# Canonical recap data for Civil rights movement (2002)
# Source: https://recap.at/2002/civil-rights-movement
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: civil-rights-movement
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/2002/civil-rights-movement"
title: Civil rights movement
aliases:
- American Civil Rights Movement
- Civil Rights era
- Black Freedom Movement
subtitle: "On this day (05/22), 24 years ago: Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing."
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 2002-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 2002
decade: 2000
summaryShort: Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of society and the state.
summaryLong: Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of society and the state.
lede: The civil rights movement was a decades-long struggle for racial equality in the United States, with its most visible peak occurring between the 1950s and 1960s. Activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X challenged systemic segregation and discrimination through protests, legal action, and civil disobedience. The movement secured landmark legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, fundamentally reshaping American law and society.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Civil_Rights_March_on_Washington%2C_D.C._%28Leaders_marching_from_the_Washington_Monument_to_the_Lincoln_Memorial%29_-_NARA_-_542010.jpg/1280px-Civil_Rights_March_on_Washington%2C_D.C._%28Leaders_marching_from_the_Washington_Monument_to_the_Lincoln_Memorial%29_-_NARA_-_542010.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Civil rights movement"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Key legislation passed
  value: Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Fair Housing Act of 1968
- label: March on Washington attendance
  value: 250,000 people on August 28, 1963
- label: Supreme Court landmark case
  value: Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared segregation in schools unconstitutional
- label: Key figures
  value: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, James Meredith, John Lewis
- label: Primary era
  value: 1950s–1960s, with roots in earlier decades and ongoing legacy
- label: Geographic focus
  value: Primarily the American South, with major actions in Northern cities
timeline:
- date: 1954-05-17
  title: Brown v. Board of Education
  description: Supreme Court rules that 'separate but equal' is unconstitutional, mandating school desegregation nationwide.
- date: 1955-12-01
  title: Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
  description: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, triggering a 381-day boycott that becomes a pivotal moment in the movement.
- date: 1960-02-01
  title: Greensboro sit-ins
  description: Four North Carolina A&T students begin sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter, sparking sit-ins across the South.
- date: 1961-05-04
  title: Freedom Rides begin
  description: Interracial activists board buses to challenge segregation in interstate transportation in the Deep South.
- date: 1962-10-01
  title: James Meredith enrolls at University of Mississippi
  description: Following federal intervention and national guard deployment, Meredith becomes the first Black student admitted to Ole Miss.
- date: 1963-08-28
  title: March on Washington
  description: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers 'I Have a Dream' speech to 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial.
- date: 1964-07-02
  title: Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed
  description: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs legislation prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and federally funded programs.
- date: 1965-03-07
  title: Bloody Sunday in Selma
  description: State troopers violently attack voting rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge; national outcry follows.
- date: 1965-08-06
  title: Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed
  description: Johnson signs legislation eliminating literacy tests and authorizing federal oversight of voter registration in jurisdictions with documented discrimination.
- date: 1968-04-04
  title: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
  description: King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee; riots erupt in cities nationwide.
- date: 1968-04-11
  title: Fair Housing Act signed
  description: Johnson signs legislation prohibiting discrimination in housing sales and rentals one week after King's assassination.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_and_political_rights"
  title: Civil rights
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The civil rights movement dismantled legal segregation and established federal protections for voting and employment rights. Its tactics—nonviolent protest, legal challenges, and grassroots organizing—became blueprints for subsequent social movements worldwide. The movement redefined American constitutional interpretation and forced institutions to reckon with systemic inequality.
categories: []
taxonomy:
domain: social_movement
eventTypes:
- protest
- civil_disobedience
- activist_campaign
- boycott
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- transformation
- mobilization
impactRadius: national
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: growth
metaDescription: The decades-long American struggle for racial equality that dismantled legal segregation and reshaped constitutional law.
wikidataQid: Q191600
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20081002081959/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_and_political_rights"
  capturedAt: 2008-10-02
  label: Civil rights
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_and_political_rights"
