The Civil Rights Movement 1954–1968

The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most significant social movements in American history, dismantling the legal architecture of racial segregation and securing fundamental political rights for African Americans. Yet the movement was neither monolithic nor wholly successful: it encompassed diverse strategies, provoked fierce resistance, and left much unfinished business. Understanding the movement requires attention to its grassroots foundations, its national leaders, its internal tensions, and the limits of what it achieved.

Key Definition: De jure segregation means segregation established by law (as in the Jim Crow South). De facto segregation means segregation maintained by custom, housing patterns, and economic inequality (as in Northern cities). The Civil Rights Movement primarily targeted de jure segregation; de facto segregation proved far more resistant to change.

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Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (17 May 1954) declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).