This guide will help you learn about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.
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     After World War II ended in 1945, U.S. policymakers looked toward shaping a brighter future for the nation. But the American dream became more accessible to white Americans who were given more ready access to government programs that were part of the GI Bill that offered low-cost education, affordable housing loans, and unemployment insurance to veterans. Because states were given precedence in administering benefits, the federal government was prevented from distributing resources more equitably. Segregation also contributed to disparity for Black and white populations. Restrictive covenants prevented Black families from moving into white neighborhoods until civil rights legislation made such discriminatory practices illegal.

     As more people got married and started families, the number of babies born increased significantly. About 75 million babies were born during this period known as the Baby Boom, which lasted from 1946 to 1964. The postwar Baby Boom and prosperity greatly expanded the American middle class. Suburban lifestyles developed, and the popularity of automobiles, shopping malls, supermarkets, and fast food restaurants grew. Again, though, because white people could often more readily afford vehicles and had more resources to move, suburbs most routinely benefited white populations.

"1940s." Gale U.S. History Online Collection, Gale, 2023. Gale In Context: U.S. History, https://link.gale.com/apps/portal/00000000MXNW/UHIC?u=ctstate&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=ca9bafdb Accessed 2 Sept. 2025.

     The 1950s was a decade of relative prosperity and positivity for many in the United States, following the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II of the 1940s. Even though the 1950s marked a turn from economic depression and international conflict, access to the benefits of the postwar period were not extended equally to all races. Segregation and other discriminatory measures prevented many from being able to fully prosper and make progess toward goals like home ownership and advanced educational degrees. The Cold War between communist and democratic countries continued, sparking more conflicts. The second half of the decade marked the beginning of the Space Race, with the United States and the Soviet Union competing to explore outer space. 

     Prompted by the Cold War and following the creation of the atomic bomb in the mid-1940s, the United States and the Soviet Union raced to develop advanced nuclear weapons. Espionage became a major issue, due to suspicions that communist spies in the United States were passing along valuable information to aid the Soviet nuclear weapons program.

     By the 1950s, communism had expanded into East Asia. North Korea, officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, had become a communist state; while South Korea, or the Republic of Korea, was a capitalist nation. In June of 1950, the Northern Korean army marched into South Korea and easily gained control of the nation. Seeing the invasion as an attempt to spread communism, U.S. President Harry Truman swiftly sent American troops to the aid of South Korea. The Soviet Union and China joined the war on the side of their communist ally, North Korea. Eventually, the Korean War became a stalemate. 

     As the Cold War progressed, fear of communist infiltration of America intensified, giving rise to the Red Scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy began investigations to hunt for communists holding government positions, often with no real evidence against the alleged communists. In addition to McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating suspected communists, particularly in Hollywood's film industry. Many actors, writers, and producers were asked to appear before the committee and to name communist sympathizers. Those who cooperated were allowed to continue practicing their profession. Those who refused were cited for contempt and blacklisted from the entertainment industry.

     During the mid-1950s, conflict broke out between the government of South Vietnam and communist North Vietnam, which was backed by China and the Soviet Union. Once again fearing the spread of communism, the U.S. government pledged its support to South Vietnam. This support, which in the late 1950s came in the form of military training and equipment, would later evolve into full-scale U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The brutal conflict would continue for the next two decades and have lasting, devastating effects on America.

     The mid-20th century also saw a nationwide movement for equal rights and an end to racial segregation. In 1954, in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," which legally ended racial segregation in public schools. Another pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement was on December 1, 1955 when civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Her arrest lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

"1950s." Gale U.S. History Online Collection, Gale, 2023. Gale In Context: U.S. History,https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/NISFWU135667022/UHIC?u=ctstate&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=c764f4dc  . Accessed 5 Sept. 2025.

“The Civil Rights Movement. The Post War United States, 1945-1968 History Primary Source Timeline." Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/post-war-united-states-1945-1968/civil-rights-movement/. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.

     At the start of the 1960s, the U.S. economy was booming, more people enjoyed a higher standard of living, and the nation had cemented itself as a leader on the world stage. However, as the 1960s progressed, awareness spread that access to the American dream of affordable housing, stable employment, and higher education was not equally extended to everyone in the nation.

    John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, at a time when the United States was involved in a political and ideological conflict with the Soviet Union known as the Cold War. President Kennedy was preparing to run for re-election when he was shot and killed by an assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, on November 22, 1963. 

    Since the early 1950s, the southeast Asian nation of Vietnam had been torn apart by fighting between communist forces in the North and democratic forces in the South. The United States had been actively helping South Vietnam by providing the nation with military advisers, weapons, and supplies. In August of 1964, the U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force in Vietnam. By 1965, more than 82,000 combat troops were sent to the region to battle the enemy, a number that would rise by 200,000 within two years and reach a high of 543,000 U.S. soldiers in early 1969. Many of these soldiers had been sent to the military as part of the draft and had little choice in participating. 

     While the war in Vietnam initially had the support of most Americans, each time more U.S. troops were sent overseas to fight, anti-war sentiment grew.  An organized anti-war effort had begun to gain traction on college campuses in the early 1960s. By 1967, it had grown beyond university settings and had sparked mass protests across the country. The protests continued into the early 1970s. 

     In the years after World War II (1939–1945), more and more African Americans began protesting against unfair treatment and discriminatory laws in many states and regions of the country. Many of them had participated in World War II, but the advantages that many veterans had received as part of the GI Bill in the postwar period did not extend equally to them. During the 1950s, a growing civil rights movement had won its first victories with the U.S. Supreme Court declaring school segregation unconstitutional in 1954 in the Brown v. Board of Education case and the passage of a Civil Rights Act in 1957. By the early 1960s, the quest for civil rights had blossomed into a powerful political movement that was led in part by a charismatic minister from the South named Martin Luther King Jr., who helped lead boycotts and rallies.

     President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on a person's race, skin color, religion, sex, or ethnic background. This landmark bill was followed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which made it illegal for any state or community to pass laws that would deny people the right to vote because of their race. On April 11, 1968, the United States enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act. The law prohibited housing discrimination based on color, race, religion, or sex. This trio of laws marked the most comprehensive civil rights reform in the United States since the 1860s. Just one week before the signing of the Fair Housing Act, however, King was assassinated by a gunman in Memphis, Tennessee.

"1960s." Gale U.S. History Online Collection, Gale, 2023. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PYHLIS629920536/UHIC?u=ctstate&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=3b7781d7. Accessed 5 Sept. 2025.