Civil Rights Movement

noun

variants or less commonly American Civil Rights Movement

: a movement (see movement sense 2b(1)) for racial equality in the U.S. that came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s

Examples of Civil Rights Movement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, the court is weighing the fate of a key remaining section of the Voting Rights Act — a legacy of the Civil Rights Movement that historians consider a second Reconstruction. —Hansi Lo Wang, NPR, 8 Jan. 2026

Soon after, amid mounting pressure from the Civil Rights Movement, the President signed the landmark Voting Rights Act—which sought to end racial discrimination in voting—into law. —Solcyré Burga, Time, 6 Jan. 2026

With King as one of the prominent figures behind the Civil Rights Movement, the United States went on to pass both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. —Emery Glover, Des Moines Register, 6 Jan. 2026

Visitors can see everything from the original Star-Spangled Banner and the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter (which became a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights Movement,) to Dorothy’s ruby slippers, and innovations that span early steam engines to modern computing. —Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Civil Rights Movement

• improvement