Introduction: Voting Rights
Investigate the historical fight for African American voting rights, partially won with the 1965 Voting Rights Act and gutted in 2013 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder.
Student Engagement Introduction
Introduction
This section highlights ways that teachers and young people can work together to learn about and document Civil Rights Movement history – and apply it to their lives today.
Introduction: Desegregation
Introduction
Throughout U.S. history, communities of color fought for their right to equal access and for human dignity and equity. Desegregation in public schools, transportation, and other accommodations was more than court cases and legal victories. Desegregation was a long struggle led by students, parents, and every day citizens who experienced or saw the injustice of American segregation. Faced by indignities and violence, students and parents maintained the courage to fight for the rights of first class citizenship. They were not interested in integration, or the desire to mingle socially or otherwise with whites, but to break and reconstruct institutions that forced people of color into positions of poverty, illiteracy, and political powerlessness.