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The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against blacks—they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, African Americans had had more than enough of prejudice and violence against them. They, along with many whites, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.

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The success of the of the American Civil Rights Movement and the fight for racial equality in the United States is a testament to the determination of millions of African Americans who fought against discrimination in the 1960s. On January 20, 2014, Americans use the national holiday to recognize the efforts of the civil rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King.

A major factor in the success of the movement was the strategy of protesting for equal rights without using violence. Civil rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, championed this approach as an alternative to armed uprising. King's non-violent movement was inspired by the teachings of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Led by King, millions of blacks took to the streets for peaceful protests as well as acts of civil disobedience and economic boycotts in what some leaders describe as America's second civil war.

The non-violent movement was tested in places like Birmingham, Alabama.

"During that period of time you had people who were being murdered, homes being bombed, churches being bombed and there was a sense that evil would prevail," said William Bell, Birmingham’s current mayor.

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For a century following the Civil War, a campaign of racial terrorism targeted African Americans with lynching and mass violence in order to maintain segregation in the South. This campaign of terror persisted during the civil rights movement, as private citizens and public officials subjected civil rights activists to threats, mass arrests, beatings, bombings, and murder. Law enforcement refused to protect activists or prosecute perpetrators, and often led the charge by attacking nonviolent protestors.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. regularly faced violent resistance from those opposed to racial equality. Private citizens called his home with threats, physically attacked him at speaking events, burned crosses on his lawn, and even bombed his home while his wife and infant daughter were inside. Police and courts arrested, jailed, and fined Dr. King more than 25 times for participating in boycotts, sit-ins, and marches. And he was not alone.

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With the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the federal government offered its immense power to the struggle to realize a more just and inclusive American society that had begun a century earlier with Reconstruction. But passage of the act was not the end of the story. The act did not fulfill all of the goals of civil rights activists. It would take further grassroots mobilization, judicial precedent, and legislative action to guarantee civil rights for African Americans.

In response to a new wave of protest, the U.S. Congress soon followed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act focused on redressing the legacy of discrimination against African Americans’ access to the ballot. The acts were swiftly tested in court and ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in a variety of decisions beginning in 1964.

Emboldened by these remarkable achievements, other groups marginalized by discrimination have organized to assert their rights. Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, disenfranchised Americans have used it to challenge discrimination and harassment based upon race, national origin, religion, gender, and more.