By the midth century, Black Americans had had more than enough of prejudice and violence against them. They, along with many white Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades. During Reconstruction , Black people took on leadership roles like never before.
They held public office and sought legislative changes for equality and the right to vote. In , the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black people equal protection under the law. In , the 15th Amendment granted Black American men the right to vote.
To make matters worse, laws were passed in some states to limit voting rights for Black Americans. Moreover, southern segregation gained ground in when the U. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Prior to World War II , most Black people worked as low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics or servants.
They were also discouraged from joining the military. After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order on June 25, It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin. Black men and women served heroically in World War II, despite suffering segregation and discrimination during their deployment.
The Tuskegee Airmen broke the racial barrier to become the first Black military aviators in the U. Yet many Black veterans met with prejudice and scorn upon returning home. This was a stark contrast to why America had entered the war to begin with—to defend freedom and democracy in the world. As the Cold War began, President Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in issued Executive Order to end discrimination in the military.
These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement. On December 1, , a year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work. Segregation laws at the time stated Black passengers must sit in designated seats at the back of the bus, and Parks had complied.
Parks refused and was arrested. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted days. On November 14, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional.
In , the civil rights movement gained momentum when the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. In , Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas asked for volunteers from all-Black high schools to attend the formerly segregated school. The Little Rock Nine tried again a couple of weeks later and made it inside, but had to be removed for their safety when violence ensued. Finally, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to and from classes at Central High. Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice. Their efforts, however, brought much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation and fueled protests on both sides of the issue.
Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They often required prospective voters of color to take literacy tests that were confusing, misleading and nearly impossible to pass. Wanting to show a commitment to the civil rights movement and minimize racial tensions in the South, the Eisenhower administration pressured Congress to consider new civil rights legislation. On September 9, , President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.
It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting. It also created a commission to investigate voter fraud.
Despite making some gains, Black Americans still experienced blatant prejudice in their daily lives. Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins. Their efforts spearheaded peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations in dozens of cities and helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to encourage all students to get involved in the civil rights movement.
In , Carmichael became the chair of the SNCC, giving his famous speech in which he originated the phrase "Black power. They were testing the decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Americans of every race and color have worked to build a nation of widening opportunities. Now our generation of Americans has been called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders. We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.
In March , on a bridge outside Selma, Alabama, a second phase of the revolution was born. Civil and human rights activists, including many young people, took to the streets in a peaceful protest for voting rights for African-Americans. They were met with clubs and violence.
But the activists did not face attacks on their march in vain. Television brought this conflict of angry violence against peaceful, moral protest into living rooms across America.
Five days later, President Johnson announced to a joint session of Congress that he would bring them an effective voting rights bill. He—and we—did overcome.
On August 6, , President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, hailed by many as the most effective civil rights law ever. The Voting Rights Act of was designed to address the disenfranchisement of people of color, especially African Americans, from voting. It prohibits discrimination based on race, and requires certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual assistance to language minority voters.
Section 2 of the Act, which bars the use of voting practices or procedures that discriminate against minority voters, has been used successfully to attack discrimination in voting including restrictive voter registration requirements, districting plans that dilute minority voting strength, discriminatory annexations, and the location of polling places at sites inaccessible to minority voters. The Act also provides the Department of Justice with the authority to appoint federal observers and examiners to monitor elections to ensure that they are conducted fairly.
Initial enforcement efforts targeted, among other things, literacy tests, poll taxes, and discriminatory registration practices. In , the Voting Rights Act was amended to address the voting rights of language minority groups.
Sections 4 and of the Act apply in jurisdictions with significant numbers of voters with limited or no English proficiency and require such jurisdictions to provide voting materials and assistance in relevant languages in addition to English.
In President Lyndon Johnson failed to persuade Congress to pass a civil rights bill with a fair housing provision. The assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 11, , President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of —popularly known as the Fair Housing Act —which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
It also contained anti-riot provisions and protected persons exercising specific rights—such as attending school or serving on a jury—as well as civil rights workers urging others to exercise these rights. When originally passed in , the Act only covered four protective classes: race, color, religion, and national origin.
Sex was added as a protective class in In , disability and familial status were included as protective classes as well. Skip Navigation. Expand search Search. Anti-Bias Education. Sections About the Movement Brown v. About the Movement. Civil Rights Movement in Pictures. Brown v. Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration.
Protest march against the segregation of U. Louis, MO, Related Teaching Resources. Lesson Plan. This curriculum unit commemorates the 60th anniversary of Brown v. High school students explore the history of school desegregation in the United States and examines current patterns of resegregation in public schools. Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann. Show 10 40 per page. Explore This Park. Civil Rights. The Modern Civil Rights Movement, In the greatest mass movement in modern American history, black demonstrations swept the country seeking constitutional equality at the national level, as well as an end to Massive Resistance state and local government-supported opposition to school desegregation in the South.
Presidential executive orders, the passage of two Civil Rights Acts, and the federal government's first military enforcement of civil rights brought an end to de jure segregation. The success of this movement inspired other minorities to employ similar tactics.
Three years after the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction.
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