Subtopic: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

African American Daily Conditions
These photos depict typical daily activities of African Americans before the Civil Rights era.

Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Scrapbook
These materials document the goals and activities of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights; from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Bayard Rustin
This transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize documents the leadership strategies of March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin: A Freedom Budget, Part 2
This audio excerpt from Bayard Rustin's 1967 "Freedom Budget" speech outlines a nine-year plan to end poverty in America.

Brown: A Landmark Case
This video segment describes the players and events of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and how it galvanized the Civil Rights movement as well as white resistance.

Bus to the Burbs
This video excerpt from La Plaza: "Bus to the Burbs" looks at METCO, a voluntary busing program in Boston.

The Civil Rights Movement in America, 1945-1975
This interactive timeline provides a chronological and geographic view of the events of the Civil Rights era and its aftermath.

A Class Divided 2: Day Two
This segment from FRONTLINE: "A Class Divided" profiles the second day of an experiment in discrimination based on eye color that took place in a third-grade class in 1970.

Colonel Stone Johnson
In this oral history from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Colonel Stone Johnson describes how civil rights activists were physically attacked for their work.

Constance Baker Motley
In this transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize, Justice Constance Baker Motley recalls her role as an NAACP attorney in landmark school desegregation cases.

Decision in the Streets
This video segment, adapted from Decision in the Streets by civil rights filmmaker Harvey Richards, portrays the interracial protests that took place in San Francisco in 1963-64.

Desegregation Mandate: Jefferson County, AL
A 1967 federal court order resulted in this document, which mandated school desegregation in Birmingham.

Documenting Brown 1: The Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment established the equal protection clause, later used in key desegregation cases.

Documenting Brown 3: Gong Lum v. Rice
The Supreme Court's 1927 opinion in Gong Lum v. Rice affirmed legalized school segregation.

Documenting Brown 5: Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
The Supreme Court's landmark opinion overturned its earlier ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson and declared segregated schools unconstitutional.

Documenting Brown 7: Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped enforce the Brown ruling, a decade later.

Eileen Kelley Walbert
Eileen Walbert was among the Concerned White Citizens of Alabama who took a stand for civil rights, as she describes in this oral history from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Excerpts from the March on Washington, Part 1
This audio compilation, recorded live at the 1963 March on Washington, captures the voices of several civil rights leaders.

Excerpts from the March on Washington, Part 3
Recorded live at the 1963 March on Washington, this audio segment captures the voice of SNCC leader John Lewis.

Gideon v. Wainwright
Learn how the case of Gideon v. Wainwright brought about sweeping change in the American justice system in this video segment from The Supreme Court.

Harry Briggs, Sr. and Eliza Briggs
In this transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize, Harry and Eliza Briggs describe their experience in the first school desegregation case, Briggs v. Elliott.

Brown Reactions: Black Educators
This 1954 statement, issued by a group of black educators, strongly endorses the Supreme Court's Brown ruling.

Brown Reactions: Judge Brady
This 1954 statement from Tom Brady, a founder of the White Citizens' Council movement, expresses opposition to the Brown decision.

Mendez v. Westminster: Desegregating California's Schools
Sylvia Mendez recalls the conditions that led Mexican Americans to sue for desegregation in the 1940s in this segment from Mendez vs. Westminster: Para Todos los Niños/For All the Children, from KOCE-TV.

James Farmer and the Freedom Rides
In this video interview, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, Freedom Ride organizer James Farmer describes the interracial bus rides through the South that tested desegregation and sparked white resistance.

Joe Dickson
In this oral history from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Joe Dickson recalls student activism at Miles College.

Kenneth Clark
In this transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize, psychologist Kenneth Clark describes his research that illustrated the impact of racism on African American children.

Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael)
In this transcript of an interview recorded for Eyes on the Prize, Stokely Carmichael describes SNCC organizing campaigns and his views on "Black Power."

Lola Hendricks
In this oral history from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Lola Hendricks describes her work behind the scenes to advance the Civil Rights movement.

Malcolm X: Regarding Whiteness
In this interview, taken from archival news footage, civil rights leader Malcolm X describes the impact of his 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca on his racial views.

Melba Pattillo Beals
Melba Patillo Beals was one of nine black students who desegregated Little Rock's Central High School in 1957. In this interview, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, Beals describes her tumultuous experience.

Miriam McClendon
In this oral history from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Miriam McClendon recalls her arrest and jailing for participation in the Children's Crusade of 1963.

Moving to Oak Park
This video segment, adapted from NOVA, shows the racial violence sparked when the African American chemist Percy Julian and his family moved into an exclusive Chicago suburb in 1950.

Reconstruction and Black Education
This mini-documentary from the American Experience: "Reconstruction" Web site follows post-Civil War development of public education for African Americans in the South and the resistance it sparked.

Rev. C. T. Vivian
In this transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize, the Reverend C. T. Vivian remembers his leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement and the risks civil rights activists took in challenging segregation.

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
This oral history transcript from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute documents the tumultuous life and leadership of the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who survived a bomb attack that destroyed his home.

Robert Moses
In this video segment, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, activist Robert Moses talks about the Mississippi voting rights campaign.

SCLC's Chicago Plan
This excerpt from SCLC's 1966 plan for a campaign in Chicago documents the conditions of urban poverty.

Segregated Schooling in South Carolina
In this video segment, produced for the Levine Museum of the New South, Joseph De Laine Jr. and Ophelia De Laine Gona describe conditions in segregated South Carolina schools.

Sheyann Webb
Sheyann Webb was eight years old in 1965 when she marched for voting rights. In this interview, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, she recalls the events of the Selma march.

Simple Justice 2: Social Science Evidence
This segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" documents Dr. Kenneth Clark's "doll test," which became important social science evidence in the Brown case.

Simple Justice 4: Arguing the Fourteenth Amendment
This segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" explores the issue at the heart of Brown v. Board of Education: whether the Fourteenth Amendment applied to segregated schools.

Simple Justice 6: Justice Warren Reads the Decision
This segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" explores the dynamics and arguments among the Supreme Court justices who ruled in Brown v. Board of Education.

Sonia Sanchez: Meeting Malcolm X
In this video segment, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, poet Sonia Sanchez recalls the pivotal moment when she first heard civil rights leader Malcolm X speak.

Strategies for an Equal Education
Students examine the inequality in education faced by African Americans in the 20th century. They review the Fourteenth Amendment, identify and examine strategies used to overcome discrimination, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Understanding and Applying the Miranda Decision
In this lesson students learn about the landmark Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and apply the principles of Miranda to subsequent cases.

Vanessa Venable
In this transcript of an interview for Eyes on the Prize, Vanessa Venable describes the impact of school closings in Prince Edward County, Virginia from 1959-1964.

Voting Rights
A news camera captured this video excerpt of a 1965 voting rights demonstration, from People's Century: "Skin Deep".

White Resistance
Civil rights activism sparked social and political change, but it also amplified white resistance to racial equality, as this video segment illustrates.

William Julius Wilson
In this 1998 FRONTLINE interview, Harvard sociologist Dr. William Julius Wilson explains why, despite an overall increase in the standard of living among African Americans, a segment of the population is falling farther and farther behind.