Racial segregation is the practice of separating or restricting people to certain places or institutions based on their race and ethnicity. It poses a major obstacle in the battle for eradication of racism. Even after the Civil War ended and enslaved people were given their freedom; Post-slavery, little improvement in the economic and social status was observed regarding people of colour and whatever political gains people of colour had achieved was demolished by the white supremacist forces throughout the region. Socioeconomic inequality prevailed. In 1896, the concept of ‘Separate but Equal’ became a trend. In the United States, racial discrimination and segregation was legalized. Southern state legislatures started enacting the first segregation laws, the ‘Jim Crow’ laws provided a privilege to white citizens. Racial segregation provides economic advantages and superior social status to the politically dominant groups. The segregation laws were enforced strictly and those who protested faced consequences, although fatal at times, did not deter people from protesting against racism. As a result, The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People was established in 1909 by a group of interracial activists. Thurgood Marshall knocked down legal segregation in America as a civil rights attorney. As Chief Counsel of the NAACP he ended the "white primary" in southern states in 1944. He also won the landmark Brown vs the Board of Education in 1954, which outlawed segregated schools and paved the way for the integration of all public facilities and businesses and created legal protections for women, children, prisoners, and the homeless. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of opposition and the ‘Jim Crow’ laws were still in force. This led to the epoch of the ‘Civil Rights Movement’. The movement had begun in 1954 but picked up pace in the early ‘60s. It made its largest legislative gains after years of direct actions and grassroot protests in this decade. Tired of the constant discrimination and racism, the people of colour started rebelling against the unfair and unjust regulations. Many activist groups and associations were established like Congress of Racial Equality, The Little Rock Nine, The Black Panthers, etc. Numerous individual activists contributed to the cause. Notably among them, Hosea Williams would organize and stir masses of people into nonviolent direct action in myriad protest campaigns against injustice and inequality. Whitney M. Young, jr. was credited with almost singlehandedly pursuing corporate America and major foundations to aid the civil rights movement through financial contributions in support of self-help programs for jobs, housing, education and family rehabilitation. Mary Eliza Church Terrell, an African American activist whose work focused on the notion of racial upliftment, the belief that blacks would help end racial discrimination by advancing themselves and other members of the race through education, work, and community activism, campaigned tirelessly among black organizations and mainstream white organizations, writing and speaking extensively. Claudette Colvin, 15, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white citizen on a crowded, segregated bus. She was taken to an adult jail cell, instead of being taken to the juvenile detention centre, and was given bail after three hours. After her release, Colvin and her family lived in fear of being attacked. This occurred on March 2nd 1955, 9 months before the more well-known Rosa Parks incident, which sparked the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. They were both arrested under the ‘Jim Crow’ laws and African Americans continued facing discrimination and segregation in the South. Ruby Bridges was born in the year the decision to desegregate schools was made and was the first African American to go to an all-white elementary school. On November 14, 1960, at the age of 6, she was escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to violent mobs. Bridges' brave act was a milestone in the civil rights movement. Countless other individuals of the community devoted their focus to achieve equality. In the end, in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the civil rights act, which legally ended the segregation institutionalized by Jim Crow laws and superseded all state and local laws requiring segregation. However, compliance with the new laws was glacial at best, and it took many years with cases in lower courts to enforce it. The social movement staged nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns which eventually secured new protections in federal law for the human rights for all Americans.