The Civil Rights Movement took place from 1955 to 1968 and aimed to end racial discrimination against African Americans. Key events and figures included Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott; student-led lunch counter sit-ins; the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech; Ruby Bridges integrating an all-white school amid protests; and Malcolm X advocating for rights through more militant means. The movement's successes included the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, helping achieve legal equality.