The civil rights movement in the United States was a decades-long struggle by African Americans and their allies to end institutionalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and segregation against Black Americans. Many historians consider the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956 to be the event that kicked off the civil rights movement on a large scale. The boycott began after Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest sparked outrage in the Black community and catalyzed a year-long boycott of Montgomery’s buses led by a young Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. The successful boycott demonstrated the power of nonviolent resistance and launched King into national prominence as a leader of the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was riding on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. At the time, Montgomery had city ordinances in place that required separation of the races on public buses – the first four rows were reserved for white passengers only. When a white man boarded the bus and could not find a seat in the ‘whites only’ section, the bus driver instructed Rosa Parks and three other Black passengers seated in the row behind to give up their seats. While the other three complied, Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. The driver stopped the bus and Parks was arrested for violating the segregation laws.
News of Parks’ arrest spread quickly in Montgomery’s Black community. activists including E.D. Nixon and Martin Luther King Jr. decided to organize a one-day bus boycott to protest her arrest and the segregated bus laws on December 5, the day of Parks’ trial. To their surprise, the one-day protest extended into a 381-day boycott of Montgomery’s buses by the Black community. People carpooled or walked instead of taking the bus, causing the bus company to lose significant revenue. Black churches and civil rights groups kept the momentum going, forming the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) with King as president.
After over a year of steadily losing income from the boycott, the city repealed its bus segregation laws in December 1956. The boycott had demonstrated the power of nonviolent resistance and galvanized the civil rights movement nationwide. Propelling King to the forefront, the MIA served as a model for other civil rights organizations. The success showed that mass mobilization and economic leverage could effect social and legal change.
Little Rock Central High School
In 1957, the integration of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas became another early pivotal moment for the civil rights movement. After the Supreme Court ruled segregated public schools unconstitutional in their landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Little Rock school board devised a plan to slowly integrate their schools. Nine African American students were set to attend the previously all-white Central High in 1957.
On September 4, the first day of school, an angry white mob formed outside the school to prevent the Black students from entering. Declaring the situation a public safety crisis, the Republican Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the students from entering Central High. Over the next three weeks, the guarded school refused entry to the Black students, even after a federal court ordered integration to proceed.
In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower took control of the state National Guard from Faubus and sent in troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into the school on September 25. The tense standoff and images of the “Little Rock Nine” being escorted military protection made national news, demonstrating the ugly violence of segregation to the American public. Though the students faced harassment and threats all year, Little Rock was a major victory against legal school segregation in the South.
Sit-in Movement and Student Activism
The use of nonviolent civil disobedience spread from bus boycotts to “sit-in” protests at lunch counters and restaurants that refused to serve Black customers. On February 1, 1960, a group of four Black college students sat down at the segregated lunch counter of a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina and politely asked to be served. Denied service but allowed to remain seated, they stayed in their seats until the store closed. Their nonviolent sit-in inspired other students to replicate the action in a growing sit-in movement across the South.
Within a week, the Greensboro sit-in sparked demonstrations in 15 cities as Black college students organized sit-ins to integrate segregated establishments. Part of a new student-led activist movement, they used nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to integrate libraries, theaters, parks and beaches as well. The demonstrative power of the sit-ins put public pressure on businesses and institutions to desegregate and energized more grassroots activism, calling national attention to the mistreatment of African Americans in public spaces.
Freedom Riders
To protest segregation in interstate bus terminals, Black and white civil rights activists organized Freedom Rides in 1961. Inspired by the 1961 Boynton v. Virginia Supreme Court decision deeming interstate bus segregation unconstitutional, 13 Freedom Riders – 7 Black and 6 white – traveled by bus from Washington D.C. to New Orleans in May 1961. Along the way they deliberately used “whites only” restrooms and lunch counters in the segregated Southern bus terminals to challenge their illegal segregation policies.
Facing severe violence from white mobs with no police intervention, the Freedom Riders were viciously attacked in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham mob set one of the buses on fire and beat the Freedom Riders with pipes and baseball bats as they fled the burning vehicle. Disappointed in the Justice Department’s lack of protection for the riders, President Kennedy provided National Guard and military escorts near the end of the route after images of the burning bus played on TV news around the world.
The Freedom Rides kept going from May to November 1961, with over 400 black and white activists participating and many arrested along the way. Though met with brutal violence, the Freedom Riders brought international attention to the violent white supremacy upholding segregation in the South and pressured the Kennedy administration to enforce desegregation orders.
March on Washington
As sit-ins and demonstrations continued across the South, civil rights leaders planned a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 to pressure the Kennedy administration to pass strong civil rights legislation. On August 28, over 200,000 Americans gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial as King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech calling for an end to racism.
Other influential leaders like NAACP president Roy Wilkins, SNCC leader John Lewis, and actor Sidney Poitier rallied the interracial crowd around a unifying theme of freedom and justice for all races. Broadcast on national television, the historic March on Washington built momentum for civil rights legislation by peacefully and powerfully demonstrating mass support for the movement.
Just months after the March, President Kennedy was assassinated but his successor President Lyndon B. Johnson took up the cause and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This landmark legislation outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women including racial segregation in schools, employment, and public facilities.
Major Civil Rights Act Milestones
Some key civil rights legislation milestones:
- 1875 – Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in public accommodations
- 1957 – Civil Rights Act created the Civil Rights Commission
- 1960 – Civil Rights Act introduced penalties for obstructing voter registration
- 1964 – Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
- 1965 – Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices
- 1968 – Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in housing
Ongoing Struggle and Progress
While the 1960s civil rights movement dismantled the legal basis for racial discrimination and segregation, the struggle for true equality and fair treatment continues today. Civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center carry on the effort through litigation, legislation, and education against ongoing issues like racially biased policing, voter suppression, housing and employment discrimination, and inequality in the criminal justice system.
The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2013 to campaign against violence and systemic racism towards African Americans, using protests and social media to raise awareness of these continuing civil rights concerns. Though discrimination lingers, the civil rights movement made huge strides in realizing Constitutional rights and protections for all Americans.
Key Figures of the Civil Rights Movement
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Martin Luther King Jr. | Leader of Montgomery bus boycott, delivered “I Have a Dream” speech, Nobel Peace Prize laureate |
| Rosa Parks | Catalyst for bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat |
| Ella Baker | Helped organize the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) |
| John Lewis | Student activist, Freedom Rider, delivered speech at March on Washington |
| Daisy Bates | President of Arkansas NAACP who supported Little Rock Nine |
| Malcolm X | National spokesman for the Nation of Islam, advocated for armed self-defense |
| Thurgood Marshall | First African American Supreme Court justice, NAACP lawyer during Brown v. Board of Education case |
The Civil Rights Movement’s Tactics and Impact
By adopting powerful, peaceful tactics to oppose racial injustice, the civil rights movement transformed American society:
- Boycotts – Successfully used economic leverage through boycotting buses, stores, etc. to impact segregation policies
- Marches – Mass mobilization in marches, protests, and gatherings like the March on Washington brought vital awareness and pressure for change
- Civil Disobedience – Peaceful refusal to obey unjust segregation laws powerfully demonstrated their injustice
- Litigation – Court victories built the legal framework for dismantling institutionalized discrimination
- Voter Registration Drives – Registering disenfranchised black voters increased political representation
- Education – Public education campaigns advanced equal rights and changed social attitudes
By the late 1960s, the civil rights movement eliminated legal segregation and restrictions on black voting and ended indiscriminate mistreatment of African Americans in public spaces. The struggle continues against ongoing discrimination, but the movement established equal rights under the law and demonstrated the bravery, determination, and resilience of civil rights pioneers.