Following the Civil War, the 13th 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed. The 13th amendment made all blacks citizens of the United States. The 14th amendment granted them equal protection under the law. The 15th amendment gave black citizens the righ

Montgomery's new young Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr. was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which organized the bus boycott. In 1957 he became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC wanted to compliment the NAACP legal strategy by encouraging the use of nonviolent, direct action demonstrations and boycotts.

Black Codes or Jim Crow laws, were put in place to limit the movement of blacks' rights and to enforce segregation. Many of these laws were put in place specifically to hinder black voting. This was done because the blacks outnumbered whites in the South and they feared that given the chance, the blacks would attempt to take control. These laws included such things as the Grandfather Clause. This stated that if your grandfather was able to vote in 1864 than you could vote. This was very effective because at that time no blacks would have been allowed to vote. Also Poll taxes were passed. These were taxes for the right to vote and had to be paid in the February prior to voting. The rationale was that the people would either not be able to afford the tax or they would lose their proof of payment by November. Also literacy tests were required in many areas before one could vote. This was effective because prior to 1864 it was illegal to teach black slaves to read and write. To Praise Our Bridges reveals how effective the White Power Structure of the South was at keeping blacks from voting. It was not until 1962 that the author even learned that she could vote. Most of these practices came to an end with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As a result of the March, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights law. Following his assassination , Lyndon Johnson saw to the bill's passage. The bill prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. It also gave the executive branch the power to enforce the act's provisions. Later in 1968 President Johnson got a bill passed that ended discrimination in housing.

Many people argue that the Civil Rights Movement ended two years later, when on April 4th 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Following his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, riots erupted in 125 U.S. cities. To many this sparked the end to the Civil Rights Movement. Others argued that it ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and yet others contended that it was a struggle still going on.

Some topics in this essay:
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