1954–1968
Civil Rights
Activists challenged segregation and racial discrimination through protests, court cases, organizing, and federal legislation.
Defining Moments
Key Historical Events
1955–1956
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Civil Rights
Black residents of Montgomery sustained a year-long bus boycott after Rosa Parks’s arrest, combining mass protest and legal action to defeat segregated city bus seating.
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1963
Assassination of JFK
Civil Rights
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, triggering a rapid presidential transition, national mourning, and investigations that remain closely studied.
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1964
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights
Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act outlawed major forms of segregation and discrimination and expanded federal civil rights enforcement.
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Explore Destinations From This Era
ACCORD Civil Rights Museum
St. Augustine, FL
A landmark museum in Dr. Robert B. Hayling's former dental office preserving the local struggle that helped propel the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Borderland State Park and Ames Mansion
North Easton, MA
A former Ames family country estate pairing an early-twentieth-century stone mansion with designed grounds, ponds, and miles of recreational trails.
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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Boston, MA
An I. M. Pei-designed presidential library on Boston Harbor that brings John F. Kennedy’s life, administration, and enduring civic legacy into vivid focus.
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Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center
St. Augustine, FL
A museum in the former Excelsior High School preserving more than four centuries of African American history in St. Augustine.
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Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Little Rock, AR
A nationally significant civil rights landmark where the Little Rock Nine challenged school segregation in 1957 and tested the federal government's commitment to enforce desegregation.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park
Atlanta, GA
A National Park Service district preserving the Atlanta places where Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, worshipped, lived, and emerged as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
View DetailsAbout This Era
Activists challenged segregation and racial discrimination through protests, court cases, organizing, and federal legislation.
Last updated August 2, 2026
Road Trips in this Era
Atlanta's Black Freedom Story: Enterprise to Civil Rights
Explore Black enterprise, civil-rights leadership, movement history, and remembrance across four major Atlanta institutions and historic places.
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Little Rock: From Segregation to Civil Rights
Trace Little Rock’s Black history and the 1957 school-integration crisis through three nationally and statewide significant sites.
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