What are civil rights?

Civil rights are the legal rights and protections guaranteed to all citizens, ensuring equal treatment under the law and the ability to participate fully in social, economic, and political life. They include the right to vote, the right to attend integrated public schools, the right to use public accommodations such as restaurants and hotels, the right to fair employment and housing, the right to equal access to government services, and the right to due process when interacting with the government.

The American conception of civil rights is rooted in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery in 1865, the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing equal protection and due process in 1868, and the Fifteenth Amendment barring racial discrimination in voting in 1870. After Reconstruction collapsed in 1877, southern states enforced racial segregation through Jim Crow laws upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) under the doctrine of separate but equal.

The modern civil rights movement, beginning in the 1940s and reaching its high point in the 1950s and 1960s, used litigation, nonviolent direct action, and federal legislation to dismantle that system. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned school segregation. Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat in Montgomery on December 1, 1955 sparked a year-long bus boycott that elevated Martin Luther King Jr. to national leadership.

The 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his I Have a Dream speech, mobilized public support for landmark legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and federally funded programs on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal enforcement against discriminatory voting practices. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned racial discrimination in housing.

The protections expanded over time. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 banned disability discrimination, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 banned pregnancy discrimination, and Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) interpreted Title VII to protect gay and transgender employees. Civil rights also encompass voter access protections, fair criminal procedure, due process for accused persons, prison conditions standards, and equal access to public education.

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforce many of these laws, alongside private litigation. Naturalization candidates should understand civil rights as the bundle of legal protections that prevent government and certain private actors from discriminating against people based on protected characteristics.