American civil rights movement: References & Edit History
More Articles On This Topic
- African AmericansThe civil rights movement
- African American literatureThe literature of civil rights
- United StatesAfrican Americans
- Today in History—April 4A Nation Mourns Martin Luther King, Jr.
- civil disobedience
- racial segregation
- racism
- Monuments of Hope, Memorials to a Poisoned Past
- List of Key Figures in the American Civil Rights Movement
- Today in History—March 11A Raisin in the Sun Makes Theatrical History
- March on Washington
- Maya Lin
- Emmett Till
- Selma March
- Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
- Wilmington Ten
- Ralph David Abernathy
- James Luther Bevel
- Julian Bond
- Ruby Bridges
- Stokely Carmichael
- Septima Poinsette Clark
- Medgar Evers
- Dick Gregory
- Jesse Jackson
- Coretta Scott King
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- John Lewis
- Thurgood Marshall
- Medical Committee for Human Rights
- James Meredith
- Anne Moody
- Constance Baker Motley
- NAACPRole in the civil rights era
- Rosa Parks
- QuakerInfluence
- A. Philip Randolph
- Jackie RobinsonRetirement and death
- Dovey Johnson Roundtree
- Bayard Rustin
- Fred Shuttlesworth
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Students for a Democratic Society
- Walter White
- Roy Wilkins
- Roger Arliner YoungActivism and academic marginalization
Additional Reading
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 (1988), Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 (1998), and At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68 (2006), offer fascinating portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other key figures in the modern civil rights movement. Clayborne Carson, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, and Gary B. Nash, The Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans (2005), considers the modern freedom struggle within the larger context of African American history. Patricia Sullivan, Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement (2009); David J. Garrow, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1986); and Clayborne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s, 2nd ed. (1995), assess the contributions of major civil rights organizations
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
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Clayborne Carson
The Ronnie Lott Director, Martin Luther King, Jr., Research & Education Institute, and Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor, Stanford University.
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors
Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Civil Rights Movement. | Jul 30, 2026 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | May 22, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: HistoryNet - Why the Civil Rights Movement Was Really a Guerrilla War. | Apr 13, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: International Center on Nonviolent Conflict - The US Civil Rights Movement (1942-1968). | Jan 05, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: CORE - Eleanor Roosevelt and Civil Rights (PDF). | Sep 13, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Bills of Rights Institute - American Civil Rights Movement. | Jun 11, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Civil Rights Movement. | Apr 15, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers added. | Jan 31, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Mississippi History Now - Medgar Evers and the Origin of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. | Nov 19, 2024 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 26, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Library of Congress - The Civil Rights Movement. | Apr 14, 2024 | ||
| Added cross-reference to George Floyd. | Aug 03, 2023 | ||
| Links added. | May 11, 2023 | ||
| Added cross-reference to the Britannica article “separate but equal.” | Mar 07, 2023 | ||
| Link added. | Jan 25, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Humanities Center - Freedom's Story - The Civil Rights Movement: 1919-1960s. | Aug 26, 2022 | ||
| Replaced media. | Oct 14, 2021 | ||
| Added descriptions of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision. | Nov 10, 2020 | ||
| Changed “black” to “Black” throughout article. | Aug 14, 2020 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Jun 21, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum - Civil Rights Movement. | May 02, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Smithsonian Channel - What Some of the Most Important Civil Rights Sites Look Like Today. | Feb 22, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Smithsonian Channel - To Shatter the Foundations of White Supremacy. | Feb 16, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Smithsonian Channel - Where Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation. | Feb 16, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: PBS LearningMedia - Rosa Parks. | Feb 15, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Smithsonian Channel - MLK's Last Speech. | Feb 15, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: PBS - American Experience - Freedom Riders. | Jan 27, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: PBS - American Experience - Freedom Riders. | Jan 27, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: History Learning Site - The Civil Rights Movement in America 1945 to 1968. | Dec 08, 2016 | ||
| Added video. | Oct 27, 2015 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 11, 2015 | ||
| Media added. | Mar 02, 2015 | ||
| Added photo of segregated movie theater. | Feb 05, 2015 | ||
| Add new Web site: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum - Civil Rights Movement. | Dec 23, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: NeoK12 - Educational Videos and Games for School Kids - Civil Rights Movement. | Nov 03, 2011 | ||
| Article title changed from "civil rights movement" to "American civil rights movement." | Oct 27, 2011 | ||
| Deleted video. | Sep 14, 2011 | ||
| Changed "no longer a simply matter" to "simply a matter." | Sep 12, 2011 | ||
| Add new Web site: The National Museum of American History - Freedom Struggle. | Aug 31, 2011 | ||
| Add new Web site: New Georgia Encyclopedia - History and Archaeology - Civil Rights Movement. | Jun 10, 2011 | ||
| Replaced the photograph of the Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march. | Apr 07, 2011 | ||
| New bibliography added. | Apr 13, 2010 | ||
| New article added. | Apr 05, 2010 | ||
| Media revised. | Sep 16, 2008 | ||
| Media added. | Aug 22, 2008 | ||
| Media added. | May 12, 2008 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Jun 27, 2007 | ||
| Article revised. | Mar 31, 2004 | ||
| Article revised. | May 04, 1999 |
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