American Rhetoric
American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy: Civil Rights Address
This is the text and audio of President Kennedy's address to the nation concerning Civil Rights delivered on June 11, 1963.
Other
Ar Net: Hispanic Americans, an Under Represented Group
An excellent description of the problems facing the involvement of Hispanic-Americans in American politics. The essay covers 1948 to 1996, with a good discussion of the civil rights era.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which sought to make discrimination illegal, and the resistance they faced from the public and government officials. As time passed, African Americans began to...
A&E Television
History.com: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African...
Ducksters
Ducksters: Civil Rights for Kids: Birmingham Campaign
Kids learn about the history of the Birmingham Campaign that was part of the Civil Rights movement for African Americans against segregation and southern Jim Crow laws on this light.
Black Past
Black Past: Freedom Rides (1961)
This encyclopedia article gives an interesting account of the Freedom Rides of 1961, which sparked later civil rights movements.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Volume Iii, 1917 1968: Protest
A collection of 13 primary resources with questions for discussion and links to supplemental material about the various forms of protest undertaken by African Americans in pursuit of civil rights and how it helped shape identity.
NBC
Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream
A collection of archival video clips along with town hall discussions on racial equality and the civil rights struggle by African Americans. The discussion participants include civil rights leaders, activists, religious leaders,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Black List Project: Barbara Harris
Civil rights activist Reverend Barbara Harris is featured for her involvement in freedom rides and marches in the 1960's.
NBC
Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1964: Spotlights
A collection of archival video clips highlighting the African American struggle for equal voting rights in 1964. Looks at the Mississippi Freedom Summer where college students helped to register black voters, the murder of three of those...
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era (Part 1)
This exhibit on the African American culture and history ranges from the 1948 desegregation of the military to Hank Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's homerun record in 1974. Includes images of historical photographs and documents.
Digital History
Digital History: Martin Luther King & Malcolm X on Violence & Integration [Pdf]
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were strong African-American leaders in the Civil Rights movement. Read about the differences in their approach to gaining civil rights for African-Americans. Find charts that compare their ideas on...
Other
Afgen: Ralph David Abernathy
Baptist minister, Ralph David Abernathy is featured in this brief biography for his work with his friend Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: New Hope?, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
An article that critiques the early civil rights efforts of the Kennedy administration. It explores the obstacles the civil rights movement had to overcome and the movement's effect on the lives of African Americans.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: From Negro to Black, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
A painting that expresses the darkening hopes of the civil rights movement. It explores the obstacles the civil rights movement had to overcome and the movement's effect on the lives of African Americans.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Soul, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
An article that expresses the late 1960s disillusionment of the civil rights movement. It explores the obstacles the civil rights movement had to overcome and the movement's affect on the lives of African Americans.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Singing, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
An analysis of the role music played in the civil rights movement. The well known spiritual, "We Shall Overcome," is referenced as playing a key role in supporting this movement.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Marching, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
This resource by the National Humanities Center discusses the role of physical protest in the civil rights movement. Its primary focus, the print "Freedom Now," by Reginald Gammon (1921-2005), depicts the massing of bodies in the name of...
Alabama Humanities Foundation
Encyclopedia of Alabama: Ralph David Abernathy
This brief biography of Ralph Abernathy highlights his contributions to the Civil Rights Movements.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Desegregation Integration, Making of African American Identity: V.3
This resource presents James Farmer (1920-1999), a major figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, and the distinction he draws between integration and desegregation, two terms often used interchangeably and often confused.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Attacking Stereotypes, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
Two images that express the growing militancy of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. This article explains how Joe Overstreet (1934-) and Betye Saar (1929-) went head to head with the formidable Aunt Jemima and with wit and irony...
Other
Civil Rights Movement 1955 1965: Mississippi & Freedom Summer
Take a look at Mississippi in the early 1960s to understand why the focus of African American voter registration targeted that state. Read about the organization and implementation of the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964. See also the...
Other
Africana Online: Civil Rights Timeline
A concise Civil Rights timeline that begins with the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision and ends with the 1992 LA riots in response to the Rodney King trial.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Civil Rights Act of 1957
Informative article on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that was intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote.