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

And Jews, many raised with a sense of social justice, were disproportionately represented among white activists in the Civil Rights Movement. —Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2026

Transit Equity Day recognizes Parks’ decision to refuse a Montgomery bus driver’s instructions to move to the back of the bus, which helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. —Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 3 Feb. 2026

Like the Civil Rights Movement, the protests in Minneapolis involve protecting people of color from violence – as well as, more broadly, protecting immigrants’ and refugees’ legal right to due process. —David W. Stowe, The Conversation, 3 Feb. 2026

Bessent, who is allowed by law to make the final decision on coin designs, opted to replace the abolition, suffrage and Civil Rights Movement coins with ones depicting the Mayflower Compact, the American Revolution and the Gettysburg Address. —Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Civil Rights Movement

• improvement