To What Extent Had African Americans Achieve Equal Civil Rights by 1940?

The civil rights of black Americans have improved greatly since the first pioneers of the civil rights movement began their quest for equality. Though most people associate black civil rights with the radical movements of the 1950's and 60's, the African American fight for equal human rights had actually begun almost two hundred years earlier.
In 1776, the white American colonists demanded freedom from the rule of the British Empire with their Declaration of Independence. However, few slave owners recognized the contradiction between their ideals about freedom and the fact of slavery.
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