civil rights movements

Civil rights movements are organized efforts to secure equal rights and protections for groups facing discrimination—most notably the American movement of the 1950s and 1960s that fought racial segregation and voting restrictions affecting Black citizens.

The term applies broadly to campaigns for legal equality by any marginalized group: the civil rights movement for disability access, LGBTQ civil rights movements.

These movements typically combine legal challenges, protest, and political pressure to change laws and social attitudes.