The advances of the black Civil Rights Movement encouraged other groups— including women, Hispanics and Latinos, American Indians, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, LGBT Americans, students, and people with disabilities—to mount their own campaigns for legislative and judicial recognition of their civil equality.Students can use the question How did various movements for equality build upon one another? to identify commonalities in goals, organizational structures, forms of resistance, and members. Students may note major events in the development of these movements and the consequences.

This inquiry set examines how the various movements for equality in the mid twentieth century built upon and inspired each other. The chosen material represents the movements against the Vietnam War and the civil rights movements of women, Chicanos/as, American Indians, Asian Americans, LGBT Americans, African Americans, and people with disabilities.