The Civil Rights movement in the United States spanned several years, but the time that adequately defines it falls between 1942 and 1968. It is during this time that there were key events, people, policies and court cases that best describes that defines it were seen. Some of the most outstanding people that saw its culmination included among others Martin Luther King, NAACP leader Medgar Evers, W. E. B. Dubois, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X among other black leaders. That does not assume the important role played by non-black leaders and some of them include President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, who supported the movement.
Some of the key events that ensured that the plight of the African American community was highlighted and their needs taken care of include among others, the incident at the Little Rock High school, Brown v. Board of Education, the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as The Fourth Civil Rights Act that sought to give the African-American people the civil rights that they could not enjoy at the time. The Montgomery bus boycott was also an important event just like Martin Luther’s letter from Birmingham jail was important.
A number or rulings were also made, and policies enacted which contributed significantly to the achievement of significant rights and privileges by African Americans. The state laws that forbade inter-racial marriages were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (). There was also the passing of the Voting Rights Act, the Fifteenth amendment, the Civil rights Act, abolition of the Jim Crow laws. One cannot forget the several boycotts, marches and other demonstrations that are remembered to date as the hallmark of the Civil rights Movement.
Works Cited
Levy, Peter B. The Civil Rights Movement. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998. Print
