CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. The civil rights movement was a freedom struggle by African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s to gain equality. The goals of the movement were freedom from discrimination; equal opportunity in employment, education, and housing; the right to vote; and equal access to public facilities.he nonviolence of the civil rights movement and the power of the federal government over the states were tested as African Americans sought to make use of the rights that had been confirmed by the Supreme Court.