What Life Was Like Before The Civil Rights Movement And What More Needs To Change The civil rights movement is against segregation, the system of laws and customs separating blacks and whites that whites use to control blacks since slavery was forbidden in the 1860s. During this civil rights movement, individuals and civil rights groups have challenged segregation and discrimination with many things, including protest marches, boycotts, and refusal to abide by segregation rules. The movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and is hopefully producing