1. The Civil Rights Movement
•The Movement Begins Nearly 100
years after the Civil War
• The 1960s were called the civil rights
decade
•Anti-discrimination organizations:
- The National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured people NAACP - The National Urban League NUL
- The Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee SNCC

2. • The civil rights of
African Americans were
limited by state laws
and discrimination.
• In the early 1950s,
segregation was legal.
• An Alabama law said
that African Americans
had to sit at the back of
the bus.

3. • In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused
to move to the back of a bus. She was arrested.
• African Americans boycotted the buses until buses
were desegregated.
Black Residents Walking, Montgomery
Bus Boycott, 1955

4. • Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead the boycott.
He believed in nonviolent protest.
• He wanted people to fight back using peaceful
actions.
• In 1954, the Supreme Court ordered the
desegregation of public schools.
• In 1956, the Supreme Court said that
segregation on buses was illegal.

5. Civil Rights Victories
• In 1960, African Americans held sit-ins
in 54 cities.
• They sat at lunch counters that only
served food to white people. They
would not leave until they were
served.
• In 1963, Congress was discussing a bill
to end segregation.

6. • Martin Luther King Jr. and other
leaders organized a protest march
in Washington, D.C., to show
support for the bill.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
banned segregation in schools, at
work, and in public places.
• Affirmative action to give
minorities increased
opportunities for higher
education and in the workplace
• Busing to promote desegregation

7. • In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.
• Along with non-violent protest the rise of
separatist movements:
• Nation of Islam & its leader(s) Louis Farrakhan
& Malcolm X

8. HOWEVER
• African-Americans tend to have a high dropout rate: only
15% complete 2 or more years of college Vs 26% of whites
• Glass ceiling: For those who reach higher positions,
discrimination prevents them from the top positions and
professional advancement
• They are hit twice as hard by unemployment as the rest of
the population
• They live in inner cities where violence and crime are
widespread
• The leading cause of death for a young black male is
murder (very often by other black teenagers from different
gangs.
• Half inmates of American prisons are black
• Housing segregation leads to poor social integration