Civil rights movement

=== African-American women ===
{{main|African-American women in the civil rights movement}}
[[African-American]] women in the civil rights movement were pivotal to its success.<ref name="gyant"/> They volunteered as activists, advocates, educators, clerics, writers, spiritual guides, caretakers and politicians for the civil rights movement; leading and participating in organizations that contributed to the cause of civil rights.<ref name="gyant"/> [[Rosa Parks]]'s refusal to sit at the back of a [[public bus]] resulted in the year-long [[Montgomery bus boycott]],<ref name="gyant"/> and the eventual [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]] of interstate travel in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Civil Rights Movement History & Timeline, 1955 |url=https://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis55.htm#1955mbb |website=www.crmvet.org}}</ref> Women were members of the NAACP because they believed it could help them contribute to the cause of civil rights.<ref name="gyant">{{Cite journal |last=Gyant |first=LaVerne |year=1996 |title=Passing the Torch: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement |jstor=2784888 |journal=Journal of Black Studies |volume=26 |issue=5 |pages=629–647|doi=10.1177/002193479602600508 |s2cid=143581432 }}</ref> Some of those involved with the Black Panthers were nationally recognized as leaders, and still others did editorial work on the ''Black Panther'' newspaper spurring internal discussions about gender issues.<ref name="Greene">{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Christina |date=November 22, 2016 |chapter=Women in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History |chapter-url=https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-212 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.212|isbn=978-0-19-932917-5 |access-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304055329/http://americanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-212#acrefore-9780199329175-e-212-div1-6 |archive-date=March 4, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ella Baker]] founded the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]] and was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.<ref name="urban"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ransby |author-link=Barbara Ransby |first=Barbara |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/opinion/martin-luther-king-ella-baker.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120101115/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/opinion/martin-luther-king-ella-baker.html |archive-date=January 20, 2020 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Opinion: Ella Baker's Legacy Runs Deep. Know Her Name. |date=January 20, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 24, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Female students involved with the SNCC helped to organize sit-ins and the Freedom Rides.<ref name="urban"/> At the same time many elderly black women in towns across the Southern US cared for the organization's volunteers at their homes, providing the students food, a bed, healing aid and motherly love.<ref name="urban">{{Cite journal |last=Urban|first=Dennis J. |year=2002 |jstor=41887103 |journal=International Social Science Review |volume=77 |issue=3/4 |pages=185–190|title=The Women of SNCC: Struggle, Sexism, and the Emergence of Feminist Consciousness, 1960–66 }}</ref> Other women involved also formed church groups, bridge clubs, and professional organizations, such as the [[National Council of Negro Women]], to help achieve freedom for themselves and their race.<ref name="Greene" /> Several who participated in these organizations lost their jobs because of their involvement.<ref name="Greene" />

==== Sexist discrimination ====
Many women who participated in the movement experienced [[Sexism|gender discrimination]] and [[sexual harassment]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement/ |title=Women in the Civil Rights Movement – Civil Rights History Project |work=The Library of Congress |access-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328070559/https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement/ |archive-date=March 28, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the SCLC, [[Ella Baker]]'s input was discouraged in spite of her being the oldest and most experienced person on the staff.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://time.com/4633460/mlk-day-ella-baker/ |title=On MLK Day, Honor the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement |magazine=Time |access-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220173039/http://time.com/4633460/mlk-day-ella-baker/ |archive-date=February 20, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are many other accounts and examples.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sexism in the Civil Rights Movement: A Discussion Guide|url=https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/sexism-in-the-civil-rights-movement-a-discussion-guide|last=Holladay|first=Jennifer|date=2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Gender and the Civil Rights Movement|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8135-3438-1|editor-last=Ling|editor-first=Peter J.|editor2-last=Monteith|editor2-first=Sharon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Women in the Civil Rights Movement|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement/|website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dorothy Height and the Sexism of the Civil Rights Movement|url=https://www.theroot.com/dorothy-height-and-the-sexism-of-the-civil-rights-movem-1790879502|last=Delaney|first=Paul|date=May 12, 2010|website=The Root}}</ref>