After the Second World War, too many prejudices against African Americans spread in the United States. This period of time was called the civil rights era. It was defined by Jack Davis as “a mass popular movement to ensure that African Americans have equal access and opportunity to the fundamental privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship.” This era was focused on gaining basic rights established for white citizens, such as education and the right to vote, for African American citizens who did not have them. Doing this was no easy task, as people would have to execute numerous protests, petitions, boycotts, negotiations, and other legal means over many years to achieve their goal of achieving equality in America and to make the era of civil rights a movement. towards a better and more equal United States. Before and during the Civil Rights Era, the African American population was considered a second class citizen in most of the nation (“The Civil Rights Era”). They were treated poorer and not allowed much integration with the white population. Most African Americans were confined to work and lacked basic rights such as education and the right to vote. Schools were segregated so that blacks could not attend most of the schools white children attended, and those reserved for African Americans were less prestigious, to say the least. Not being able to vote at all put them in an even worse situation as this made them even less likely to gain rights as they were unable to vote to obtain them. All their hopes really rested on the decisions of others because they couldn't do much on their own. African Americans' attempts to implement voting rights were often central to the nation's charter. The combination of this, plus many other factors, in the mix of events and people of the civil rights era, helped make the United States a more equal and free land for all people instead of those born only with a certain color or color. type. Works Cited “The Civil Rights Era.” African American Odyssey: (Part 1). Np, nd Web. March 26, 2014. “Civil Rights Movement.” History.com. A&E and Web Television Networks. March 25, 2014.Clark, Thomas H. Unequal Protection. Baltimore, MD: Delta Pub., 1995. Print. Davis, Jack E. "TEACHERS." School teachers. Np, nd 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, nd Web. 03 April. 2014.