The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and is the primary reason that the United States of America is not segregated today. When most people think about civil rights they are reminded of the kindness and respect that every American citizen should be granted with living in our country. African Americans, however, were not granted these rights until long after most other people. The NAACP, founded in 1909, took a large role in trying to help desegregate the United States. It is the nation’s oldest and most widely recognized Civil Rights organization. Working alongside well-known activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. also helped to amplify their cause and, in turn, produce a better outcome for everyone. Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most famous icons during the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He was known for his forms of peaceful protest, which were referred to as civil disobedience and speeches that could move a crowd. King led the Montgomery Bus boycott in 1955 and also helped to organize the March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Sit-ins were forms of civil disobedience practiced during this time. It required one or more people nonviolently sitting in an area to promote social and economic change. The most famous sit-ins took place in Greensboro, North Carolina. A series of nonviolent protests began to come up all throughout the city which eventually led to the Woolworth department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. At first the Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, prevented the students from entering the segregated school. After the intervention of President Eisenhower, however, they were able to attend. Upon showing up at school, these nine students were called terrible names, spit on, pushed around and made fun of. Their determination was impressive, however, and they managed to stick it out and eventually help to desegregate the schooling system. The process of getting legislation to pass the bill was very long and difficult to make happen. There was much opposition from senators who believed the bill was “unconstitutional” and “unnecessary.” Because so many were opposed to the signing of the bill, a substitute bill was introduced which was weaker but got the job done. Upon the gradual desegregation of the nation things were surely starting to look up. Blacks and whites could go to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same grocery stores and drink from the same water fountains. Looking at this situation now makes you realize how far we’ve come because today we have an African American man for president. Without the Civil Rights Movement, this great nation of ours would not be what it is today.