MAP 27.3 The Civil Rights Struggle, 1954–1965
In the postwar battle for black civil rights, the first major victory was the NAACP litigation of Brown v. Board of Education, which declared public school segregation unconstitutional. As indicated on this map, the struggle then quickly spread, raising other issues and seeding new organizations. Other organizations quickly joined the battle and shifted the focus away from the courts to mass action and organization. The year 1965 marked the high point, when violence against the Selma, Alabama, marchers spurred the passage of the Voting Rights Act.