After WWII, African Americans who fought for democracy abroad demanded equality at home. The "Double V Campaign" evolved into a full-scale movement to dismantle Jim Crow segregation, enforced since Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Key Strategy: Nonviolent direct action — sit-ins, boycotts, marches, Freedom Rides — designed to provoke violent responses that would force federal intervention and shift public opinion.
Key Leaders
MLK Jr.
Nonviolence
Malcolm X
Self-defense
Rosa Parks
Direct action
Thurgood Marshall
Legal strategy
Tags
Civil RightsMLKBrown v BoardNonviolenceVoting RightsBlack Power
Movement Phases
AP Exam Focus (KC 8.2.I): Key tested topics: (1) Brown v. Board as overturning Plessy, (2) MLK's nonviolent philosophy vs Malcolm X's self-defense, (3) Role of media in creating national support, (4) Federal government's evolving role (reluctant → active), (5) Civil Rights Act 1964 + Voting Rights Act 1965 as landmark legislation, (6) Black Power as a SHIFT away from integrationism.