The civil rights movement emerged in the 1950s as a massive challenge to US racial inequality. The movement relied on diverse tactics including litigation, community organizing, and direct action to pursue political empowerment, expand economic opportunities, desegregate major institutions, alter social relations, and transform the broader culture. The movement remains one of the central cases in the study of social movements, and it had enduring impacts on American society and politics. This entry focuses on the movement's origins, organizations and leadership, dynamics, decline, and legacy.