Human progress is neither automatic, nor inevitable. Welcome to watchmojo.com and today, we'll be learning more about the history of the American civil rights movement.
The end of the in 1865 effectively meant the end of . But, African Americans were in for a long struggle before they were finally awarded .

As of 1870, all eligible male citizens were able to vote. However, blacks were to by violence and eventually legal stipulations. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled to maintain in private businesses, in a case called Plessy v. Ferguson. Soon broadened to include schools, many southern states applied this “separate but equal” mentality to all aspects of life. However, this led to the application of Jim Crow laws, which resulted in blacks being treated as . Segregated schools, public transit, restrooms, water fountains and more continued well into the 1900s.

In 1909, a group of prominent black and white campaigners created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or . Their goal was to increase and challenge issues like the Jim Crow laws. Unfortunately, it was between 1910 and 1930 that group the Ku Klux Klan saw its biggest expansion amid increased racial friction.

Following the First World War, the NAACP was devoted to ending lynching by white vigilantes. By mid-century, the group became instrumental in the Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka court case. This class-action suit filed in 1951 asked that segregation in schools be struck down. Taken to the Supreme Court, the case resulted in the first in the United States to open in the fall of 1955.

Encouraged by the decision, the began to hold high-profile boycotts, marches, sit-ins and other peaceful protests. These included 1955's in support of Rosa Parks.

A watershed moment came in 1957 when a high school in Arkansas admitted a group of students, nicknamed 'the '. Protested by fellow students, the governor, and even the state’s National Guard, President Dwight Eisenhower eventually intervened to ensure the students’ safe passage. By 1962, Universities also began integrating, though black students were still met with and violence.

The Southern Freedom Movement continued into the ‘60s, with support from newly-elected President John F. Kennedy and his brother: Attorney General, Robert Kennedy. The violence of the Birmingham, Alabama campaign influenced the President to fully endorse the movement. On June 19th, 1963, he proposed a Civil Rights Bill to Congress, which was approved in 1964 after his death with support from President Lyndon Johnson. The bill struck down existing legislation that allowed for discrimination, and its approval was largely influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. and the of August 1963. Capturing the attention of the media and the population, this event attracted hundreds of thousands of people in support of civil rights.

Following that, the of 1965 ended the prejudiced voting system. Instantly effective, blacks began voting and running for public office. However, just days later on August 11th, a violent six-day riot in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts resulted in 34 deaths. This was indicative of a period of racially-motivated violence that occurred in the mid-to-late 1960s.

This era also saw the rise of , led in large part by Stokely Carmichael, in opposition to extremists like the Ku Klux Klan. This ideology was exemplified by the Black Panther Party, which followed the principles set forth by Malcolm X. Rising to prominence in the 1950s, his radical ideas advocated militancy for blacks. He remained an influential and controversial human rights activist until his in 1965.

The murders of civil rights leaders continued when . was killed in April 1968, and Robert Kennedy two months later. Despite racial tensions continuing into the 1990s, progress has been measurable. The election of President Barack Obama in is seen by many to be a culmination of centuries of work in favor of racial equality.