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What is the history of the civil rights movement?
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The civil rights movement began in the United States during the mid-20th century as a social and political struggle for racial equality and civil rights for African Americans. It was a struggle against segregation and discrimination that had been enforced through Jim Crow laws that restricted the rights of people based on their race. This struggle, known as the Civil Rights Movement, eventually led to the passage of Civil Rights Acts and Supreme Court decisions that greatly expanded civil rights for African Americans and other minority groups. Organizations such as the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Congress of Racial Equality, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and other civil rights groups were instrumental in organizing and coordinating the peaceful protest actions and marches that challenged racial segregation. The Movement also played an important role in the subsequent victories that ended segregation in the United States and dozens of other countries around the world. These victories helped expand greater voting rights, more legal protections, and broader access to education and other opportunities.