After World War II, an overall increase in prosperity and living standards led disadvantaged Americans to fight for civil rights. As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, civil rights are “the rights of citizens to political and social liberty and equality.” During the 1960s, escalating political and social tensions prompted disadvantaged groups such as Chicano-Americans or LGBTQ+ Americans to organize on a large scale for the first time. This collective popular power was used to achieve social and legislative changes that raised awareness and paved the way for greater civil liberties and equality today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Although civil rights activists have always existed in the United States, several growing incidents have attracted widespread attention and “started the ball rolling” for the civil rights movements. One such incident was the Rosa Parks bus boycott, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. At a time when African Americans faced severe segregation and racialized restrictions in their daily lives ( Doc D), this incident proved to be the polarizing tipping point. this caused many African Americans to join the civil rights movement. Another such incident was the Stonewall Riot in 1969, in which a skirmish between police and the LGBTQ+ community turned into a national movement promoting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans (Doc B). It was these and similar incidents during the 1960s that sparked the birth of the civil rights era. One of the changes that occurred during the 1960s was the immense civic participation in the civil rights struggle, as many of these movements actually grew from scratch. “popular” movements. More than ever, citizens began joining organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Indian Movement, the National Organization for Women, and the National Society for Human Rights. man, due to the fact that the prevalence of white-collar jobs allowed ordinary people to have more time to devote to the causes they cared about. One of the most prominent examples of grassroots movements is environmentalism; Senator Gaylord Nelson's first Earth Day march attracted and stunned 20 million ordinary Americans (Doc G), demonstrating the true power of people to create change. And, truly, they did. In addition to protesting, civil rights activists of this era focused much of their attention on legislative and judicial processes to help secure their rights. Noticing the significant wage gap, feminists successfully lobbied for the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the ERA, which guaranteed them equal employment opportunities, raising more than ever before the glass ceiling and restrictions imposed on women's employment (Doc A). Meanwhile, people with disabilities, like polio-stricken Ed Roberts, campaigned for equal access to education through the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, whose legal precedent had been established by the landmark court case Brown v. Board of Education. Combined with the American Disabilities Act, this right to education ultimately gave people with disabilities the chance to succeed in employment (Doc C). Whatever the action..