What was the cause of the civil rights

The right to vote in many states was not something than most black folks were actually able to do. Poll taxes were required until eradicated in the 60’s. Jim Crow laws, of which the poll tax was one example, legalized segregation between blacks and whites. These laws existed from the civil war until eradicated in the 60’s.

In addition, murders of black citizens such as Emmitt Till, a teenager who whistled at a white woman, spurred activism. The murders of activists like Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman in Mississippi spurred further activism. The bombing of the African-American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama where 4 school girls died had quite an effect. Other activists who were murdered were Medgar Evers and Viola Liuzzo.