USCIS 128:112. What did the civil rights movement do?

OpenAI. (2026). What did the civil rights movement do?  [AI-generated infographic]. OpenAI.  Edited by Jennifer Gagliardi

The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that worked to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights for African Americans in the United States.

After the Civil War, slavery ended with the 13th Amendment. Later, the 14th Amendment gave citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the 15th Amendment gave many African American men the right to vote.

However, many African Americans still faced discrimination, especially in Southern states. Laws called Jim Crow laws separated Black and white Americans in schools, restaurants, buses, parks, hospitals, and other public places. Many African Americans also faced unfair treatment when trying to vote, find jobs, buy homes, or attend schools.

During the early 1900s, civil rights organizations worked to challenge segregation and discrimination. One important organization was the NAACP, founded in 1909. Lawyers and activists worked through the courts to challenge unfair laws.

During and after World War II, many African American veterans returned home after serving in the military and demanded equal rights. The integration of the military after Executive Order 9981 also helped increase support for civil rights reforms.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement became larger and more organized. Activists used marches, protests, boycotts, court cases, and voter registration drives to demand equal treatment under the law.

One important event happened in 1954, when the Supreme Court decided the case Brown v. Board of Education. The Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest helped begin the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For more than a year, many African Americans refused to ride city buses to protest segregation.

A major leader of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr.. He believed in nonviolent protest inspired by the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. King organized marches, gave speeches, and called for equality and justice.

Another important leader was Septima Poinsette Clark. She helped African Americans learn reading, writing, and citizenship skills through “Citizenship Schools.” These schools helped many people prepare to register to vote and become active in the Civil Rights Movement.

Other important leaders included John Lewis, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

College students also joined the movement. In 1960, four African American students began the Greensboro sit-ins at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The students peacefully sat at the counter and asked to be served. Their protest inspired similar sit-ins across the United States.

In 1961, activists called Freedom Riders traveled on buses through the South to challenge segregation in interstate travel.

In 1964, civil rights activists organized Freedom Summer in Mississippi. Volunteers worked to help African Americans register to vote, open community centers, and create schools for Black students. Many activists faced threats, violence, and arrests during Freedom Summer, but the project brought national attention to voting discrimination in the South.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered to support civil rights and jobs.

The Civil Rights Movement helped lead to important new laws. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned segregation and discrimination in many public places, schools, and jobs.

In 1965, peaceful marchers in Selma, Alabama, were attacked while protesting for voting rights. Public reaction to this violence helped lead Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law helped protect the voting rights of African Americans, especially in Southern states.

The Civil Rights Movement also inspired other groups to fight for equal rights, including women, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, people with disabilities, and other communities.

The Civil Rights Movement is important because it helped end many forms of racial discrimination and expanded equal rights and voting rights in the United States.