U.S. history concepts · AP U.S. History
Civil rights movement
Civil rights movement: The mid-twentieth-century struggle, especially from the 1950s through the 1960s, to end segregation and secure equal rights for Black Americans.
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What it means
The movement combined legal challenges, such as Brown v. Board of Education, with nonviolent direct action: boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides and marches. It produced landmark federal legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Historians emphasize the role of local organizers and grassroots groups alongside national leaders.
Example
The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 to 1956, sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest, ended with the desegregation of the city's buses.
On the exam
The civil rights movement appears in Period 8 and in AP Gov questions on civil rights, social movements and policy change.