Program Success July 2014 | Page 10

Front Cover Feature We Shall Over Come Civil Rights 1964 - 2014 Jim Crow Laws Dr . Martin Luther King , Jr Jacksonville , Florida August 2014
The civil rights movement was a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U . S . citizenship . Although the roots of the movement go back to the 19th century , it peaked in the 1950s and 1960s . African American men and women , along with whites , organized and led the movement at national and local levels . They pursued their goals through legal means , negotiations , pet1t1ons , and nonviolent protest demonstrations . The civil rights movement was the largest social movement of the 20th century in the United States . It influenced the modern women ' s rights movement and the student movement of the 1960s .
The civil rights movement centered on the American South . That was where the African American population was concentrated and where racial inequality in education , economic opportunity , and the political and legal processes was most blatant . Beginning in the late 19th century , state and local governments passed segregation laws , known as Jim Crow laws ; they also imposed restrictions on voting qualifications that left the black population economically and politically powerless . The movement therefore addressed primarily three areas of discrimination : education , social segregation , and voting rights .