* Goals:
* To reunite the Union and rebuild the South after the Civil War
* To free the enslaved and grant them civil rights
* Key Events:
* The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery.
* The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves.
* The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibited states from depriving citizens of the right to vote based on race.
* The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed in 1865 to terrorize African Americans and prevent them from exercising their rights.
* End of Reconstruction:
* Reconstruction ended in 1877 when the last federal troops were withdrawn from the South.
* The Compromise of 1877, which resulted in the election of Rutherford B. Hayes as president, marked the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the Jim Crow era.
Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
* Goals:
* To end segregation and discrimination against African Americans
* To secure the civil rights of all Americans, regardless of race
* Key Events:
* The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
* The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) was a successful protest led by Martin Luther King, Jr., against the segregation of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
* The March on Washington (1963) was a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., that brought together civil rights leaders and activists from all over the country.
* The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, public accommodations, and federally funded programs.
* The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited states from imposing voting restrictions that discriminated against African Americans.
* End of the Civil Rights Movement:
* The Civil Rights Movement ended with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968.
* However, the movement had a lasting impact on the United States, and its legacy continues to shape American society today.