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Unit 8: Period 8: 1945–1980

Early Steps in the Civil Rights Movement (1940s and 1950s)

Explain how presidents, the Supreme Court and Black activists began dismantling legal segregation from 1945 to 1960, and why progress stayed slow.

Topic 8.6 · 17 min read

This lesson comes with the AP United States History plan

In this lesson

  1. 01Why the old order was harder to defend after 1945
  2. 02The executive branch: Truman and Eisenhower
  3. 03The courts: the NAACP's legal campaign and Brown
  4. 04Resistance, and the movement in the streets
  5. 05Worked examples
  6. 06Where students lose points
  7. 07On the exam

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