Free
To some, the passing of civil rights laws and the death of Martin Luther King Jr. meant the end of the movement.
But others say the struggle continues all over.
◀ The civil rights movement was mainly about segregation in the South. But the North also had segregated neighborhoods. It had segregated schools and other institutions, too. In 1974, a judge ruled that the Boston School Committee had to end the school segregation it had supported. A plan to bus students out of area schools to integrate other schools met with violent opposition.
Hundreds of years of discrimination have left Black people at a disadvantage. The same goes for other minority groups and women. They all have fewer educational and economic opportunities than White men. Affirmative action is a policy designed to change that. It calls for colleges and employers to make special efforts to bring in qualified people from minority groups. Some call this reverse discrimination. Others say that women and minorities still earn less and have fewer opportunities than White men. ▶
▲ In many cities, school integration produced something called “White flight.” That meant many White people moved to the suburbs. White flight and a backlash against busing caused many schools to become resegregated. Remember Linda Brown, from the 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled against segregation? In 1979, she sued the Topeka school system again. The lawsuit said her own children were getting a segregated education. In 1989, a district court said segregation did exist in Topeka schools. In 1993, the Supreme Court refused to review the case. It went back to the district court. In 1994, the city made a plan to improve the schools’ integration. That helped Topeka schools reach court standards of racial balance by 1998.
◀ The end of legal segregation did not end racism against Black people. Studies have shown that the police in many communities are more likely to stop and question Black people for no reason. That’s a form of discrimination known as racial profiling.
Twenty-First-Century Firsts
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s left a living legacy in many areas. That includes the government. In 2008, Americans elected the first Black president. That was possible because of the efforts of those who fought so hard and so bravely for civil rights and equality. We can’t say inequality has ended. But we can be proud that, in the twenty-first century, we have seen many historic “firsts.”
Barack Obama
First Black President
2008–2012
2012–2016
Here are a few more notable twenty-first-century firsts: ▼
Colin Powell
First Black Secretary of State—principal advisor to President George W. Bush on U.S. foreign policy
2001–2004
Condoleezza Rice
First Black National Security Advisor—principal advisor to President George W. Bush on national security issues
2001–2005
First Black Secretary of State—principal advisor to President George W. Bush on U.S. foreign policy
2005–2009
Eric Holder
First Black Attorney General—head of the Department of Justice and chief law officer of the federal government
