In this deck, we will trace the story of the civil rights movement through its most dramatic and impactful period, from 1960 to 1975. You will learn about the shift from legal challenges to direct action, including the sit-ins and Freedom Rides. We will cover the major peaceful protests that led to landmark laws, and explore the rise of more radical voices like Malcolm X and the Black Power movement. Finally, we'll assess how much had truly changed for Black Americans by 1975.

The year 1960 marked a turning point. On February 1st, four Black students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter and politely asked to be served. They were refused, but they stayed until the store closed. This simple act of defiance, known as a sit-in, spread like wildfire across the South. It demonstrated the power of non-violent, youth-led direct action. For your exam, the Greensboro sit-in is a perfect example of a new, more confrontational protest tactic.

The energy from the sit-ins led to the creation of a new, dynamic organisation: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. Pronounced 'snick', this group was led by students and played a crucial role in many of the major campaigns of the 1960s, including the Freedom Rides and Freedom Summer.

In 1961, another civil rights group, CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, organised the Freedom Rides. The goal was to test a Supreme Court ruling that had banned segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals. Black and white activists rode together into the Deep South, deliberately violating segregation laws to force the federal government to act. They knew they would face violence, and they did.