civil rights movement

Cultural  

1. The national effort made by black people and their supporters in the 1950s and 1960s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. The first large episode in the movement, a boycott of the city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, was touched off by the refusal of one black woman, Rosa Parks, to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. A number of sit-ins and similar demonstrations followed. A high point of the civil rights movement was a rally by hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C., in 1963, at which a leader of the movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I have a dream” speech. The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorized federal action against segregation in public accommodations, public facilities, and employment. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed after large demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, which drew some violent responses. The Fair Housing Act, prohibiting discrimination by race in housing, was passed in 1968. After such legislative victories, the civil rights movement shifted emphasis toward education and changing the attitudes of white people. Some civil rights supporters turned toward militant movements (see Black Power), and several riots erupted in the late 1960s over racial questions (see Watts riots). The Bakke decision of 1978 guardedly endorsed affirmative action.

---

Example Sentences

The museum itself begins with "Hope and Change Lobby" and moves on to a colossal four-storey-high screen showing scenes of the Obamas and the civil rights movement.

From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026

In 1961, the civil rights movement was intensifying across the United States as Dwight was serving as a pilot in the US Air Force.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

It’s a familiar tension in Black America: The Apollo program began during the peak of the civil rights movement.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

He left before completing seminary, joining the civil rights movement full time.

From Salon • Feb. 17, 2026

Nonreligious white liberals have typically downplayed the role of religion in the civil rights movement, but historian Aldon Morris is correct in asserting that the lunch-counter protests were not primarily a college phenomenon.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson