Introduction -Civil Rights Movement
Ever since black people were freed from the chains of slavery they have been struggling to break the chains of discrimination and to secure their full rights as American citizens set forth in U.S. Constitution and numerous other federal laws. Often black civil rights history is associated with the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This movement encompassed numerous events aimed at ending discrimination and racial segregation and resulted in important laws, addressing civil rights, being passed. This movement also produced some of the greatest black civil rights leaders in history such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
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On this page you will find list of interesting kid-friendly facts about the history of the black civil rights movement. The pages within this section will dive more deeply into many aspects of civil rights movement including who some of the major civil rights leaders were and where some great civil rights movement events have occurred. Whether you are kid writing a paper for Black History Month or an adult interested in this topic we hope you find this information helpful.
Civil Rights Movement Events and Laws
The 1950s and 1960s saw numerous nonviolent protest and acts of civil disobedience by blacks designed to bring attention to racial discrimination and to put pressure on American society to take action to bring about equality for African Americans. Some of the important and famous events that took place during this period, along with important laws passes at that time are listed below for more detail about them see our Black Civil Rights Movement Important Events page.- Brown vs Board of Education (1954) - This Supreme Court decision overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine set forth in the Plessy vs Ferguson legal case of 1896. This established that separate white and colored school systems was not legal.
- Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955 - 1956) - a protest, sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks, fighting racial segregation within the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Greensboro sit-ins (1960) - a series of nonviolent protests that occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina resulting in national exposure for the civil rights movement.
- Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) - marches organized to highlight racial injustice in the Southern states.
- Civil Rights Act of (1964) - this federal outlawed discrimination that is based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
- Voting Rights Act (1965) - a federal law aimed at eliminating discriminatory barriers that prevented African Americans from voting.
- Fair Housing Act (1968) - a federal law aimed at protecting buyers and renters of housing from discrimination by sellers and landlords.
Important Civil Rights Movement People
Almost everyone has heard of the famous civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and about the bravery of Rosa Parks; however there are many other important people who were involved with the civil rights movement who are perhaps less well known. Many of these people are listed below; for more information on many of them see our page on Important Black Civil Rights Movement People.- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- President John F. Kennedy
- Malcolm X
- Rosa Parks
- Thurgood Marshall
- Mildred Loving
- Dorothy Height
- John Lewis
- Hosea Williams
- James L. Farmer Jr.
- A. Philip Randolph
- Roy Wilkins
- Booker T. Washington
- William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois
- Julian Bond
- Diane Nash
- Ralph Bunche
- Whitney Young