The
Civil Rights Movement or
1960s Civil Rights Movement, sometimes anachronistically referred to as the "African-American Civil Rights Movement" although the term "
African American" was not used in the 1960s, encompasses
social movements in the United States whose goals were to end
racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the
South. The leadership was African-American, much of the political and financial support came from labor unions (led by
Walter Reuther), major religious denominations, and prominent white politicians such as
Hubert Humphrey and
Lyndon B. Johnson.