Introduction


College students participate in a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter reserved for white customers, Greensboro, North Carolina, February 2, 1960.
In 1960, when the civil rights movement first began to gain national attention, African Americans had been working to gain political and economic rights for nearly a century. Blacks had made some progress, but the laws that many southern state legislatures had written to prevent blacks and whites from living as equals—called Jim Crow laws—continued to separate the races in restaurants, schools, theaters, parks, and other public facilities in many states in the South. Those blacks who had migrated to northern and western states in an attempt to escape the legal restrictions of Jim Crow laws found that life in these new locations had similar restrictions because of customs based on racial prejudice, or a judgment or opinion based on a preconceived notions about race. Blacks in the North and West faced discrimination, or poor treatment based on race, in housing and the job market, among other areas. Police and citizens alike enforced the separation of races vigorously. Blacks who tried to mix with whites were arrested, beaten, or killed. Penalties for violence were rarely enforced when the crimes were acted out against blacks. -- Civil Rights (Sixties in America Almanac)
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Civil Rights Movement: West's Encyclopedia of American Law
  2. Civil Rights: The Sixties in America Almanac
  3. Coming of Age in Mississippi Summary & Essays - Anne Moody

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. Black Church Leaders and Civil Rights - 1950's Religion
  2. Civil Rights - 1940's Government and Politics
  3. Civil Rights Act of 1866: Major Acts of Congress
  4. Civil Rights Act of 1866: Salem on History
  5. Civil Rights Act of 1960: Salem on History
  6. Civil Rights Act of 1964 - 1960's Law and Justice
  7. Civil Rights Act of 1964: Salem on History
  8. Civil Rights Act of 1991: Salem on History
  9. Civil Rights Act: Encyclopedia of Business and Finance
  10. Civil Rights Acts: West's Encyclopedia of American Law
  11. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties - 1990's Law and Justice
  12. Civil Rights and the Churches - 1960's Religion
  13. Civil Rights Cases: Great American Court Cases
  14. Civil Rights Cases: Salem on History
  15. Civil Rights Cases: Supreme Court Drama
  16. Civil Rights Cases: West's Encyclopedia of American Law
  17. Civil Rights Movement: West's Encyclopedia of American Law
  18. Civil Rights Restoration Act: Salem on History
  19. Civil Rights: The Sixties in America Almanac
  20. Civil Rights: West's Encyclopedia of American Law
  21. Coming of Age in Mississippi Summary & Essays - Anne Moody
  22. John F. Kennedy
  23. Making Civil Rights Law Review - Mark V. Tushnet
  24. Malcolm X
  25. Martin Luther King Jr.
  26. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 Creates the Commission on Civil Rights: Salem on History
  27. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 Outlaws Discrimination in Housing: Salem on History
  28. The Civil Rights Act Prohibits Discrimination in Employment: Salem on History
  29. The Civil Rights Movement in Art - 1960's The Arts
  30. The Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama - 1960's Religion
  31. The Civil Rights Movement Represented in Literature Essay
  32. The Outlook and the Civil Rights Movement - 1900's Media
  33. The Politics of Race, Civil Rights, and Segregation - 1960's Lifestyles and Social Trends
  34. The SCLC Forms to Link Civil Rights Groups: Salem on History