1. The Civil Rights Struggle

2. Background to the Struggle
After the Civil War, African Americans routinely faced discrimination, or unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group.
The social separation of the races was known as segregation.

3. Background to the Struggle
It would take more than 100 years for African Americans to secure their civil rights-the rights of full citizenship and equality under the law.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) worked through the courts to challenge laws that denied African Americans their rights.

4. Background to the Struggle
The National Urban League helped improve opportunities for African Americans in cities.
These groups and others built a civil rights movement. It made an important gain when President Harry Truman ordered an end to segregation in the armed forces.

5. Background to the Struggle
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, NAACP lawyers successfully argued that segregation in public school was unconstitutional.
It violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s principle of equal protection under the law.

6. Background to the Struggle
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the main leader of the civil rights movement.
He believed in nonviolent resistance.
He helped organize marches and boycotts.
He inspired thousands with his “I Have a Dream” speech about hopes for racial equality and harmony.

7. Background to the Struggle
African Americans students staged “sit-ins” at lunch counters that served only whites.
White and African American “Freedom Riders” rode buses together to protest segregation. Such protests were met with violence by whites.

8. Background to the Struggle
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public facilities, employment, education, and voter registration. It banned discrimination by race, color, gender, religion, and national origin.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment outlawed poll taxes. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further protected access of minorities to the polls.

9. Ongoing Challenges
Affirmative action programs were intended to make up for past discrimination.
They encouraged the hiring and promoting of
minorities and women, and the admission of
more minority students to college.
Critics complained that affirmative action programs gave preferential treatment to women and minorities, amounting to discrimination against men and whites.

10. Ongoing Challenges
The struggle for equal rights continues. Many Americans are subject to racial profiling-being singled out as suspects because of the way they look.
Some became victims of hate crimes.