After World War II, prejudice against African Americans was excessive in the United States. This period has been called the Civil Rights Era. It was defined by Jack Davis as “a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access and opportunity to the fundamental privileges and rights of American citizenship.” This era focused on gaining basic rights afforded to white citizens, such as education and the right to vote, for African American citizens who did not possess them. Doing this was not an easy task, as the people would have to organize numerous protests, petitions, boycotts, negotiations and other legal means for many years to achieve their goal of achieving equality in America and making era civil rights a movement. towards a better and more egalitarian United States. Before and during the Civil Rights Era, the African American population was considered a second class of citizens throughout most of the country ("the Civil Rights Era"). They were treated worse and did not have the opportunity to integrate much into the white population. Most African Americans were confined to work and denied basic rights like education and the right to vote. Schools were segregated so that blacks could not attend most of the schools that white children attended and those for African Americans were less prestigious to say the least. Not being able to vote for anything put them in an even worse situation, because it made them even less likely to get rights since they couldn't vote for them. All their hopes actually rested on the decisions of others because they couldn't do much on their own. Attempts by African Americans to implement voting rights were often at the center of the nation's paper. The combination of this and many other factors in the whole concoction of events and people during the civil rights era helped make the United States a more equal and free country for all people instead of those who have just been born a certain color or color. gender. Works Cited “The Civil Rights Era.” African-American Odyssey: (Part 1). Np, and Web. March 26, 2014. “Civil Rights Movement.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, and Web. March 25, 2014.Clark, Thomas H. Unequal Protection. Baltimore, MD: Delta Pub., 1995. Print. Davis, Jack E. “TEACHERS.” School teachers. Np, and Web. March 26, 2014.Pricket, Socko. “Freedom Riders (a documentary about the nonviolent civil rights movement in the United States).” YouTube. YouTube, December 8, 2012. Web. April 4, 2014. “Virginia Historical Society.” Civil Rights Movement in Virginia. Np, and Web. April 3. 2014.