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Civil Rights
Generally speaking, civil rights are citizenship rights. They protect us from the most basic forms of prejudice and discrimination. The basic breakdown includes: (1) voting and political participation rights, (2) due process and protection of the laws, freedom from public and some forms of private discrimination. Discrimination exists when rights or liberties are denied to an individual or group because of demographic characteristics. For the most part, with some notable exceptions, civil rights have been enacted or protected through courts and legislation rather than by the United States Constitution. For example, the Bill of Rights contains no civil rights protections. We have to go to the Civil War Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments) to find amendments focused on civil rights protections.
Most, not all, but most major pieces of civil rights legislation were enacted in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, 24th Amendment, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 represented significant steps towards protecting civil rights for all Americans. It then became a matter for the Courts to interpret, implement, and fine-tune these pieces of legislation. That of course is easier said than done.
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