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[[File:Martin-luther-king.jpg|thumb|300px|Martin Luther King Jr from the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington DC.]]

[[File:Martin-Luther-king.jpg|thumb|300px|Martin Luther King Jr from the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington DC.]]

The '''civil rights movement''' was a movement towards racial equality and an end to segregation of [[African Americans]] that occurred in the [[United States]] from about 1953 to 1968, as courts and [[Congress]] made segregation illegal and imposed tough laws that allowed backs to vote.  

The '''civil rights movement''' was a movement towards racial equality and an end to segregation of [[African Americans]] that occurred in the [[United States]] from about 1953 to 1968, as courts and [[Congress]] made segregation illegal and imposed tough laws that allowed backs to vote.  

==Reconstruction==

==Reconstruction and Jim Crow==

During [[Reconstruction]], Radical Republicans tried to guarantee equal rights for emancipated slaves after the [[American Civil War]]. They succeeded in passing the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which in theory required equal protection of the laws and an equal right to vote. President [[Ulysses Grant]] successfully suppressed the [[Ku Klux Klan]] when it used violence to turn back black gains.  The Republican coalition in the South fell apart in the 1870s, and conservative white [[Redeemers]] took control.  The Redeemers were paternalistic toward blacks but they confronted a [[Populist]] element in the 1890s that demanded strict segregation. The Supreme Court allowed segregation in 1896, and black leaders such as [[Booker T. Washington]]] worked to build an alliance of black businessmen and farmers with benevolent whites, using education as the tool to eventually achieve equality. Militant blacks led by [[W.E.B. DuBois]] and the [[NAACP]] demanded immediate redress. For a brief while around 1920 militant black separatists gained strength.  While blacks slowly improved their economic status in the South in the 20th century, despite lynchings, they remained second class citizens with very little political power. Blacks began moving in large numbers to the North to meet the labor shortages during World War I and World War II.  By the 1950s they had a political base in Harlem (New York City) and Chicago, but still very little power.

During [[Reconstruction]], Radical Republicans tried to guarantee equal rights for emancipated slaves after the [[American Civil War]]. They succeeded in passing the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which in theory required equal protection of the laws and an equal right to vote. President [[Ulysses Grant]] successfully suppressed the [[Ku Klux Klan]] when it used violence to turn back black gains.  The Republican coalition in the South fell apart in the 1870s, and conservative white [[Redeemers]] took control.  The Redeemers were paternalistic toward blacks but they confronted a [[Populist]] element in the 1890s that demanded strict segregation, called [[Jim Crow]].

 

The Supreme Court allowed segregation in 1896, and black leaders such as [[Booker T. Washington]]] worked to build an alliance of black businessmen and farmers with benevolent whites, using education as the tool to eventually achieve equality. Militant blacks led by [[W.E.B. DuBois]] and the [[NAACP]] demanded immediate redress. For a brief while around 1920 militant black separatists gained strength.  While blacks slowly improved their economic status in the South in the 20th century, despite lynchings, they remained second class citizens with very little political power. Blacks began moving in large numbers to the North to meet the labor shortages during World War I and World War II.  By the 1950s they had a political base in Harlem (New York City) and Chicago, but still very little power. [[Jim Crow]] remained as strong as ever in the South, where white Democrats had near-total control.

==Modern Movement==

==Modern Movement==

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], a liberal Republican, issued [[Brown vs. Board of education]] in 1954, declaring legal segregation to be unconstitutional. It marked the culmination of a judicial movement that had been underway for a decade. It had the short-term effect of ending segregated schools in border states, and the long-term effect of ending legalized segregation in schools.   

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], a liberal Republican, issued [[Brown vs. Board of education]] in 1954, declaring legal segregation to be unconstitutional. It marked the culmination of a judicial movement that had been underway for a decade. It had the short-term effect of ending segregated schools in border states, and the long-term effect of ending legalized segregation in schools.   

Presidents [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[John F. Kennedy]] to a small degree, and and [[Lyndon Johnson]] to a major degree became proactive in the Civil Rights movement. Johnson in particular built a coalition that included white churches and labor unions, as well as many Republicans such as Everett Dirksen, to build a majority of the northern leadership.   

Presidents [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[John F. Kennedy]] to a small degree, and and [[Lyndon Johnson]] to a major degree became proactive in the Civil Rights movement. Johnson in particular built a coalition that included white churches, Jews, and labor unions, as well as many Republicans such as [[Everett Dirksen]], to build a majority of the northern leadership in favor of action.  The white South filibustered but failed stop passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended Jim Crow, and the [[Voting Rights Act]] of  1965, which guaranteed federal oversight of voting rights.

In 1957, Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas] mobilized the state National Guard to prevent a court ordered desegregation of Little Rock public schools. When the federal court issued an injunction Eisenhower intervened decisively, taking control of the National Guard and send in Army combat troops. He enforced the desegregation of schools. In the late 1960s several southern states expressed forceful opposition to what was considered Federal tyranny; some redesigned their state flags to include the old Confederate banner. In 1962, the prospect of a black student being admitted to the [[University of Mississippi]] resulted in campus riots suppressed by Federal troops and a national guard now brought under Federal control.  

In 1957, Governor [[Orville Faubus]] of Arkansas mobilized the state National Guard to prevent a court ordered desegregation of Little Rock public schools. When the federal court issued an injunction Eisenhower intervened decisively, taking control of the National Guard and send in Army combat troops. He enforced the desegregation of schools. In the late 1960s several southern states expressed forceful opposition to what was considered Federal tyranny; some redesigned their state flags to include the old Confederate banner. In 1962, the prospect of a black student being admitted to the [[University of Mississippi]] resulted in campus riots suppressed by Federal troops and a national guard now brought under Federal control.  

   

   

==Black leaders==

==Black leaders==

*[[Rosa Parks]]

*[[Rosa Parks]]

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

* Graham, Hugh Davis. ''Civil Rights in the United States'' (1994)

* Graham, Hugh Davis. ''Civil Rights in the United States'' (1994)

* Graham, Hugh Davis. ''The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972'' (1990)

* Graham, Hugh Davis. ''The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972'' (1990)