civil rights act assignment

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Lesson plan.

Meet the superhero legislation of civil rights. Students are introduced to eleven categories of civil rights protections with a focus on Title VII, which bans discrimination in the workplace. Students gain an understanding of how the Civil Rights Act affects people’s lives and apply civil rights protections to real-life scenarios.

How to use this lesson: Use this lesson by itself or pair it with more iCivics resources, like the Supreme Court case EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch (2015 )  or lessons from our Civil Rights unit. For more suggestions, see the downloadable teacher resources below.

Pedagogy Tags

Teacher Resources

Get access to lesson plans, teacher guides, student handouts, and other teaching materials.

• Civil Rights Act_Lesson Plan.pdf
• Civil Rights Act_Student docs.pdf

I find the materials so engaging, relevant, and easy to understand – I now use iCivics as a central resource, and use the textbook as a supplemental tool. The games are invaluable for applying the concepts we learn in class. My seniors LOVE iCivics.

Lynna Landry , AP US History & Government / Economics Teacher and Department Chair, California

Related Resources

Citizenship clause.

Equal Protection Clause

Religion and the first amendment, separate and sovereign, speech and the first amendment, usa patriot act of 2001, voting rights act of 1965, see how it all fits together.

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• The Attorney General
• Organizational Chart
• Budget & Performance
• Privacy Program
• Press Releases
• Photo Galleries
• Guidance Documents
• Publications
• Information for Victims in Large Cases
• Justice Manual
• Business and Contracts
• Why Justice ?
• DOJ Vacancies
• Legal Careers at DOJ
• Our Offices

MENU What We Do

Laws we enforce.

• How and When to Contact SHWI
• What You Should Know About Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
• Statements of Interest
• Our Federal Partners
• Tiếng Việt |

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964  (Title VII) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against someone because of:

• Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity); or
• National origin.

Title VII also makes it unlawful for an employer to take a negative action, or retaliate, against a person because they:

• Complained about discrimination, whether formally or informally;
• Filed a charge of discrimination with an agency like the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or
• Participated as a witness in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

Title VII also makes it unlawful to use policies or practices that seem neutral but have the effect of discriminating against people because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin.

Under Title VII, it is unlawful to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including:

• Hiring and firing;
• Compensation, assignment, or classification of workers;
• Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall;
• Job advertisements and recruitment;
• Use of employer facilities;
• Training and apprenticeship programs;
• Retirement plans, leave, and benefits; or
• Other terms and conditions of employment.

Under Title VII, employers also cannot:

• Harass an employee because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin;
• Refuse or fail to make reasonable adjustments to workplace policies or practices that allow individual workers to observe their sincerely held religious beliefs;
• Make employment decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about a person’s abilities, traits, or performance because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin;
• Deny job opportunities because a person is married to, or associated with, a person of a particular race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin.

The Attorney General, through ELS, brings lawsuits under Title VII against state and local government employers after the EEOC refers a complaint to the Department of Justice. ELS also can start investigations and bring lawsuits against state and local government employers when there is reason to believe that an employer’s policy or practice discriminates against a group of job applicants or employees based on their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a federal law that covers employers, including state and local government employers, with 15 or more employees. This law requires covered employers to grant “reasonable accommodations” to qualified job applicants and workers with known limitations because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. “Reasonable accommodations” can be changes to how a job is performed or changes to how the workplace normally operates. Some examples of possible reasonable accommodations may include:  allowing a correctional officer to have a water bottle or food during their shift, allowing a public school teacher longer or more flexible breaks to use the restroom, providing an emergency medical technician with light duty or help with lifting tasks, temporarily transferring a patrol officer to a less physically demanding or safer position, changing a uniform or dress code to allow maternity clothing, and changing equipment or workspaces, such as providing a state park ranger with a stool to sit on.

The PWFA requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodations unless it would be an undue hardship for the employer. “Undue hardship” means the change would be too difficult or expensive and depends on the facts and the employer. The applicant or employee and the employer must engage in an interactive process before the employer decides how to respond to the worker’s request.

The PWFA protects workers who ask for reasonable accommodations, workers who were wrongly denied a reasonable accommodation, and workers who file complaints under the PWFA or who reasonably oppose actions that are illegal under the PWFA. It also protects people from coercion, intimidation, threats, or interference in using their PWFA rights or helping others exercise their PWFA rights.

Under the PWFA, an employer cannot:

• Require a qualified worker to accept an accommodation without engaging in an interactive process about the accommodation between the worker and the employer;
• Deny a job or other employment opportunity to a qualified employee or applicant because of the person’s need for a reasonable accommodation;
• Require a qualified employee to take leave, whether paid or unpaid, if another reasonable accommodation would let the person keep working;
• Treat a qualified worker worse, also called “taking an adverse action,” because the worker asked for or used a reasonable accommodation or opposed unlawful discrimination under the PWFA; or
• Interfere with any person’s rights under the PWFA.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994  (USERRA) ensures that servicemembers can return to their civilian jobs after they finish military service obligations. USERRA requires employers to give servicemembers the seniority, status, and rate of pay that they would have if they had remained continuously employed by their civilian employer without a break for military service.

Employers have other obligations under USERRA, too. For example:

• Employers must make reasonable efforts to help returning employees to refresh or upgrade their skills so they can qualify for reemployment;
• Returning servicemembers are entitled to immediate reinstatement of health insurance for themselves and previously covered dependents with no waiting period and no exclusion of preexisting conditions other than those that are military service-related; and
• Employers must reemploy servicemembers who became disabled during military service in a position most closely related to their former position if they can no longer perform it.

USERRA also prohibits:

• Discrimination in hiring, promotion, and retention because of past, present and future military service;
• Discrimination in hiring, reemployment, promotion, job retention or benefits because of military service;
• Retaliation because a person asserted their rights or assisted (including testifying, giving a statement, etc.) in an USERRA investigation or lawsuit, even if the person assisting has no military service connection.

USERRA covers both voluntary and involuntary military service, in peacetime and wartime, and applies to virtually all civilian employers, including the federal government, state and local governments, and private employers, no matter how many people work for that employer.

Under USERRA, the Department of Justice can bring a lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Labor determines that a servicemember’s USERRA rights were violated and refers the complaint to us. The Department of Justice can bring lawsuits under USERRA against private employers as well as state and local government employers.

Executive Order 11246

Executive Order 11246 applies to federal government contractors and federal government-assisted construction contractors and subcontractors who do over $10,000 in federal government business in one year. It prohibits those employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity) or national origin.

The Executive Order also requires federal government contractors to take action to ensure equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, including training programs, outreach efforts, and other affirmative steps. Contractors must take action to recruit and advance qualified minorities and women for jobs in which they are underused compared to how many people in those groups are available in the workforce. Contractors should include these efforts into their written personnel policies. Federal government contractors with written affirmative action programs must implement them, keep them on file, and update them yearly. Also, under some circumstances, Executive Order 11246 makes it unlawful for federal contractors and subcontractors from taking negative actions against applicants and employees because they have asked about, discuss ed , or shar ed information about their pay or the ir co-workers’ pay .

Federal government contractors also must take all necessary actions to make sure no one in the workplace tries to intimidate or discriminate against a person for filing a complaint or participating in a lawsuit under the Executive Order.

Executive Order 11246 is administered by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Department of Labor. After the OFCCP sends a matter to our offices, the Department of Justice can a bring a lawsuit in federal court.

U.S. Government and Politics in Principle and Practice

Democracy, rights, freedoms and empire, chapter nine: civil rights.

Introduction

• What are Civil Rights?

Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States

The fight for civil rights in the U.S. began before the birth of the United States of America. Women, the LGBTQI community, Non-Christians and Non-Whites Americans have fought over four-hundred-years to achieve their civil rights within Britain’s American Colonies and later the United States, and the fight continues.

Conversations about Civil Rights often tie back to Black Americans who first waged a struggle for emancipation from slavery, which was gained with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Following the end of Reconstruction, a battle ensued against Jim Crow laws that mandated legal segregation and therefore second-class citizenship of Black Americans. (Kernell & Jasobson, 2020) Since the 1960s African Americans have continued to struggle against structural racism that persistently haunts the Black community economically, culturally and politically.

What Are Civil Rights?

Before we give a definition to the term “civil rights” there are some other terms that we might define so that we can have a clear understanding of civil rights.

A privilege is an “advantage not enjoyed by all.” Rights are “individual liberties expressly provided for in the state or federal constitution.” A “right” can also be a “claim, or title to, or an interest in anything that is enforceable by law.” This second definition of “right” is more legal than political, and it is the political nature of rights that we address here.

When we think of civil rights we are looking at, “the broad range of privileges and rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, and subsequent amendments and laws, that secure fundamental freedoms to all individuals.” Civil rights are also defined as, “those protections by government or that government secures on behalf of its citizens.”

As you can see from the text thus far, we must always ask, Which citizens? Which communities? Which racial, ethnic, social class, gender and (dis)ability group enjoys the full rights they are “guaranteed”?

An easy way to remember what civil rights are is to think of them as the rights protected by the government to prevent unequal treatment. When we hear talk about someone’s civil rights being violated, we are looking at someone being treated differently than other groups of people are being treated. When someone’s civil rights have been violated, this requires the government to act in some way to prevent the unequal treatment.

Assignment: In a paragraph explain the difference between a right and a privilege.

Enslaved Africans were first brought, through violence and coercion, by British colonists to the Americas in 1619. The first slaves arrived in what would become New York City in 1625. Slavery did not end with British rule in the 1780s. The importation of enslaved Africans was sanctioned in the U.S. Constitution until 1808. Slavery was not outlawed in the United States until the passage of the 13 th amendment in 1865.

The John Punch Case (1640)             An indentured servant was someone who had their passage paid for to come to the United States in exchange of working off the debt for an agreed upon number of years. The practice was very common until Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 with poor blacks and whites coming to Britain’s American colonies as indentured servants. During the time of their servitude, indentured servants were beholden to the demands and violence of their masters. Unlike a slave, however, indentured servants were granted their freedom after their “debt” was paid off.             In 1640 three indentured servants ran away from their “master” before their time had been completed. They were captured and placed in front of a tribunal to be judged for their crime of running away. The first two runaways, both white, received three years added to their service. The final indentured servant who had fled, a black man named John Punch, was sentenced to a lifetime of service. This was the first time in U.S. history that different treatment based on race found its way into the legal system of the American colonies. (Coates)

The racial classification laws of the 17 th century codified differential treatment between white and black people living in the American colonies. Legally and socially, Black Americans became officially outsiders, or “Others”. It is from this point that modern conceptions of race developed in the United States. Racial categories are not natural, and race is not a biologically constructed. Racial categories were created and codified in law overtime to develop and maintain a social and economic system that benefited those at the top—wealthy white men.

Before the ending of the 17 th century there were Africans in Britain’s American colonies who had basic economic and political rights. In what would become New York City some Blacks even owned property. However, as “racial” categories began to take hold, laws began to be enacted that would strip Africans, of their social, political and economic rights. Throughout the 18 th century, these rights continued to be stripped away, and second-class personhood was enforced for individuals with Black skin.

The capture, transportation and enslavement of Africans became big business. Enormous wealth could be had by families who transported and owned “enslaved Africans.” New York City would be a center of the slave trade, financing more expeditions to get slaves from Africa than any other U.S. city at the turn of the 19 th century. The wealth collected by white people from Southern plantations to the Slave Market that sat at the foot of Wall Street was passed down from fathers to sons, to grandsons, to great grandsons. It is brutally ironic that the American Founding Fathers who talked about freedom and equality denied such freedoms to hundreds of thousands of their fellow humans at the time of Independence from England.

The relentless and structurally violent commitment to strip Blacks of personhood in the American colonies and early United States expanded as legal distinctions became justified by racist theories which were enshrined in the books, discussions and ideas. Enslaved Africans and all Black skinned persons became viewed as animals, not possessing souls, lacking intelligence, designed to be brutalized and therefore destined for perpetual forced labor (slavery). This stood in direct contradiction with ideals of freedom and liberty that the writers and signers of the American Constitution so valued. White “freedom” from the English could be had on the backs of captured men, women and children simply based on their Black skin. The framers of the U.S. Constitution would leave it to a future generation to address the inconsistency that was built into the nation’s foundation.

Throughout our country’s history, there has always been racialized State violence and oppression. As important there has always been powerful, multi-racial resistance, Black intellectual and political leadership, progressive religious groups, abolitionists willing to risk their lives for collective freedom.

Generations of abolitionists advocated for the ending of chattel slavery. A wide mobilization of people throughout the U.S. fought to preserve the country when 11 Southern States decided that slavery, and the ownership of Black humans, was so important to them that they separated themselves from the United States of America and formed their own country. Even after the South’s defeat in the Civil War, the desire to maintain the structures of White Supremacy remained strong for Southern Whites who passed a series of “Black Codes” that relegated Black southerners to second class citizens. Many further attempted to enforce the subordination of African Americans through terrorism as institutions like the Klu Klux Klan and the White League formed in the years following the Civil War. A series of post-Civil War massacres against African Americans including in Memphis Tennessee (1866) and Colfax Louisiana (1873) exposed many U.S. citizens to the harsh reality that racial injustice would be easily eradicated.

A broad coalition of religious, political and everyday people mobilized, with Black intellectual and political leadership in rejecting a return to the way things were before the Civil War. They sought out to reconstruct the South in a more inclusive way. People galvanized to pass the Civil Right Act of 1866 that defined citizenship for all men (Americans) regardless of previous condition of servitude, and the Reconstruction Amendments. Despite the limitations of these initiatives discussed in previous chapters, enormous progress towards racial equality was made in the decade following the Civil War. With White Confederates who had just taken up arms against the United States excluded from running for office by the Fourteenth Amendment, over 2000 Southern Blacks would hold political office in Southern States, including fourteen congressmen, two Senators and a Governor of Louisiana.

The year 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction with federal troops withdrawing from the U.S. South as part of a compromise to settle the contested election of 1876. Over the next few decades White Southerners would move to strip the gains of African Americans and re-exert their political, cultural and economic authority. This was the start of the Jim Crow era that would last nearly 100 years.

World War I (1914-1918) seemed like an opportunity for Black Americans to make gains towards equality. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson entered the war in 1917 claiming he sought to “make the world safe for democracy.” Blacks, who had largely been stripped of the right to vote in the U.S. South hoped their participation in the conflict would lead to true democracy at home, as well as abroad. Leading black thinkers including W.E.B. DuBois even encouraged blacks to participate in the war hoping it would secure rights for African Americans in the United States. Despite African American troops serving with distinction alongside French forces in the conflict, they returned home to a nation determined to preserve white supremacy. DuBois would come to regret his pro-war stance. The 1910s were one of the bloodiest decades in history for Blacks who faced a reemergent KKK as White sought to violently dispel any hopes for equality developed during the time African American soldiers spent fighting for the United States in Europe. The Summer of 1919 has been termed the Red Summer for extraordinary levels of violence enacted by Whites against Black communities as African American soldiers returned home from the War. Unsurprisingly many historians mark the 1910s as the beginning of the Great Migration North for African Americans fleeing terrorism and economic persecution enforced by White Southerners.

Assignment: In a paragraph explain why White Americans increased their violence against African American communities as Black Soldiers returned home from World War I in 1919.

During and after World War II the Civil Rights movement gained traction as Americans were confronted with the fight against the Nazi’s version of white supremacy abroad and yet witnessed segregation and discrimination at home. The Double V Campaign , a movement initiated by black activists to secure victory against white supremacy at home, and victory against fascism abroad, made substantial progress during and after World War II in eroding legal segregation. A threat of a march on Washington forced President Roosevelt to desegregate the defense industry. It is not a coincidence that Major League Baseball was desegregated just two years after the war ended in 1947. Brown v The Board of Education, Kansas of Topeka ruled in 1954 that segregation in public education was not in keeping with the U.S. Constitution’s “Equal Protection Clause” found in the Fourteenth Amendment. Some have argued that the Brown v. Board of Education decision was an attempt to placate Blacks in the U.S. who were becoming deeply frustrated and angered by the prolonged racism and segregation of the United States, with a substantial group growing more radicalized with an interest in socialism, communism and Black nationalism. This fight took place in the U.S. South, but also the North. The struggle for Black liberation was waged in the courts and also the streets.

The Harlem 9             The Brown case was decided in 1954, and five years later, in 1959, a group called The Harlem 9 —nine Black mothers of children in Harlem who were attending segregated, ill-equipped, under-financed schools in New York—conducted a strike and withheld their children from school. The effort was led by an unsung civil rights warrior Mae Mallory, an activist for school desegregation, finance equity and Black power. In 1959, the parents were criminally charged for taking their children out of segregated schools. “We will go to jail and rot there, if necessary, but our children will not go to Jr. High Schools 136, 139 or 120” Mrs. Viola Waddy told the city’s Department of Education and police. The case went to court. In the famous Skipworth decision, Judge Justine Wise Polier determined that the mothers’ mobilization was an act of love, not neglect, mandating that New York City dedicate resources to these schools and toward desegregation. (Back)

The 1960s saw major protests for racial justice erupt on the streets across the nation. Social movements provoked legislative and judicial changes, and backlash followed. This pattern is well inscribed in our history. Following the passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, the implementation of de facto segregation through practices like Redlining took hold in many communities and cities around the country. Many had come to the point where they realize that civil rights did not just mean integration and voting rights, but the “basic rights to be free from unequal treatment…in such settings as employment, education, housing, and access to public facilities.” Civil rights activists work to ensure the protection of individuals from arbitrary and discriminatory treatment by the government and also ensure the government acts to prevent individuals or groups from receiving unequal treatment by private citizens.

Assignment: In a paragraph from the “Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States,” explain a time when the U.S. government failed to protect the rights Black Americans.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress to prevent the violation of the civil rights of Black Americans, as well as other historically marginalized populations. The Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was passed in response to the many White Americans in various parts of the country, especially the Southern States who were in favor of segregation. The goal was to address the systemic unequal treatment that Black Americans were forced to deal with on a daily basis in many localities. It was favored and pushed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. Many Whites in the Democratic Party, who disapproved of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, would leave the Democratic Party and join the Republican Party shifting the allegiance of Southern White who had rebelled against the nation during the Civil War as Democrats. This was not an accident as Republican leaders like President Richard Nixon actively cultivated white southern voters through poorly disguised racist policies that argued for “States Rights,” in other words allowing Southern States to maintain the structures of White Supremacy without interference from the federal government. As a result, between 1930 and 1980 Black voters abandoned the Party of Lincoln for the Democratic Party as the political ideology of the Republican Party had radically shifted on issues of race and civil rights.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by Congress as a direct response to the attack by Alabama State Troopers and other law enforcement officials on peaceful marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Sunday March 7, 1965. The barbaric attack by law-enforcement against civil rights marchers would be remembered as “Bloody Sunday.” The Voting Rights Act targeted those parts of the country where Congress believed that discrimination was greatest. The Act eliminated such arbitrary, but widespread disenfranchisement tactics such as “literacy tests” that had been used to prevent Black people from voting. Signed into law by President Johnson, the Act helped Black Americans to overcome barriers to voting, a right guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case entitled, Harper v Virginia Board of Election (1966) would say that the State of Virginia’s use of “poll taxes” was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The last major piece of Civil Rights legislation was the Fair Housing Act (1968), which prohibited housing discrimination by race, religion, national origin, sex and family status. It was passed in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April, 1968, a week after the civil right’s leader’s murder.

In Shelby Count v. Holder in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned key provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 citing a so-called “post racial society.” No such society exists, yet the ruling has allowed Republican states to pass laws intended to discourage or prevent Black and poor voters from voting.

Assignment: In a paragraph explain why some politicians would work so hard to prevent certain groups of people from voting.

Vast discrepancies between White and Non-white Americans, particularly African Americans remain in terms of economic resources, political influence and social equity. Civil rights violations by law enforcement officials and within the judicial system, denial of access to equal employment, business and educational opportunities, substandard housing and health care all contribute to the different experiences that Black and White Americans have simply existing in this country.

Today, we as a nation are still trying to resolve many issues as Black Americans continue to receive unequal treatment. Recent events related to the intentional murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers only show that a more nuanced understanding of civil rights is needed.

The struggle for civil rights has been ongoing in our country. The aim is to prevent groups of people from being treated differently. Over the history of the United States various groups have been subjected to differentiated treatment. Civil rights prevent one group from exercising its dominance or power over another group. Historically Black Americans have been subjected to differentiated treatment. Historically and today, Native Americans experience unjust treatment, as do many groups of immigrants. Today we see evidence of long-standing patterns and practices of racial, ethic, socio-economic, gender and sexuality-based injustice. None of this is new, but phone video cameras increase national awareness.

With the ending of slavery, constitutional amendments were added to ensure that Black Americans would be able to enjoy their newly guaranteed rights. However, these amendments proved less effective in practice than in principle. Subsequent laws enacted in America would be added to limit the rights of Black American relegating them to second class citizenship.

For over a century Black Americans have worked to advance their civil rights and to prevent their unequal treatment at the hand of government. In solidarity, and with shared tactics, other groups have engaged the ideas, techniques and strategies that Black Americans have used to advance their civil rights.

Assignments

• In a paragraph explain the difference between a right and a privilege
• In a paragraph explain why White Americans increased their violence against African American communities as Black Soldiers returned home from World War I in 1919
• In a paragraph from the “Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States,” explain a time when the U.S. government failed to protect the rights Black Americans.
• In a paragraph explain why some politicians would work so hard to prevent certain groups of people from voting.
• The John Punch Case
• Civil Rights Act 1866
• Great Migration
• Double V Campaign
• The Harlem 9
• Civil Rights Act 1964
• Voting Rights Act 1965
• Fair Housing Act 1968

Video Resources

Back, A. “Exposing the ‘Whole Segregation Myth’: The Harlem Nine and New York City’s School Desegregation Battles.” in Theoharris, J., Countryman, M. and Woodard, K.,  Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South 1940–1980 . New York, NY: Palgrave, 65-91).

Coates, Rodney D. (2003) “Law and the Cultural Production of Race and Racialized Systems of Oppression: Early American Court Cases” American Behavioral Scientist 47 (3): 329-351.

Kernell, S., Jacobson, G. C., Kousser, T., & Vavreck, L. The Logic or American Politics   (9 th  ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.

Williams, Eric Capitalism and Slavery (3 rd ed.). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27-30 (1866)

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L.88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (1964)

Harper v. Virginia Board of Election, 383 U.S. 663 (1966)

U.S. Const. amend. XIII.

U.S. Const. amend. XIV.

U.S. Const. amend. XIX.

Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub. L. 89-110, 79 Stat. 437 (1965)

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Need help with the Commons?

Email us at [email protected] so we can respond to your questions and requests. Please email from your CUNY email address if possible. Or visit our help site for more information:

• Terms of Service
• Accessibility
• Creative Commons (CC) license unless otherwise noted

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Career Planning

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Preventing Employment Discrimination

Dawn Rosenberg McKay is a certified Career Development Facilitator. She has written hundreds of articles on career planning for The Balance.

Before Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law, an employer could reject a job applicant because of their race, religion, sex or national origin. An employer could turn down an employee for a promotion, decide not to give them a particular assignment or in some other way discriminate against that person because they were Black or white, Jewish, Muslim or Christian, a man or a woman or Italian, German or Swedish. And it would all be legal.

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects against employer discrimination on the basis of "sex," applies to gay and transgender people. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion for the six-member majority, said, "In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law."  

What is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

When Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, employment discrimination on the basis of an individual's race, religion, sex, national origin or color became illegal.   On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is also illegal.   All companies with 15 or more employees are required to adhere to the rules set forth by Title VII, which protects workers as well as job applicants.   The law also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) , a bipartisan commission that is made up of five members appointed by the president. It continues to enforce Title VII and other laws that protect us against employment discrimination.

How Does Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Protect You?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects both employees and job applicants. Here are some ways in which it does that, according to the EEOC:

• An employer can't make hiring decisions based on an applicant's color, race, religion, sex or national origin. An employer can't discriminate based on these factors when recruiting job candidates, advertising for a job or testing applicants.
• An employer can't decide whether or not to promote a worker or fire an employee based on stereotypes and assumptions about their color, race, religion, sex or national origin. They can't use this information when classifying or assigning workers.
• An employer can't use an employee's race, color, religion, sex or national origin to determine their pay, fringe benefits, retirement plans or disability leave.
• An employer can't harass you because of your race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  
• An employer can't discriminate against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity.  

In 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make it illegal to discriminate against pregnant women in matters related to employment.  

What To Do If Your Boss or Prospective Employer Fails to Abide by Title VII

As long as an employer makes no employment decisions namely, whether to interview, hire, pay, promote, provide opportunity, discipline, or terminate an employee based on any of the above protected classifications, the employer is living the intent and guidelines of Title VII. 

Still, just because a law is in place doesn't mean people will follow it. Fifty-five years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, the EEOC received 72,675 individual complaints claiming multiple types of discrimination.  

There were 23,976 charges of race discrimination, 23,532 charges of sex discrimination, 2,725 reports of discrimination based on religion, 3,415 claims of color discrimination and 7,009 based on national origin.   If you experience discrimination at work or in the hiring process, use the EEOC Public Portal to submit an inquiry, schedule an appointment, or file a charge, or visit an EEOC field office in person.

Supreme Court of the United States. " Syllabus: Bostock vs. Clayton County, Georgia ." Accessed June 15, 2020.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. " Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ." Accessed June 11, 2020.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. " Civil Rights Requirements- E. Federal Employment Discrimination Laws ." Accessed June 11, 2020.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. " Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices ." Accessed June 11, 2020.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. " The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 ." Accessed June 11, 2020.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. " EEOC Releases Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Litigation Data ." Accessed June 11, 2020.

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Civil Rights Movement

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 22, 2024 | Original: October 27, 2009

The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War officially abolished slavery , but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people—they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, Black Americans, along with many other Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.

Jim Crow Laws

During Reconstruction , Black people took on leadership roles like never before. They held public office and sought legislative changes for equality and the right to vote.

In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black people equal protection under the law. In 1870, the 15th Amendment granted Black American men the right to vote. Still, many white Americans, especially those in the South, were unhappy that people they’d once enslaved were now on a more-or-less equal playing field.

To marginalize Black people, keep them separate from white people and erase the progress they’d made during Reconstruction, “ Jim Crow ” laws were established in the South beginning in the late 19th century. Black people couldn’t use the same public facilities as white people, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools. Interracial marriage was illegal, and most Black people couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests.

Jim Crow laws weren’t adopted in northern states; however, Black people still experienced discrimination at their jobs or when they tried to buy a house or get an education. To make matters worse, laws were passed in some states to limit voting rights for Black Americans.

Moreover, southern segregation gained ground in 1896 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Ferguson that facilities for Black and white people could be “separate but equal."

World War II and Civil Rights

Prior to World War II , most Black people worked as low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics or servants. By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most Black Americans weren’t given better-paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military.

After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.

Black men and women served heroically in World War II, despite suffering segregation and discrimination during their deployment. The Tuskegee Airmen broke the racial barrier to become the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Yet many Black veterans were met with prejudice and scorn upon returning home. This was a stark contrast to why America had entered the war to begin with—to defend freedom and democracy in the world.

As the Cold War began, President Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in 1948 issued Executive Order 9981 to end discrimination in the military. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement.

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work. Segregation laws at the time stated Black passengers must sit in designated seats at the back of the bus, and Parks complied.

When a white man got on the bus and couldn’t find a seat in the white section at the front of the bus, the bus driver instructed Parks and three other Black passengers to give up their seats. Parks refused and was arrested.

As word of her arrest ignited outrage and support, Parks unwittingly became the “mother of the modern-day civil rights movement.” Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr ., a role which would place him front and center in the fight for civil rights.

Parks’ courage incited the MIA to stage a boycott of the Montgomery bus system . The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. On November 14, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional. 

Little Rock Nine

In 1954, the civil rights movement gained momentum when the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education . In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas asked for volunteers from all-Black high schools to attend the formerly segregated school.

On September 4, 1957, nine Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine , arrived at Central High School to begin classes but were instead met by the Arkansas National Guard (on order of Governor Orval Faubus) and a screaming, threatening mob. The Little Rock Nine tried again a couple of weeks later and made it inside, but had to be removed for their safety when violence ensued.

Finally, President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to and from classes at Central High. Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice.

Their efforts, however, brought much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation and fueled protests on both sides of the issue.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They often required prospective voters of color to take literacy tests that were confusing, misleading and nearly impossible to pass.

Wanting to show a commitment to the civil rights movement and minimize racial tensions in the South, the Eisenhower administration pressured Congress to consider new civil rights legislation.

On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting. It also created a commission to investigate voter fraud.

Sit-In at Woolworth's Lunch Counter

Despite making some gains, Black Americans still experienced blatant prejudice in their daily lives. On February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth’s lunch counter without being served.

Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins. After some were arrested and charged with trespassing, protesters launched a boycott of all segregated lunch counters until the owners caved and the original four students were finally served at the Woolworth’s lunch counter where they’d first stood their ground.

Their efforts spearheaded peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations in dozens of cities and helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to encourage all students to get involved in the civil rights movement. It also caught the eye of young college graduate Stokely Carmichael , who joined the SNCC during the Freedom Summer of 1964 to register Black voters in Mississippi. In 1966, Carmichael became the chair of the SNCC, giving his famous speech in which he originated the phrase "Black power.”

Freedom Riders

On May 4, 1961, 13 “ Freedom Riders ”—seven Black and six white activists–mounted a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C. , embarking on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were testing the 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that declared the segregation of interstate transportation facilities unconstitutional.

Facing violence from both police officers and white protesters, the Freedom Rides drew international attention. On Mother’s Day 1961, the bus reached Anniston, Alabama, where a mob mounted the bus and threw a bomb into it. The Freedom Riders escaped the burning bus but were badly beaten. Photos of the bus engulfed in flames were widely circulated, and the group could not find a bus driver to take them further. U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (brother to President John F. Kennedy ) negotiated with Alabama Governor John Patterson to find a suitable driver, and the Freedom Riders resumed their journey under police escort on May 20. But the officers left the group once they reached Montgomery, where a white mob brutally attacked the bus. Attorney General Kennedy responded to the riders—and a call from Martin Luther King Jr.—by sending federal marshals to Montgomery.

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders reached Jackson, Mississippi. Though met with hundreds of supporters, the group was arrested for trespassing in a “whites-only” facility and sentenced to 30 days in jail. Attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) brought the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the convictions. Hundreds of new Freedom Riders were drawn to the cause, and the rides continued.

In the fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals

March on Washington

Arguably one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement took place on August 28, 1963: the March on Washington . It was organized and attended by civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph , Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr.

More than 200,000 people of all races congregated in Washington, D. C. for the peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone. The highlight of the march was King’s speech in which he continually stated, “I have a dream…”

King’s “ I Have a Dream” speech galvanized the national civil rights movement and became a slogan for equality and freedom.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 —legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination —into law on July 2 of that year.

King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated.

Bloody Sunday

On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.

As the protesters neared the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were blocked by Alabama state and local police sent by Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, a vocal opponent of desegregation. Refusing to stand down, protesters moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police and dozens of protesters were hospitalized.

The entire incident was televised and became known as “ Bloody Sunday .” Some activists wanted to retaliate with violence, but King pushed for nonviolent protests and eventually gained federal protection for another march.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965, he took the Civil Rights Act of 1964 several steps further. The new law banned all voter literacy tests and provided federal examiners in certain voting jurisdictions. 

It also allowed the attorney general to contest state and local poll taxes. As a result, poll taxes were later declared unconstitutional in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in 1966.

Part of the Act was walked back decades later, in 2013, when a Supreme Court decision ruled that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional, holding that the constraints placed on certain states and federal review of states' voting procedures were outdated.

Civil Rights Leaders Assassinated

The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late 1960s. On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally.

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room's balcony. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, just days after King’s assassination. It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era.

The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.

A Brief History of Jim Crow. Constitutional Rights Foundation. Civil Rights Act of 1957. Civil Rights Digital Library. Document for June 25th: Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry. National Archives. Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In. African American Odyssey. Little Rock School Desegregation (1957).  The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford . Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford . Rosa Marie Parks Biography. Rosa and Raymond Parks. Selma, Alabama, (Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965). BlackPast.org. The Civil Rights Movement (1919-1960s). National Humanities Center. The Little Rock Nine. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior: Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. Turning Point: World War II. Virginia Historical Society.

Photo Galleries

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• My Storyboards

5Ws Of The Civil Rights Act

In this activity, activity overview, template and class instructions, more storyboard that activities, this activity is part of many teacher guides.

Analyzing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a good way for students to understand the impact of the entire movement and the effects it had on the history that followed. In this activity, students will create a spider map that answers the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why . Their answers should be researched, and the illustration they provide should help summarize the answer to each question.

Possible Questions

• Who influenced the signing of the Civil Rights Act?
• What did the Civil Rights Act do?
• When did the Civil Rights Act get passed?
• Where Did The Civil Rights Act impact society the most?
• Why is the Civil Rights Act significant?

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

Create a 5W analysis of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

• Click "Start Assignment".
• In the title box for each cell, type Who, What, When, Where and Why.
• In the descriptions, answer the question.
• Create an image for each cell with appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
• Save and exit when you're done.

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-12

Difficulty Level 3 (Developing to Mastery)

Type of Assignment Individual

Type of Activity: 5 Ws of Social Studies and History

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric .)

Civil Rights Movement

Try 1 Month For

30 Day Money Back Guarantee New Customers Only Full Price After Introductory Offer

Learn more about our Department, School, and District packages

• Thousands of images
• Custom layouts, scenes, characters
• And so much more!!

Create a Storyboard

• Teacher Opportunities
• AP U.S. Government Key Terms
• Bureaucracy & Regulation
• Campaigns & Elections
• Civil Rights & Civil Liberties
• Comparative Government
• Constitutional Foundation
• Criminal Law & Justice
• Economics & Financial Literacy
• English & Literature
• Environmental Policy & Land Use
• Executive Branch
• Federalism and State Issues
• Foreign Policy
• Gun Rights & Firearm Legislation
• Immigration
• Interest Groups & Lobbying
• Judicial Branch
• Legislative Branch
• Political Parties
• Science & Technology
• Social Services
• State History
• Supreme Court Cases
• U.S. History
• World History

Log-in to bookmark & organize content - it's free!

• Bell Ringers
• Lesson Plans
• Featured Resources

Bell Ringer: Civil Rights

"That's Where We Began to Raise Our People Up" - Birmingham, Selma, and Giving President Johnson Some Power

Civil Rights Movement activist and political leader Andrew Young, speaking at a 50th Anniversary commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Mountaintop" speech, recounts Dr. King's release from Birmingham jail and the Selma march.

Description

The broad umbrella term "civil rights" refers to legal protections founded in a commitment to equality, or the right to be free from discriminatory treatment (as opposed to "civil liberties," which refers to personal freedoms, generally guaranteed by the Bill of Rights). The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Twenty-Fourth Amendments all provide civil rights guarantees, as did notable legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (which includes Title IX). While the term "Civil Rights Movement" typically refers specifically to the organized endeavors of African-Americans to achieve equal treatment, civil rights efforts have also notably been undertaken by women, members of minority ethnic and religious groups, the LGBTQ community, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens.

Bell Ringer Assignment

• Why and how were African-American activists trying to "Give President Johnson power" via the Selma march, according to Andrew Young? What event(s) indicated their success or lack thereof?
• How, according to Paul Chavez, was Cesar Chavez's activism influenced by Dr. King's philosophies?
• What's a past civil rights movement that has influenced you personally? How has it done so?
• AP Government- Questions to Consider: How are the main ideas of Letter from a Birmingham Jail reflected in the civil rights activism of groups other than African-Americans? What are the political implications of the passage of the Voting Rights Act? How did the Brown v. Board of Education decision reflect a civil rights struggle and influence subsequent civil rights activism?

Related Articles

• The Underground Kitchen That Funded the Civil Rights Movement - Gastro Obscura
• The role NC played in Civil Rights Movement was ‘huge’ | Charlotte Observer

Additional Resources

• Letter From a Birmingham Jail Analysis - Google Docs
• C-SPAN Lesson Plan: Letter From a Birmingham Jail
• C-SPAN Bell-Ringer: Letter From a Birmingham Jail
• C-SPAN Lesson Plan: The Civil Rights Movement According to John Lewis
• C-SPAN Lesson Plan: The Civil Rights Movement: Sit-Ins
• Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice
• African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era (Part 1)
• History of the Women’s Rights Movement | National Women's History Alliance
• University of Washington: Mapping American Social Movements Through the 20th Century
• The 50th Anniversary of Latino Studies Departments - The Atlantic

Participants

• Cesar Chavez
• Civil Rights
• Civil Rights Act
• Civil Rights Movement
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Selma March
• Supreme Court
• Voting Rights Act

Civil Rights

Amaya Archie, Taylor Nolan, Manny Ihezue, and CJ Trahan

Annotated Bibliography

Holliman, Irene V. “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. July 14, 2006. Accessed April 09, 2019. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/student-nonviolent-coordinating-committee-sncc. Holliman talks about the participation of SNCC in the Albany Movement, the Atlanta Project, and also the demise of SNCC. She brings in more aspects of certain participants within the movement and organization and their role within it. In relation to the website, I used this source for more information on the Albany Project than the downfall of the group. This allowed me to be more concise in the information given about the movement.

“Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).” The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. June 05, 2018. Accessed April 09, 2019. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/student-nonviolent-coordinating-committee-sncc. This particular source relayed information about the formation and collaboration of SNCC with other Civil Rights groups at the time of its birth. I relied more heavily on this information because it contained a lot more cited sources from primary sources. It also gave me more confirmation of the information given in Holliman’s article pertaining to SNCC’s demise.

“The Sit-In Movement.” Ushistory.org. Accessed April 09, 2019. http://www.ushistory.org/us/54d.asp. This particular source was used for my information on the Sit-Ins and SNCC’s involvement in it, It also talked about the coordination between the other groups at the time. In addition to the information pertained, I also used this source for two of my pictures.

B. Strain, Christopher. “Sit-Ins.”  Mississippi Encyclopedia , Center for Study of Southern Culture, 3 Feb. 2018, mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/sit-ins/. This source here discusses the major Mississippi lunch in that took place on May 28,1963 and discusses the environment of the sit in.

“Civil Rights Act of 1964.”  History.com , A&E Television Networks, 4 Jan. 2010, www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act#section_1. This source here discusses the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 as a result of the lunch counter sit ins and describes what the Act states.

Shah, Aarushi H. “All of Africa Will Be Free Before We Can Get a Lousy Cup of Coffee: The Impact of the 1943 Lunch Counter Sit-Ins on the Civil Rights Movement.”  History Teacher , vol. 46, no. 1, Nov. 2012, pp. 127–147.  EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=83384280&site=ehost-live&scope=site. This source here is one of the most important sources that talks about the short and long term impacts that the lunch sit-ins had on the nation. While also emphasizing the importance that the Greensboro Four played on other lunch sit-ins.

“Greensboro Sit-In.”  History.com , A&E Television Networks, 4 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in#section_2. This source here discusses the Greensboro Four and the event that led them to do this sit-in along with the individuals who inspired their non violent protest.