The civil rights revolution: events and leaders, 1955-1968

Abstract

This work is organized into four sections. The first describes apartheid in the U.S. before Brown v. Board of Education. The causes of the revolution--the enforcement of apartheid laws by state governments, courts, police, and the KKK--are also analyzed. The second presents 54 confrontations in the struggle for Civil Rights--including court cases, boycotts, sit-ins, marches, demonstrations, and the desegregation of cities and schools--from the Moton High student strike (in Farmville, Virginia) in 1951 to 1969's hospital workers' strike in Charleston. The third is a series of 60 biographical profiles of leaders giving their educational and civil rights achievements. This section also includes a list of 40 historically significant activist organizations. The fourth section discusses six important Civil Rights laws and concludes with the general accomplishments of the struggle.