When did the American civil rights movement start?

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-10-10T00:00:00CDT" >Oct 10, 2024</time> </span> </div></div> <div class="mt-20"> <div class="collection-content topic-paragraph"> <article class="content"><div class="font-serif"><p>The American civil rights movement started in the mid-1950s. A major catalyst in the push for civil rights was in December 1955, when <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Association-for-the-Advancement-of-Colored-People" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">NAACP</a> activist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Parks" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Rosa Parks</a> refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man.</p></div></article></div> </div> <div class="related-questions mb-30"> <h4 class="mb-15">Related Questions</h4> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li class=""> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/Who-were-some-key-figures-of-the-American-civil-rights-movement">Who were some key figures of the American civil rights movement?</a> </li> <li class=""> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/What-did-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-do">What did Martin Luther King, Jr., do?</a> </li> <li class=""> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/What-is-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-known-for">What is Martin Luther King, Jr., known for?</a> </li> <li class=""> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/Who-did-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-influence-and-in-what-ways">Who did Martin Luther King, Jr., influence and in what ways?</a> </li> <li class="d-none"> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/What-was-Martin-Luther-Kings-family-life-like">What was Martin Luther King’s family life like?</a> </li> <li class="d-none"> <a class="p-15 mb-10 rounded text-black font-weight-semi-bold d-block" href="/question/How-did-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-die">How did Martin Luther King, Jr., die?</a> </li> </ul> <button class="top-questions-show-more-btn mt-15 d-flex align-items-center align-self-start justify-content-center btn btn-white font-14 d-inline"> <span class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></span> Show More </button> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"TopicTopQuestionsPage","templateName":"TOP_QUESTION","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":6,"pageId":null,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-top-questions-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"TopicTopQuestionsPage","pageSubtype":"TOP_QUESTION","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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When did the American civil rights movement start? | Britannica