Equal rights for African Americans was still a major issue,
especially since the "separate but equal" laws
were still in effect. After Thurgood Marshall argued that
segregation was not legal in Brown versus the Board of
Education of Topeka, Kansas case, the ruled
that segregation in public schools was in
1954. Other African Americans fought against segregation,
including who was arrested for sitting in the white
section of a bus, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who organized
many boycotts and protests.
Civil Rights and Voting Rights
During the 1960s, both blacks and whites took part in the
to end segregation in the South. Many
activists participated in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, boycotts,
protest marches, and campaigns to register African American
voters. In June 1963, , led a civil rights
march on Washington. In 1964, President Lyndon Baines
Johnson signed the , making segregation
illegal in public places. After a march protesting unfair voting
practices in Alabama turned violent, the was
passed in 1965.