The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring suffrage in Southern states.

By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasts roughly from 1966 to 1975, has enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White domination.Many of those who are most active in the Civil Rights Movement, with organizations such as SNCC, CORE and SCLC, prefer the term "Southern Freedom Movement" because the struggle is about far more than just civil rights under law; it is also about fundamental issues of freedom, respect, dignity, and economic and social equality.