The struggle of attaining full civil rights for African Americans in the United States is an incomplete and ongoing one.
Historical Civil Rights Movements
Frederick Douglas, former slave and became the symbol of the abolitionist movement. He advised both President Lincoln and Presidents Grant & Hayes on the necessary steps to secure rights for black Americans.
Scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1895. He wrote extensively and was the best-known spokesperson for African American rights during the first half of the 20th century. Du Bois co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Civil Rights Movement
The modern Civil Rights movement began in earnest with the 1955 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision banning racial segregation in schools. This prompted more efforts to end discrimination against black Americans and finally obtain their full legal rights guaranteed under the Constitution. This effort culminated in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. These laws, as important and groundbreaking as they were, did not eliminate racial discrimination. Although much has been achieved for African Americans, much is still unequal. Let's look at some of the heroes of the Civil Rights movement.
Today's movements for equality are trying to address what is not necessarily understood - systemic racism. This involves a complex system of inequality that may not be intended, but is still prevalent within many institutions in our country. The current Black Lives Matter movement addresses over policing of black neighborhoods and the biased responses of many police towards black men and women often resulting in their deaths. These books address the history and impact of racism in the USA.