# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Civil War ended in 1865. African-American slaves were now free. New laws called the 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed. They gave African-Americans their rights to be free and vote. But Jim Crow laws took away some of these rights. These laws gave states power to separate white and black people in the South.

Some Jim Crow laws allowed separate cars on trains for white and black people. The Supreme Court said the train cars were "separate and equal." This now allowed separate neighborhoods, separate hospitals, hotels, eating places and schools for whites and blacks.

But the white areas were much better, newer, larger and cleaner. They were not equal. Jim Crow laws also made it harder for African-Americans to vote, so blacks had no power to change these laws. In the 1950s, the Supreme Court started to change after people protested. The judges saw that the Jim Crow laws were not fair. They decided that blacks and whites could sit on buses together. They allowed blacks to move into white neighborhoods. The court also decided that white and black children should go to the same schools. The idea that "separate was equal" ended and segregation now had to end, too. How did that movement to end segregation happen?

Du Bois to Brown

W.E.B. Du Bois graduated from Harvard University in 1895. He was an important civil rights leader. He felt it was important for African-Americans to learn about their African history. He also wanted African countries to be free from European countries that controlled them. These thoughts were called Pan-African ideas. Some of their leaders believed that African-Americans should have their own country inside the United States. But other African-Americans had different ideas. Booker T. Washington felt African-Americans needed to learn a trade. He opened a school to train them. Washington did not challenge Jim Crow laws. But Du Bois and other African-American leaders disagreed with Washington. They formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. They fought against the Jim Crow laws. Du Bois left the NAACP in 1934. He decided he was more interested in Pan-African ideas.

Other groups had different ways to fight for civil rights. World War II began in 1941. At that time A. Philip Randolph was working to help African-Americans find jobs. He wanted his workers to march for more jobs in Washington, D.C. This made President Franklin D. Roosevelt sign a new order. He ordered factories to hire African-Americans to build things that would help win World War II. In 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was started by white and black leaders. They used non-violent protest to stop segregation in Northern cities.

In 1951, a student walkout at a Virginia high school was led by Barbara Johns, age 16. This turned into a 1954 victory that ended the idea that "separate was equal." The Supreme Court decided that white and black children should go to the same schools. This was called Brown v. Board of Education. But the Supreme Court did not say exactly when white and black students must start learning together, so the problem continued.

Montgomery bus boycott to the Voting Rights Act

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man on a city bus. She was arrested. There was a protest. For 381 days, African-Americans did not ride buses in in Montgomery, Alabama. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leaders of the protest. Finally, on December 20, 1956, the Supreme Court decided that blacks were free to sit anywhere on buses. Segregation on city buses ended. In January 1957, King started the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). The group used non-violence to get more civil rights.

On February 1, 1960, a new protest started. In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black college students sat down at a lunch counter reserved for white people. Soon thousands of students, in at least 60 southern cities, joined the sit-ins. These student protesters formed their own group. It was called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Freedom Rides began in 1961. The bus riders were riding into the South to protest that black and whites still had to ride in separate parts of buses. Some of the Southern states had refused to listen to the Supreme Court. The first group of bus riders were attacked by white mobs in Alabama. This did not stop them. The Freedom riders went on to Mississippi. They were arrested and jailed. The Freedom Rides continued.

There were other protests in dozens of other cities in the South. More Americans were learning about Jim Crow laws. On August 28, 1963, there was a giant protest in Washington, D.C. More than 200,000 marchers heard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. tell them "I Have a Dream."

The Voting Rights Act

The protests continued. After two years, African-Americans were finally getting their right to vote. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It ended the payment of voting taxes and reading tests that kept African-Americans from being able to vote. Laws in the 1970s also protected voting rights for non-English-speaking Americans.

As the 20th century ends

As more African-Americans voted in elections, more African-Americans were being elected to office. Civil rights leaders, John Lewis and Andrew Young, became congressmen. In 1969, 13 African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed the Congressional Black Caucus. They worked together to make laws to help the poor. Jesse Jackson tried to run for president in 1984 and 1988. He did not win, but started the "Rainbow Coalition" of "red, yellow, brown, black and white" Americans.

The struggle for civil rights in the 1900s did make the government force states to follow civil rights laws. But many African-Americans still lived in segregated places where housing, public schools, and health care services needed to be improved.

Into the 21st century

By the early 2000s, the Black Caucus in Congress had more than 40 members. They have helped pass laws to improve public school and college education for African-Americans. But more needs to be done.

The election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency was a first in 2008. But America still has problems with race. It is unlikely that Obama's election means that race problems are solved. Most likely more race issues and problems lie ahead.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Legislative and Judicial Results of the Civil Rights Movement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Civil War ended in 1865. African-American slaves were now free. New laws called the 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed. They gave African-Americans their rights to be free and vote. But Jim Crow laws took away some of these rights.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The United States went through many changes during World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. Many African-Americans decided to move to the North of the country. Here, they could vote and affect how the government ran the country. New rules were put in place to end discrimination based on race. For the first time since the years after the Civil War, the country started thinking about civil rights.

During World War II, African-Americans joined the military in large numbers. They were forced to serve in units that were separated from white soldiers. At the same time, wartime factories created new jobs. Millions of women were able to work outside the home for the first time. Previously, women generally stayed at home and cared for their families. In the same period, 65,000 Native Americans left their reservations to work or join the Army.

Meanwhile, African-Americans began demanding their fair share of jobs. Because of segregation, black people were not allowed to join the government and military. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was put under pressure to change this practice. He ordered wartime factories to start hiring African-Americans. To make sure that companies obeyed, he also formed the Federal Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). The committee helped African-Americans find work and show how they were being discriminated against. For the first time, Latinos were also heard out by a government committee. Many wartime factories considered them foreigners, even though they were American citizens.

Redlining kept black and white neighborhoods separate

While many African-Americans were serving in the military, those at home were still treated unfairly by the government. Banks refused to give them home loans because they lived in poor neighborhoods. The government partly supported this practice, known as redlining. Beginning in the late 1930s, lines were drawn on government maps through different neighborhoods. Banks would often not give home loans to people in neighborhoods that were mostly black. Redlining kept black and white citizens in separate neighborhoods. It also prevented African-Americans from owning their own homes.

Others had to fight for equal rights as well. During World War II, nearly 110,000 Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. Since the U.S. was at war with Japan, many Americans stopped trusting their Japanese neighbors. The government ordered the removing of people from military areas along the Pacific coast. However, military commanders could pick the zones themselves. Only Japanese-Americans were forced out of their homes to be isolated from the rest of the American public.

In 1943, white members of the military in Los Angeles attacked Latino teenagers. The police did not protect them. The teenagers were wearing a particular kind of clothing, called zoot suits. These clothes had high waists and padded shoulders that were easy to recognize.

Truman ended segregation in the military

Many Chinese also faced racism. Up until 1943, they were not allowed to move to the U.S. Meanwhile Native Americans, who lived in the U.S., were not allowed to vote in six states.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had been founded in 1909. Its goal was to defend the rights of African-Americans. After the war, the NAACP and many others increased pressure on the government to end segregation. In 1944, the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal published "An American Dilemma." The book told the history of racial injustice in the U.S. and had a large effect on the public.

All these events led President Harry S. Truman to start a civil rights committee in 1946. Based on the committee's findings, Truman desegregated the military in 1948. Black and white soldiers were allowed to serve together for the first time. The committee report also led to an important Supreme Court decision in 1954. The Supreme Court is the most important court in the U.S. Its decision was that black and white children must be allowed to go to school together. Many experts say this decision was the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Birth of the Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1954

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The United States went through many changes during World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. Many African-Americans decided to move to the North of the country. Here, they could vote and affect how the government ran the country. New rules were put in place to end discrimination based on race.

# data[].attributes.body
This is a video about the 1960's

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 1960s in America: Crash Course US History #40

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Free leveled news, primary sources, and more, with standards-aligned formative assessments.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why did White people think they were better than black people?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why did White people think they were better than black people?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Civil Rights and the 1950s: Crash Course US History #39

# data[].attributes.headline
How big of a impact civil rights do history

# data[].attributes.subject
How big of a impact civil rights do history

# data[].attributes.body
it is talking about non-vilonce

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nonviolence and Peace Movements: Crash Course World History 228