During the 1960s, the resistance to racial segregation and
discrimination included strategies such as civil disobedience, nonviolent
resistance, marches, protests, boycotts, "freedom rides," and rallies.
There were also continuing efforts to legally challenge segregation through
the courts. Many believe that civil rights struggles ended with all the
accomplishments resulting from all the sacrifices made in the 1960s.
However, struggles continue to this very day even though there is less
A massive 1963 March on Washington with more than 200,000 marchers was
one of the first civil rights events to grab the attention of the entire
nation. Blacks and whites called on President John F. Kennedy and the
Congress to provide equal access to public facilities, quality education,
adequate employment, and decent housing for African Americans. During the
assembly at the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
delivered his stirring "I Have a Dream" speech.[1] Struggles would be
marred by increasing violence against civil rights activists. In 1964,
three Mississippi civil rights workers who were encouraging black voter
registration were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan with the assistance of the
local police. And, in 1965 blacks marching to Montgomery Alabama in
support of voting rights are stopped by a police brigade. Fifty marchers
were hospitalized after police used tear gas, whips, and clubs against
The 1965 Voting Rights was landmark legislation that prohibited states
from using literacy tests, interpreting the Constitution, and other methods
of excluding African Americans from voting. Prior to 1965, only an
estimated twenty-three percent of voting-age blacks were registered
nationally, but by 1969 the number jumped to sixty-one percent. In the
Southern states, the numbers were more dramatic. This increase in
registration led to the election of African...