Civil Rights Movement Background

The 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court case ruled that segregation in public facilities was lawful as long as establishments treated black and whites equally. This practice created a public acceptable form of discrimination until the groundbreaking 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case outlawed segregation in public schools. Close to the centennial anniversary of the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, Brown vs. Board of Education ignited the start of the Civil Rights Movement, encouraging a wave of protests across the United States. The treatment of Black Americans translated to severe discrimination in housing, employment, education and the justice system.

Many black Americans were grateful for leaders such as former President John F. Kennedy for appointing African Americans in high-level administrative positions, though protests and Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and several other prolific groups and scholars remained a necessary component of change, urging their administration to establish equal practices for all Americans. In his time served, JFK proposed the Civil Rights Act receiving approval from Congress and House leaders, yet his assassination prevented him from passing the bill. In July of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act making practices of discrimination unconstitutional, thereby giving African Americans full equality paralleling that of their fellow white Americans.