And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed

up that day when all of God's children-black men and white men, Jews

and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants-will be able to join hands and

to sngn in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at

last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The civil rights movement in the United States was a political, legal, and social struggle that was organized primarily by black Americans with some help from white America. The civil rights struggle was aimed at gaining full citizenship and racial equality for all Americans, particularly the most discriminated group, African Americans, and was first and foremost a challenge to segregation. Segregation was deeply embedded in the South and was used to control blacks since the reconstruction of the South following the American Civil War. During the civil rights movement, individuals and organizations challenged segregation and discrimination by usi

ng a number of methods that included protests, marches, boycotts, and refusing segregation laws. Most historians agree that the civil rights movement began with either the Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 or the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965; however, there is a lot of debate on when it began and ended. There were civil rights issues well into the 1980s.

try and injustice," then he shocked the nation by saying, "And we shall overcome." Two days later a voting rights bill went to Congress. On 6 August 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the civil rights movement, according to most historians, ended.

The civil rights movement quickly moved beyond school desegregation to challenge other unjust institutions in the South. It was Rosa Parks, a member of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, who refused to give up her seat to a white person on 1 December 1955; the Montgomery bus boycott that brought the city of Montgomery, Alabama to its knees had begun. Parks was arrested and the black community leaders rallied local blacks to protest segregated buses; this local protest evolved into a national boycott that involved support of over 50,000 blacks and lasted over a year and showed the American public the determination of the blacks to end segregation. During the Montgomery bus boycott the most influential civil rights leader emerged; Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) became, undeniably, the most important figure throughout the civil rights movement. It was King who seemed to have a master plan for the boycott, he emphasized keeping the struggle within the law and advocated nonviolence to achieve the goals of the civil rights movement. During the Montgomery bus boycott, King stated:

After the "sit-ins" many of the SNCC members began to participate in freedom rides that started in the summer of 1961, these "Freedom Riders," both black and white, traveled the south in buses to test a 1960 Supreme Court decision that stated segregation was illegal in bus stations that were open to interstate travel. These freedom rides were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and started in Washington, D.C., as the buses moved south more violence was directed towards them. This violence peaked when in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, buses were burned and the riders beaten. As a result of the freedom rides, the Attorney General's Office realized that the Supreme Court decision in the Boynton v. Virginia was not enough to end discrimination on the Interstates and bus stations. In November 1963, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the administration of President John Kennedy intervened and regulations were issued. By 1963, the Attorney General was able to say, "Systematic segregation of Negroes in interstate transportation has disappeared."

We are not asking for an end to segregation, that's a matter for the legislature and the courts. We feel that we have a plan within the law. All we are seeking is justice and fair treatment . . . We don't like the idea of Negroes having to stand when there are vacant seats. We are demanding justice on that point.

The main tool of discrimination against blacks in the United States was segregation, often called the Jim Crow system. Segregation became common in the South after the Reconstruction when the Democratic Party had gained control of the South and started to reverse black advances made during reconstruction. Jim Crow laws emerged and effectively segregated every aspect of life for blacks in the South. This segregation included, but was not limited to, separate schools, transportation, restaurants, and parks, many of which were inferior to white establishments. In theory, the black and white establishments were to be equal.

The civil rights movement direct action marches, for the most part, ended with the march on Washington D

Some common words found in the essay are:
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