Civil Rights

• Civil Rights Movement - struggle for social justice for African-Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the US during the 1950s and 1960s
• Significant events:

  • 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • 1963 March on Washington
  • 1965 Selma-Montgomery marches
• Key legislation:

  • Civil Rights Act 1964 - banned discrimination in employment + public accommodations
  • Voting Rights Act 1965 - removed legal barriers at state + local levels that prevented African-Americans from exercising their vote
  • Fair Housing Act 1968 - prohibited discrimination concerning sale, rental + finance of housing
• Supreme Court cases:

  • 1954 Brown v. Board of Education - desegregation of public schools
  • 1967 Loving v. Virginia - declare laws barring interracial marriages as unconstitutional
• Civil Rights leaders:

  • Martin Luther King Jr - Baptist minister + social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement
  • Rosa Parks - African-American woman who is best known for her role in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Black Power Movement - emerged in the 1960s + 1970s, advocating for racial dignity, economic + political self-sufficiency + freedom from white authority

  • key figures include Malcom X and Stokely Carmichael
• Women's Right Movement - campaign fro women's rights occupied much of the 19th and 20th century -> Women's Liberation Movement in the late 1960s and 70s is linked the feminism as they fought for equality in law, culture, personal rights, education + employment

  • 19th Amendment - granted American women the right to vote
  • 1973 Roe v. Wade - ruled that state law that bans abortions was unconstitutional
• LGBT Rights Movement - struggle for legal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities

  • 1969 Stonewall riots - considered the start of the modern gay rights movement
  • 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges - declared that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment
• Disability Rights Movement - fights for the equal rights + opportunities for people with disabilities

  • Rehabilitation Act 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 -> these laws prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools + transportation