African-American Rights Movements: Civil Rights Movement

Made famous by Rosa Parks's refusal to give her seat to a white man, the Montgomery bus boycott was one of the defining events of the civil rights movement.

When Rosa Parks refused on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1955, to give up her bus seat so that a white man could sit, it is unlikely that she fully realized the forces she had set into motion and the controversy that would soon swirl around her.

The city of Montgomery gave birth to America’s modern civil rights era, and a young preacher emerged as a symbol of international significance. 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story offers a gripping account of the men and women whose non-violent approach to political and social change matured into a weapon of equality for all.

Over sixty years ago, nine teens braved violent protests to attend school after the supreme court outlawed segregation – but racial separation is not over in the US.

Among the most lasting and indelible images of the civil rights movement were the nine black teenagers who had to be escorted by federal troops past an angry white mob and through the doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sept. 25, 1957.

Series of interviews reflecting back on the Little Rock Nine, integration of Central High School, and overall atmosphere of the time.

From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.

It was just like the old days, when Mississippi was burning. Freedom Riders were back on Greyhound buses – and police cars with blue lights flashing and sirens blaring were waiting for them. This time, 50 years on, there was nothing to be scared of. Mississippi was welcoming the civil rights activists, and the police were providing an honor guard to ease their way.

Fighting racial segregation in the South, these activists were beaten and arrested. Where are they now, nearly fifty years later?

Freedom Rides, in U.S. history, a series of political protests against segregation by blacks and whites who rode buses together through the American South in 1961.

List of links to primary sources about Freedom Riders.

Overview on the March on Washington in 1963. Includes links to further related readings and audio clips.

This program listed the events scheduled at the Lincoln Memorial during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The highlight of the march, which attracted 250,000 people, was Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Americans who marched on Washington 50 years ago under a blazing sun recall the day they were part of a turning point in history.

background information about the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March in Alabama including facts, timeline, and interviews.

On 21 March 1965, after a months-long battle, the freedom march finally set off from Selma to Montgomery to lobby for voter registration. Here’s how the Guardian and Observer covered the struggle.

This exhibit features the stunning and historic photographs of Stephen Somerstein, documenting the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March in March 1965. Somerstein was a student in City College of New York’s night school and Picture Editor of his student newspaper when he traveled to Alabama to document the March.

Overview and primary source collection from the Digital Public Library of America.

In 1996, The Seattle Times created a web page in tribute to Dr. King, collecting the story of his life, photographs of the times in which he lived, and perspectives from politicians, activists, and ordinary citizens on his tremendous legacy. Now, 20 years later, they have created an updated home for that tribute.

The documents shown here relating to Mrs. Parks's arrest are copies that were submitted as evidence in the Browder v. Gayle case.

American civil rights leader and politician best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and for leading the march that was halted by police violence on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement that became known as “Bloody Sunday.”