This document discusses the history and impact of the American Civil Rights Movement. It describes how civil rights activists used nonviolent protests and civil disobedience in the 1950s and 1960s to challenge racial segregation and discrimination, and gain equal rights under the law. Their efforts resulted in the passage of landmark civil rights legislation that outlawed segregation and racial discrimination, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.