27 Walking into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement

1941–1973

Three years after Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, a young civil rights activist preached: “I am black and I am beautiful! I am Somebody.” Jesse Jackson’s boast hinted at the extraordinary impact of the civil rights movement, which had restored a sense of self-worth to millions of people who faced discrimination. The African American civil rights movement targeted racial discrimination in its legal, social, and economic guises by embracing tactics ranging from interracial alliances to Black Power militancy. Its important victories, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, pressed forward significant changes in the lives of African Americans, who had long found themselves relegated to the margins of American society. The movement spoke to others as well, including members of many other groups who had similarly faced jeers and taunts as they struggled for political, social, and economic acceptance. The social revolution for rights mobilized America’s ethnic minorities and Native Americans who saw in the struggle of African Americans some hope that the sound of their voices could also lift freedom’s chorus. While the achievements of the civil rights movement were too modest for the taste of many who had long felt the oppressor’s glare, they were enough to spirit others forward toward America’s promised land.