Civil rights reform in the United States began with small-scale protests before new movements, leaders and organizations finally brought about significant change. Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that formed the basis for state-sanctioned discrimination. In the turbulent decade and a half that followed, civil rights activists used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to make their voices heard. Many leaders from within the African American community and beyond rose to prominence during the Civil Rights era, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Andrew Goodman and others. They risked—and sometimes lost—their lives in the name of freedom and equality. More on the Civil Rights Movement >>
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr. on racial discrimination
- Anita Bryant Hit in the Face with Pie
- Anti-segregation demonstrations in Texas
- Harry Belafonte Rates 'I Have a Dream' Speech
- Jesse Jackson: King's Final Sermon
- Malcolm X Speaks Out on Race
- Faubus Prevents Little Rock High Integration
- Police crackdown of Free Speech Movement protest
- Racial violence in Alabama
- Randolph on struggle for racial equality
- Segregationist Wallace Gives Press Conference
- African Americans vote in South Carolina
- Brown v. Board of Education ruling
- LaGuardia imposes curfew to halt Harlem rioting
- Bella Abzug on Sexual Equality
