In the 1950, there was still segregation in schools. Blacks weren't allowed to go to the same schools as whites, and they were still being treated as less than.
In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the Supreme Court outlawed segregated public education facilities for blacks and whites at the state level.
During the time period considered to be the "African-American civil rights" era, the predominant use of protest was nonviolent, or peaceful. ... During the 1950s and 1960s, the nonviolent protesting of the civil rights movement caused definite tension, which gained national attention.
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