The African-American Civil Rights Movement 1955-1958 Essay -- segregat

The civil rights movement in the United States was the start of a political and social conflict for African-Americans in the United States to gain their full rights in the country, and to have the same equality as white Americans. The civil rights movement was a challenge to segregation, the laws and ordinances that separated blacks and whites. This movement had the goal to end racial segregation against the black Americans of the United States. Many different acts and campaigns of civil resistance represented this movement. African-Americans and whites performed many forms of protest and civil disobedience including 'sit-ins', boycotts, marches and other nonviolent activities. Out of this movement, came many successful achievements such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the segment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ‘restored and protected voting rights for African-Americans. But along with achievements, many outbreaks and controversies swept the South and caused casualties and the side track of acts of violence. Background After the American Civil War, three constitutional amendments passed that favored African-Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865, abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment of 1868, secured the former slaves their rights as citizens. And the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870, gave African American males the right to vote in elections, where at the time only white males were able to vote in the United States. From the period 1877-1965, the United States went through a Reconstruction Era that tried to establish free labor and civil rights of freedmen in the South. Many whites living in the South did not like these changes and began to form their own movements to ... ...ber 1, 2013. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/exhibits/e-exhibits/boycott/background.html. Rosenblum, Thom. n.d. The Segregation of Topeka's Public School System, 1879-1951. Accessed November 1, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/brvb/historyculture/topekasegregation.htm. The Authentic History Center. 2012. The Civil Rights Movement: The Surge Forward 1954-1960. July 18. Accessed November 2 2013, 2013. http://www.authentichistory.com/1946-1960/8-civilrights/1954-1960/#top. Tsesis, Alexander. 2004. The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom. New York City: NYU Press. Walker, Anders. 2009. The Ghost of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press. Williams, Juan. 2005. Brown v. Board of Education: It's Impact on Public Education. Brooklyn: Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. Wright, Roberta Hughes. 1991. The Birth of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Southfield: Charro Press.