History- The civil rights movement

• Civil rights movement


  African Americans and racial justice advocates resisted segregation and discrimination and struggled for racial equality and justice
• Civil rights movement


  • Not led by one person or organisation
  • Combination of activists, local communities, ordinary people and organisations from which notable leaders emerged
  • Driven by the activism of a wide range of people across America willing to make great sacrifices for freedom
• Growth of civil rights movement

  1. School desegregation

  2. Brutal murder of Emmett Till and acquittal of his murderers

  3. Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Montgomery Bus Boycott


  • Rosa Parks was a local activist and secretary of the local NAACP branch in Montgomery, Alabama
  • Montgomery NAACP and Women's Political Council organised a boycott of the city's buses
  • Local black leaders set up the Montgomery Improvement Association to coordinate the campaign
  • They elected Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, a 26-year-old Baptist minister, as its president
  • They agreed to continue the boycott until the city met its demands
• Montgomery Bus Boycott


  381-day boycott and use of the legal system successfully desegregated buses in Montgomery and inspired other southern states to protest racial discrimination
• Non-violent direct action


  • Activists used civil disobedience to protest against segregation and racism
  • Activists remained peaceful even in the face of violence
  • Scenes of peaceful activists being brutalised were broadcast on television, showing Americans across the country the depth of racism and injustice that existed in the southern states
  • This put pressure on the government to intervene and support civil rights
• Key activist efforts and campaigns

  1. Sit-ins by black students in Greensboro, North Carolina

  2. Ella Baker encouraged young people to set up the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

  3. Dr King became the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

  4. SCLC launched a desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama

  5. March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
• Selma to Birmingham march

  Became known as Bloody Sunday
• Civil rights legislation


  • 1964 Civil Rights Act - outlawed discrimination in public places and employment, effectively ended Jim Crow segregation
  • 1965 Voting Rights Act - made measures such as literacy tests and intimidation to prevent African Americans from voting illegal, provided federal supervision to protect the right to vote
  • 1968 Civil Rights Act - guaranteed civil rights for Native American tribes, banned discrimination in the sale and rental of housing