights movement

US movement especially active during the 1950s and 60s that aimed to end segregation and discrimination against blacks, as well as affirm their constitutional rights and improve their status in society. Organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped bring about important legislation, including the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, desegregating schools. Further legislation followed, such as the Civil Rights Acts 1964 and the Voting Rights Act 1965, under President Lyndon Johnson. Prominent civil‐rights activists such as Martin Luther King inspired nonviolent protest and helped effect these changes.

During the period of Reconstruction after the American Civil War (1861–65), Jim Crow laws segregated and disenfranchised blacks in the South. In the US Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), segregation was upheld under the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine. Advances in civil rights were made during and after World War II, such as the desegregation of the armed forces in 1948. During this time the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, under the leadership of prominent civil‐rights lawyer and future US Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, argued several cases for desegregation, including Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

In 1955 the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a bus prompted the Montgomery bus boycotts, during which time Martin Luther King emerged as a powerful leader. During the 1960s he and other civil‐rights leaders led nonviolent protests, including marches, demonstrations, and sit‐ins, against discrimination and segregation. In 1963 King was one of the organizers of the 200,000‐strong civil‐rights march on Washington, DC, during which he delivered his celebrated ‘I have a dream’ speech.

Impatient with the lack of results gained through the civil‐rights movement's nonviolent and conciliatory methods, militant Black Power movements began to emerge; the Black Panther Party (founded in 1966), and black separatist groups such as the Black Muslims and followers of Malcolm X gained a large following, particularly among young black males.

Despite advances in legislation and affirmative action (positive discrimination), in practice African‐Americans continue to suffer discrimination and inequality of opportunities in such areas as education, employment, and housing.

Other civil‐rights movements have included women's movement and gay rights movement.