Start: 1954
End: 1968
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a period of social activism and protest that aimed to end racial discrimination and segregation, and to secure the civil rights of African Americans and other minority groups. The movement had its origins in the abolitionist movement of the 19th century and was influenced by the civil rights movement in India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The Civil Rights Movement in the United States is generally considered to have begun in 1954 with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that racial segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The movement gained momentum in the 1960s with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were major legislative achievements of the movement. The movement is generally considered to have ended in 1968 with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., although some consider it to have continued into the 1970s and beyond.