In general, after you finish reading and studying this chapter, you should understand the following:
- slavery, abolition, and winning the right to vote from 1800 to 1890
- the push for equality by African Americans and women from 1885 to 1954
- Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
- the civil rights movement and its techniques, strategies, and leaders
- the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its facilitation and effects
- the development of a new women's rights movement
- the push for an equal rights amendment
- efforts of other groups to expand the definition of civil rights further such as Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Gays and Lesbians, and Disabled Americans
- continuing controversies in civil rights, including affirmative action
