I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

The struggle for justice and equal rights stretched across the entire 20th Century. But we call the especially active years of the 1950s and 1960s “the Civil Rights Era.” African Americans developed creative ways to protest racial inequality during this era. They brought lawsuits. They mounted dramatic marches and large demonstrations. They organized on college campuses, in churches, in union halls, and in neighborhoods.

Leaders – both black and white – worked to bring about these important turning points:

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) outlawed separate schools for whites and blacks.

• The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) and the Freedom Rides (1961) helped integrate public transportation.

• The sit-ins at lunch counters helped integrate restaurants.

• The March on Washington (1963) for Jobs and Freedom set the stage for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts to come.

• Freedom Summer (1964) brought attention to the violence against black Mississippians who wanted to vote.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discrimination in public facilities and voter registration.

These are well-known events, but thousands of less-known heroes also led successful movements across the nation. As the Civil Rights Era came to a close, it became clear that racism was not located just in the South. In fact, northern cities were rigidly segregated. Black people there suffered from high unemployment and police brutality. The struggle for racial justice would have to continue.

Exhibits