how did the civil rights movement change over the course of the 1950s and 1960s?

by Jayne Swift MD 8 min read

African American mass demonstrations, televised racial violence, and the federally enforced desegregation of higher education institutions, as well as the black passive resistance movement of the early 1960s led to adoption of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Full Answer

How did the Civil Rights Movement change after the 1960s?

Southern states and private citizens could no longer deprive African Americans the rights to equal facilities and to vote without unfair impediments. After these successes, the movement shifted course, transcending the earlier focus on Southern segregation and voting rights.

What was the goal of the Civil Rights Movement in 1950?

The primary objective of the civil rights movement in the 1950s was to end segregation and discrimination against Blacks. It fought for equal rights and freedoms for Black Americans who had lived for years in oppression despite their contribution to the growth and advancement of the US. What were the major events in the Civil Rights Movement?

What was the Civil Rights Movement Quizlet?

Contents. The civil rights movement was an organized effort by Black Americans to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. It began in the late 1940s and ended in the late 1960s.

How did the civil rights movement affect the south?

The backlash to Truman’s civil rights policies contributed to the unraveling of the solid Democratic South. A faction of southern Democrats, upset with the administration’s efforts, split to form the States’ Rights Democratic Party, a conservative party that sought to preserve and maintain the system of segregation.

How did the civil rights movement change in the 1950s?

Through nonviolent protest, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s broke the pattern of public facilities' being segregated by “race” in the South and achieved the most important breakthrough in equal-rights legislation for African Americans since the Reconstruction period (1865–77).

How did the civil rights movement change by the late 1960s?

0:063:37How did the Civil Rights Movement change in the late 1960s? - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd youth activity increases. So you see the population of activists changing a little bit also withMoreAnd youth activity increases. So you see the population of activists changing a little bit also with more federal laws in place the civil rights act is passed in 1964.

How did the civil rights movement gain ground in the 1950s and 1960s?

The Movement Gains Ground Through victories in the courts and the success of sit-ins and other nonviolent protests, African Americans slowly began to win their battle for civil rights.

What was the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s?

The civil rights movement was a struggle for justice and equality for African Americans that took place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. It was led by people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Little Rock Nine and many others.

How did the civil rights movement change in the late 60s quizlet?

1964, banned discrimination in public accommodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on ...

What were the major events in the civil rights movement of the early 1960s?

Boycotts, Movements and Marches1955 — Montgomery Bus Boycott. ... 1961 — Albany Movement. ... 1963 — Birmingham Campaign. ... 1963 — March on Washington. ... 1965 — Bloody Sunday. ... 1965 — Chicago Freedom Movement. ... 1967 — Vietnam War Opposition. ... 1968 — Poor People's Campaign.

How did the civil rights movement gain ground in the 1960s quizlet?

How did the civil rights movement gain ground in the 1960's? gained ground in the 1960's with sit-ins, Freedom Rides and other nonviolent protests received press attention, which caused americans to favor the movement. Martin Luther King Jr. led the movement in a nonviolent strategy.

What success and challenges faced the civil rights movement after 1964?

The main challenge faced by the Civil Rights Movement was racial prejudice, especially in the South. Virtually ever other obstacle stemmed from this. The two major successes of the Civil Rights Movement were the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What were the gains of the civil rights movement?

It prohibited tactics to limit voting; guaranteed racial and religious minorities equal access to public accommodations; outlawed job discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; continued the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

What were the major events in the civil rights movement of the early 1960s quizlet?

Terms in this set (38)Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) ... Freedom Rides. ... March on Washington. ... Bay of Pigs. ... Berlin Wall. ... Cuban Missile Crisis. ... Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... Voting Rights Act of 1965.More items...

What happened in the 1950's?

Contents. The 1950s were a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the civil rights movement in the United States.

What was the Civil Rights Movement?

The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States.

When did black people take a stand against segregation?

Despite making some gains, Black Americans still experienced blatant prejudice in their daily lives. On February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth’s lunch counter without being served.

What did the Freedom Riders do in 1961?

On May 4, 1961, 13 “ Freedom Riders ”—seven Black and six white activists–mounted a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C., embarking on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were testing the 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that declared the segregation of interstate transportation facilities unconstitutional.

What was the Supreme Court ruling in 1896 that black and white people could be separated but equal?

Moreover, southern segregation gained ground in 1896 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Ferguson that facilities for Black and white people could be “separate but equal.

How long did the Montgomery Bus Boycott last?

Parks’ courage incited the MIA to stage a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days.

What was the Cold War's goal?

As the Cold War began, President Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in 1948 issued Executive Order 9981 to end discrimination in the military. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement.

What happened to Freedom Riders?

Though met with hundreds of supporters, the group was arrested for trespassing in a “whites-only” facility and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

What was the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on African Americans?

A grassroots civil rights movement coupled with gradual but progressive actions by Presidents, the federal courts, and Congress eventually provided more complete political rights for African Americans and began to redress longstanding economic and social inequities.

What is the literature on the Civil Rights Movement?

76 The literature on the civil rights movement is vast, accessible, and well documented. Standard treatments include Taylor Branch’s three-volume history, which uses Martin Luther King, Jr., as a lens through which to view the movement: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988); Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998); At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006). See also David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: William Morrow, 1986); William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), an account of one of the protest movement’s seminal moments. For an overview of the movement and its impact on late-20th-century black America see Manning Marable, Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945–2006, 3rd edition (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007). For the evolution of civil rights legislation in Congress, see Robert Mann, When Freedom Would Triumph: The Civil Rights Struggle in Congress, 1954–1968 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007)—an abridged version of Mann’s The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1996); Hugh Davis Graham, The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960–1972 (New York: Oxford, 1990): especially pages 125–176; and James L. Sundquist, Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1968): 221–286. A useful overview of Congress and civil rights is Timothy N. Thurber, “Second Reconstruction,” in The American Congress: The Building of Democracy, ed. by Julian E. Zelizer (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company, 2004): 529–547. Another useful secondary work, which touches on aspects of the voting rights reform legislative effort, is Steven F. Lawson’s Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944–1969 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976).

What was the Supreme Court's decision in the 1960s?

Then, in the early 1960s, the Supreme Court rendered a string of decisions known as the “reapportionment cases” that fundamentally changed the voting landscape for African Americans. In no uncertain terms, the court required that representation in federal and state legislatures be based substantially on population.

What did Eisenhower do to promote equality?

Though hesitant to override the states on civil rights matters, President Eisenhower promoted equality in the federal arena—desegregating Washington, DC, overseeing the integration of the military, and promoting minority rights in federal contracts. 79. View Larger.

What was the impact of the backlash to Truman's civil rights policies?

The backlash to Truman’s civil rights policies contributed to the unraveling of the solid Democratic South. A faction of southern Democrats, upset with the administration’s efforts, split to form the States’ Rights Democratic Party, a conservative party that sought to preserve and maintain the system of segregation.

What was the second reconstruction?

During the period from the end of World War II until the late 1960s, often referred to as America’s “Second Reconstruction,” the nation began to correct civil and human rights abuses that had lingered in American society for a century. A grassroots civil rights movement coupled with gradual but progressive actions by Presidents, the federal courts, and Congress eventually provided more complete political rights for African Americans and began to redress longstanding economic and social inequities. While African-American Members of Congress from this era played prominent roles in advocating for reform, it was largely the efforts of everyday Americans who protested segregation that prodded a reluctant Congress to pass landmark civil rights legislation in the 1960s. 76

When was the Voting Rights Act passed?

Johnson Presidential Library/National Archives and Records Administration On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. The legislation suspended the use of literacy tests and voter disqualification devices for five years, authorized the use of federal examiners to supervise voter registration in states that used tests or in which less than half the voting-eligible residents registered or voted, directed the U.S. Attorney General to institute proceedings against use of poll taxes, and provided criminal penalties for violations of the act.

What was the civil rights movement in the 1960s?

The civil rights movement progressed through various stages in the 1960s. Activists began the decade by focusing on Southern racial discrimination. Because of the sustained protests of the 1960s, President Lyndon Baines Johnson placed his support behind legislation that would end the most visible signs of Southern racial injustice.

When did the Montgomery Bus Boycott start?

Non-violent demonstrations had been the hallmark of the civil rights movement since the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. As the movement began shifting to areas outside the South, activists in these regions began embracing other resistance strategies.

When did the Watts riots happen?

Only a few weeks following the enacting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , the Watts Riots engulfed urban Los Angeles as African Americans protested decades of police brutality.

What did Carmichael and other black power proponents call for?

Nevertheless, the ideology generally called for African Americans to assume control over their own communities and to challenge white supremacy with violence if necessary. Carmichael and other black power proponents began rejecting nonviolence as a viable strategy for the civil rights movement.

What was the Civil Rights Movement?

In the greatest mass movement in modern American history, black demonstrations swept the country seeking constitutional equality at the national level, as well as an end to Massive Resistance (state and local government-supported opposition to school desegregation) in the South .

What was the impact of the Women's Rights Movement in the 1960s?

In contrast, the re-emergence of a women's rights movement in the 1960s resulted in significant civil rights gains: adoption of the 1963 Equal Pay Act, the prohibition of inequality based on gender in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the breaching of barriers to employment for women.

What happened to Hispanics in the 1960s?

Hispanics lost ground as they experienced mass deportations of legal and illegal immigrants in Operation Wet back, educational segregation in Southwest schools, and police brutality cases that rocked Los Angeles. In contrast, the re-emergence of a women's rights movement in the 1960s resulted in significant civil rights gains: adoption ...

What was the purpose of the 1957 Civil Rights Act?

The 1957 Civil Rights Act created the independent U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Although the Commission was limited to fact-finding, its reports helped shape the breakthrough Civil Rights Act of 1964, which also provided the Commission with greater authority. Gains in civil rights varied for minorities during this era.

What was the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952?

The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 permitted Japanese immigrants to become citizens but contained restrictive quotas based on race and country of origin.

Why did Eisenhower sign the Civil Rights Act?

September 9, 1957: Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote.

Why did President Johnson sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

August 6, 1965: President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent the use of literacy tests as a voting requirement. It also allowed federal examiners to review voter qualifications and federal observers to monitor polling places.

Who wrote to Thomas Jefferson urging justice for African Americans?

Benjamin Banneker writes to Thomas Jefferson, urging justice for African Americans. June 11, 1963: Governor George C. Wallace stands in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two Black students from registering. The standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the campus.

What happened on February 21, 1965?

February 21, 1965: Black religious leader Malcolm X is assassinated during a rally by members of the Nation of Islam. March 7, 1965: Bloody Sunday. In the Selma to Montgomery March, around 600 civil rights marchers walk to Selma, Alabama to Montgomery—the state’s capital—in protest of Black voter suppression.

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