Essay Outline: The American Civil Rights Movement
Question: What are some of the things that contributed to the success of the civil rights movement in
America in the 1950s and 1960s?
Get a copy of the outline from Ms. Utley or from the blog. There is a section on the outline for each of
the five paragraphs in your essay. For now, ignore the introduction (1st paragraph) and the conclusion
(5th paragraph). We’ll do those next week.
Introduction – we will do this next week
Paragraph 2 – Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic
sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It should be
about how the leaders we have talked about affected the civil rights movement.
Detail 1:
Rosa Parks – She is sometimes called the mother of the freedom movement because of her role
on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus and
was taken to jail as a result. She spent a year fighting this in the courts.
Detail 2:
Martin Luther King Jr. – MLK was a leader in the civil rights movement. He was a Baptist minister
and believed in nonviolent change. He helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955
and the March on Washington in 1963. In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he called for
equality for all people.
Detail 3:
Ruby Bridges – She was the first African America child to attend an all-white elementary school
in the South. She had people line up by the school doors, calling her names and making threats.
She was the only student in her class because other parents pulled their children out of school.
Paragraph 3 – Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic
sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It should be
about how the following laws affected the civil rights movement.
Detail 1:
Brown v. Board of Education – Oliver Brown wanted his daughter Linda to go to the good
“white” school near their home. He and several other families took the Kansas School Board to
court and won! In 1954, the Supreme Court decided that segregated schools were
unconstitutional.
Detail 2:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – It ended racial segregation in the workplace, in schools, and in
public facilities like restaurants and hotels. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B.
Johnson.
Detail 3:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 – This act ended unfair voting requirements that had made it
difficult for African Americans to vote, such as literacy tests. It also gave the federal government
power to supervise changes in the states voting requirements. President Johnson signed the
law.
Paragraph 4 – Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic
sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It could be
about how the African Americans were able to increase publicity for civil rights by testing the new laws
and using non-violent protest.
Detail 1:
Little Rock Nine – In 1957, the NAACP registered a group of nine African-American students at
Little Rock Central High in Arkansas. When the students tried to enter the school, they were
stopped by the Arkansas National Guard, who had been sent by the governor. President
Eisenhower had to send federal troops to protect the nine students and overrule the governor.
Detail 2:
Sit-ins – During the late 1950s and early 1960s, young African Americans in the South sat at
lunch counters that were supposed to be for whites only and refused to leave until they were
served lunch, thrown out, or arrested. The stores slowly changed their policies and began
serving African Americans.
Detail 3:
Freedom Riders – Even though the Supreme Court had outlawed segregation on interstate
buses, Jim Crow laws were still being observed in the South. In 1961, a group of civil rights
activists traveled on interstate buses into the South to test the law. They were arrested and
beaten by mobs. Their buses were burned. Across the nation, people were outraged at the
treatment of the black activists and the way the white people of the South ignored the law.
Conclusion – We will do this next week.